I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

Reviews/CritiquesThe Lives of Stars, by KenCroswell, pages 72, 23 cm × 31cm, Boyds Mills Press, 2009.Price $19.95 US hardcover(ISBN: 978-1-59078-9).Ken Croswell is anastronomer, with aPh.D. from Harvard,who has decided to use hisastronomical knowledge to writepopular articles and books onastronomy rather than remain inthe academic and scientific “ratrace.” The result has been a seriesof enlightening articles appearing in Astronomy and Sky & Telescopemagazines, and, more recently, a series of colourful, table-top booksdesigned to educate young novices to some of the more interestingaspects of astronomy. The Lives of Stars is his latest effort.The scientific research literature that Croswell produced inassociation with his Ph.D. work seems to be typical, jargon-richwriting that follows in the footsteps of many scientific papers,promulgating the standard grammatical errors (dangling gerunds,split infinitives, redundancy, etc.) that make published works inastrophysics either tiring or unreadable. His popular writing, on theother hand, avoids all such stumbling blocks and brings a muchneededbreath of fresh air to the field. Any one of his books andarticles provides a wonderful source of information for novices, andthe writing is highly recommended.I first encountered Ken when I did a telephone interview withhim a few years ago in connection with work I was doing on Polaris.The resulting piece that he assembled for an article in Astronomy,based upon interviews with astronomers studying the Pole Star, wasa work of art, and, unlike most media interviews, faithfully capturedthe known facts on the star as well as the sentiments of those uponwhom he based his story. It is those two characteristics, accuracyand a reliance on inspired ways of describing old ideas, that raiseCroswell’s writing above the rest of the field. I truly love the writingstyle evident in The Lives of Stars as well as in his other works, andstrongly recommend them to anyone wishing to enthuse youngfuture astronomers about the wonders of astronomy.As the title suggests, The Lives of Stars, after first introducingreaders to the nature of stars, traces the various evolutionary stagesthat stars of different original mass can pass through, from star birthto star death, ending with the inevitable link between the creationof heavy elements and life in space. Nothing appears to have beenmissed, and I was delighted to find that even Cepheids are included,both as a post-red supergiant stage (perhaps not the case for Polaris?)and as distance indicators to other galaxies. Included are a variety ofhistorical snippets woven into the text to provide both backgroundand inspiration regarding the manner in which scientific ideas aregenerated, following careful observational studies. The age level forpotential readers is indicated as nine or older, but the writing is alsosuitable for “more senior” astronomers.The Lives of Stars contains many glorious colour views ofobjects related to stellar evolution: the Horsehead Nebula, T Tauristars, young and old star clusters, H II regions, planetary nebulae, theCrab Nebula, the Veil Nebula in Cygnus, and even an extragalacticsupernova. Also included are faithful schematics of planets andbrown dwarfs, as well as an all-colour Hertzsprung-Russell diagram,with all stars identified and the various stellar characteristicsdescribed in exciting fashion in an accompanying two-page chapter.Nothing is neglected, and the contents might easily substitute forthe appropriate chapters of an introductory textbook on astronomyfor non-science specialists. It is similar in some respects to table-topbooks designed to show off the best astronomical images, but thewriting is what makes it more than worth its small list price. BoydsMills Press has done an excellent job in producing The Lives of Stars,and there is very little to criticize in the finished product.The descriptive portions of The Lives of Stars are what make thebook special. A number of quotes are reproduced in the publicityblurb for the book as well as in the on-line site, to which I referinterested readers. My personal favourites are his comparison ofthe present rate of the Sun’s expansion from evolutionary effects as“about as fast as your fingernails grow,” his manner of describingthe absorption lines in stellar spectra by “different elements removedifferent wavelengths of light, thereby imprinting themselves on thestar’s spectrum,” and his comparison of the properties of Cepheidpulsation with “musical instruments in an orchestra.” Copyrightrestrictions limit the number of words from Croswell’s books that canbe quoted directly, so you will have to purchase your own copies toenjoy them to the full. The Lives of Stars, only 72 pages from title pageto the end of the index, can be read easily in one evening, includingtime spent in rereading those delightful passages that describe wellknownconcepts from a fresh and evocative perspective.Try as I might, I could only find one poorly phrased section ofThe Lives of Stars. Early in the text in the section “Star Light, StarBright,” stellar parallax is described with reference to the Earth beingon different sides of the Sun in summer and in winter. The goal isto describe how astronomers measure the distance to the bright starSirius from its parallactic shift, the slight displacement in its locationin the sky caused by viewing it from opposite sides of Earth’s orbit.Even if the complicating effect of proper motion is excluded, theparallactic shift for Sirius is best observed in spring and fall, notsummer and winter, when the angle between Earth, Sun, and Siriusis close to 90°. Aside from that minor quibble, The Lives of Stars is adelight for any eager reader. Perhaps that should be the case, giventhat the entire contents were vetted by a fifth-grade student fromPagosa Springs, Colorado!I give The Lives of Stars my top rating for enjoyment andeducational value, and will probably donate my review copy to alocal library in order to maximize its beneficial value for enthusingyoung readers wishing to learn more about astronomy. The Lives ofStars is the eighth book of its type published by Ken Croswell, mostof which deal with stars or planets. I can only look forward to furtherbooks in the series.David G. TurnerDavid Turner is a stellar astronomer at Saint Mary’s University, and alsobook review editor for the Journal.84 JRASC April / avril 2010Promoting Astronomy In Canada