In so many ways (though not quite forty), Forty Ways to Know a Star is everything that I want from a popular science book. It walks firmly in the nebulous Goldilocks zone of neither being too bogged down in mathematical science hard to follow for a scientific novice nor being too dumbed-down to the point where no real lasting knowledge is gained.

It must be said that success in this is due in no small part to the many incredibly helpful illustrations throughout which translate words on the page into much more tangible and easier-to-grasp graphics. Many times, I would read through a passage, think "I guess I get that," look at the accompanying graphic and audibly "ooohhhhh" as I proceeded to ACTUALLY get that. But of course, it is not just the pretty pictures (which by the way, many of the plates were absolutely stunning and well-appreciated) the drive the success of this work, but the obvious care and attention paid to the scaffolding of knowledge. Despite being told ostensibly in a series of 40 "fun-fact" like vignettes, each chapter builds on the previous one at an excellent pace that never feels too daunting or too easy.

Forty Ways to Know a Star is a fabulous journey from beginning to end. Simply put, Scudder's book is an absolute delight.

Thanks as always to NetGalley, Chronicle Books, and Princeton Architectural Press for access to this advanced reading copy. This book is to be published today, March 25, 2025 at time of writing.

This book is organized by the various ways to know a star. It does exactly that. I found this text fairly easy to follow as someone with almost no astronomy knowledge. The descriptions were interesting and I enjoyed going through the associated figures. Overall, this was very interesting.