The Little Book of Stars

Looking up on a clear night at the starry sky is one of our most sublime experiences. We ascribe great powers to the stars, from the myths of the ancient constellations to modern-day horoscopes, and in everything from our luck to our romantic lives, yet most of us know little more about stars than the fact that they are incomprehensibly large balls of incomprehensibly hot gas at incomprehensible distances.

The Little Book of Stars answers, in the clearest language, the questions anyone might have about our heavenly canopy. How are stars born? How do they die? Why do they shine? How long do they shine? Is our star, the Sun, dying? What are dwarves, super giants, and black holes? Cepheids and Miras? How can you tell time from the stars? Or navigate? What are the measures of stars? Can we ever travel to other stars?

In this engagingly written and concise book, the second in the Little Book series, noted astronomer James B. Kaler shows us "the significance that the stars have had in human life, how we have used them to tell our stories, and how we use them to find who and where we are."

James B. Kaler is a Professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is a professional astronomer with a long specialization in stars, and successful author of numerous books on the subject.