Isabelle Marinov

This straightforwardly told biography of Edwin Hubble also explains the basics of a couple of his most significant discoveries in terms even science-phobic parents can understand. It may surprise some readers of a book with "Hubble" in the title that there are no jaw-dropping photographs of colorful nebulae in it; the lovely illustrations are all in watercolor and ink, and every star and galaxy is no more than white speckles on a black background. This is a feature, not a bug; Edwin Hubble, of course, did not have the Hubble Space Telescope to study the sky with, he "only" had the (then) world's largest telescope, on Mount Wilson, through which he beheld the speckles of stars on the blackness of the sky. There are two gimmicks to the book that are very effectively deployed. There is a centerfold at the narrative moment of Hubble's discovery of the expansion of the universe, emphasizing the way that the space between galaxies is getting bigger. And every time there is a scientific question, the text is set off in a metallic print, making the questions -- and the asking of them -- extra special. There are extensive author's notes and extra information in the back.… (more)