The Little Book of Stars tells the story of stellar science and what the stars mean to us from a variety of perspectives. Beginning with the "big picture;' the book moves through progressively more and more intimate views until we feel we can hold the stars in our hands, from which we can then throw them back to the sky to see our place among them. The book opens with a summary of the event that created our Universe, the Big Bang, and then goes on to describe the natures of the Big Bang's progeny, the stars-what they are, how they shine, and how they can live such immensely long lives. Approaching horne, it next examines the measures of the stars: where they are, how they are collected together from pairs to galaxies of billions, and how we learn of their individual properties. Yet closer, we look in depth at the Sun and at the physical differences among the stars, at the immense range of properties they possess. Finally, arriving at Earth, we see the signif icance of the stars to human life, how we have used them to tell our stories and to find where we are in both space and time. v From this base, the book looks more closely at stellar details, concentrating on temporal phenomena-on stellar change-and on the observational base that helps set the stage for the theory that links them all together.

Following on the success of the first of the "Little Books...: (Hogan, Little Book of the Big Bang), Kaler examines all aspects of the nature, birth, life and death of stars, and their meaning for us. Technical detail is kept to a minimum. The book is meant to be read by interested laypeople.

Stars: Beginnings. Defining a star. Chemical composition. Age. Gravitational compression. Nuclear reactions.- Collections: Distances and luminosities. Doubles, multiples, and masses. Clusters. Our Galaxy. Other galaxies. The universe of galaxies.- Kinds: The Sun. Spectra and classes. The HR diagram. Dwarfs and giants. Supergiants. White dwarfs.- Parade: The night sky. Constellations. Naming the stars. Your fortune please. Timekeepers. The navigator.- Bazaar: Variable stars. Pitch and catch. Strange. chemistries. Planetary nebulae. Supernovae. Neutron stars.- Linkages: Main sequence evolution. Growth. Transformation. Cataclysm. Darkness.- Dawn: Nebulae. Building blocks. Collapse. Birth. Disks and planets. Looking outward.