50 Ideas You Really Need to Know Universe by Joanne Baker (Hardcover, 2010)

In this, the latest volume in the best selling 50 Ideas series, author Joanne Baker unravels the complexities of the universe for a general readership.From Heliocentrism to dark matter, and from Kepler's laws of planetary motion and orbits to Olber's paradox and the Shapley-Curtis debate, she explains ideas at the cutting-edge of scientific enquiry, making them comprehensible and accessible to the layperson.Planets and solar systemCosmic microwave backgroundSupermassive black holesHeliocentrismBig bang nucleosynthesisGalaxy formation and evolutionKepler's lawsGeneral relativityGravitational lensingGalileoSpecial relativityStars: typesNewton's laws of motionBlack holesStars: births of starsGravitationString theoryStars: deaths of starsSpectrumAstroparticle physicsStars: life cyclesMilky WayCosmic raysThe sun: fusion and sunspotsDoppler shift and redshiftHiggs boson PulsarsShapley-Curtis debateAnthropic principleCepheids and variable starsOlbers paradoxHubblesequence of galaxy typesGam.