An Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology Paperback – Illustrated, 8 Jan. 2015

I love these OU books, designed for students at home, they are clear, have a good lay out, questions and answers, the lot. Their contents level is rare as well. Most Astronomy books out there are either the simple ones for people who just start looking up for the first time at the night sky, or complicated astrophysics books of a 1000 pages + at prices of over 100 euro's, so this book (and the others in its series) is a gem, as it sits right in between the simple and the rocket science stuff.

Brilliant! For degree level and general interest and reading! A great buy! Easy to read, understand and well laid out! Starts from laymen terms and works up. Would definitely recommend.

An amazing book for beginners interested in cosmology, explains everything properly and clearly, helps one to get along the things very easily, well written with beautiful pictures, very up to date, can only recommend this book!

Excellent, interesting material presented in a very clear way.

Perfect condition.

I am recently keep reading this bookand found that it's quite easy to follow the paragraph.Content inside is quite difficult and i do think the text is mentioning it clearly though.

I bought this book for personal use in self-study and can recommend it to all interested parties whether non formally trained scientists, undergraduates, graduates with an interest but perhaps working outside the field or like me a graduate working a million miles away from the subject matter of the book.If you have a background in the physical sciences this book will make an excellent refresher and reference source for summaries, diagrams and overviews of the relevant arguments. If you don't have a background in the physical sciences this book will help you gain an understanding of the main physical processes governing the formation and evolution of Galaxies (including our own Milky Way galaxy) along with the observational techniques used in obtaining real data to test the theoretical predictions for other Galaxies and the main current Cosmological models. The book is illustrated throughout with beautiful diagrams, photographs and real experimental data and it's fun using the formulae within the book to calculate numbers that you can then see on the experimental graphs and plots.The book contains summary sections at the end of each chapter and these are excellent, providing not only a reminder of the main points that you've just worked through but a useful "taster" of what's to come before you dive into each chapter. In addition, the book contains many questions in each chapter with answers at the end. These problems are fun to work through and having the answers is a real advantage and a positive asset of the book - there's nothing worse when learning from a book questions being posed but no answers being provided.On the production of the book, I can't fault it. It's not a massive tomb so I had no problems with the binding splitting - something that can happen with very large paperback text books once opened beyond the first few chapters when the weight of the book splits the binding.In addition to this book I purchased 2 other books on related topics and have the same comments on them - all 3 books are beautifully illustrated throughout, contain questions with worked solutions and pitch their subject matter at the right level. The books in question are:An Introduction to the Sun and Starsby Simon F GreenRelativity, Gravitation and Cosmologyby Robert J. A. Lambourne

I received this textbook and its partner "An Introduction to the Sun and Stars" as part of the UK Open University's excellent distance-learning course (code S282) on astronomy and cosmology. Both books are among the best texbooks of any kind that I have ever encountered. As an all-too-"mature" student trying to study physical science at home, I found these texts fascinating, engaging, very well-designed, with plenty of questions to test/extend my understanding. If you're studying cosmology or simply want to know more about the science behind all those popular science accounts of the Big Bang and everything after, this is the book for you!