This is a book review of The History of Our Universe in 21 Stars (That You Can Spot in the Night Sky) by Giles Sparrow.
The History of Our Universe in 21 Stars (That You Can Spot in the Night Sky), by Giles Sparrow (Welbeck), 2023. Pp. 351, 20 × 13 cm. Price £9.99 (paperback, ISBN 978 1 80279 505 9).
As the title indicates, twenty-one stars (and three `imposters') are used as jumping-off points to illustrate points of stellar structure and evolution (and a bit more _via_ the imposters) as well as basic astronomical knowledge such as distance determination and the main points of the history of astronomy. Although essentially no readers will be able to connect their own observations of the objects mentioned in the book with their scientific descriptions, the format nonetheless thus bridges the gap between amateur astronomy on the one hand and astrophysics on the other; the latter is presented non-technically but clearly and without loss of accuracy. This could be a good first book on (mainly stellar) astrophysics for someone interested in astronomy.