Longtime readers of Astronomy magazine undoubtedly know of our great friend and colleague Sun Kwok of the University of Hong Kong, one of the world’s leading experts on astrochemistry and stellar evolution.
I’m delighted to say that Sun’s new book is just out, Stardust: The Cosmic Seeds of Life (267 pp., paper. Springer-Verlag, New York, 2013, $39.95, ISBN 978–3–642–32801–5). This is one of the most entertaining books I’ve seen in astronomy in a while and fills a major gap in the popular literature of astronomy. The book’s chapters cover where life came from, cosmic dust and rocks, impact hazards from the solar system, the life cycles of stars, gems from heaven (in which Sun used a few examples of minerals from my collection as illustrations!), the possible celestial origin of oil, bacteria in space, and many other interesting topics.
This is a really fine and absorbing book you should know about. I urge you to seek it out and devour it!