This is a book review of Galaxy Formation, Third Edition by Malcom S. Longair.
Galaxy Formation, Third Edition, by Malcolm S. Longair (Springer), 2023. Pp. 798, 24 x 16 cm. Price ¤96.29 (hardbound, ISBN 978 3 552 65890 1).
A volume of Springer's Astronomy and Astrophysics Library, this third edition brings previous editions up to date without leaving out too much history of the field. The result is a very long book, perhaps the reason why the preface ends with "Good Luck!". Others have noted, confirming my impression, that Longair's presentations are often much more general than their titles. That is also the case here, with, of the twenty chapters, arguably only one complete chapter and one section of another actually about galaxy formation. However, rather than much forest and few trees, it surveys the entire landscape including the forest and many other types of tree (as well as other plants and animals) within it. As such, this book, aimed at final year undergraduates and/or first-year postgraduates, would be a good introduction to a number of topics: theoretical cosmology, observational cosmology, the cosmic microwave background, star formation, dark matter, the early Universe, large-scale structure, General Relativity, big-bang nucleosynthesis, galaxy evolution, the intergalactic medium, and so on. The book is a good introduction to its many topics for those wanting to go further and a good summary for those for whom the almost eight-hundred pages are enough. Essentially everyone interested in any of the topics should have a copy of this book.