Review by Choice Review
Origin stories are vital to tribal self-esteem; that of life in this universe is noble indeed. The ancient and continuing cataclysms that produce the atoms of which we are made is the subject of this modest, excellent book. John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin are coauthors of many popular books on physics and cosmology, and they believe, like Steven Jay Gould in Wonderful Life (CH, Mar'90), in respecting the reader's intelligence by not fudging necessary technical details. The general undergraduate reader can emerge from this book with a sound and detailed appreciation of the truth of Carl Sagan's rhapsodic phrase "We are star-stuff." The Gribbins describe the origin and evolution of the chemical elements, from the big bang and the stellar crucibles in which they were formed, to the dusty clouds where they wait to form stars and planets, to the planets themselves and their living passengers. Their descriptions of the mechanics of stellar life and death are exquisite. The organization of the book is logical, the writing compelling, the index useful, and the price right. A strongly recommended buy for college and university libraries, for students of any age or major. All levels. T. R. Blackburn; American Chemical Society
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
"We are stardust . . . ," harmonized the Woodstock generation in `69, and for the science behind the lyric, the go-to source is naturally John Gribbin, physicist-turned-prolific-science popularizer. He discourses on a question everyone asks: where did the atoms that comprise Earth, the universe, and us come from? Emerging from the history of chemistry, physics, and astronomy, the answer is approached stepwise through subsidiary queries, such as what powers the sun; what the spectra of starlight reveal; and what happens to a star that runs out of gas, the hydrogen kind. With exemplary explication, Gribbin culminates the story with the breakthrough theory of nucleosynthesis, formulated in the late `50s by Fred Hoyle and others. It explained how stars over their life cycles "burned" heavier and heavier elements. That theory has since been capped by an understanding of a supernova's manufacture of the heaviest elements in its titanic explosion and their scattering through space in dust and gas clouds that condense into solar systems. A fine summary of the origin of our elemental constitution. --Gilbert Taylor
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
