I must completely disagree with the earlier reviewer who gave this book one star. While the narrative is a bit lost in the later chapters as the author pauses a bit on a couple of side stories, the first half and last couple of chapters are outstanding reporting on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and the current state (as of printing in 2006) of astronomical research taking place around far-away (in time and space) galaxies.

The discussion of HUDF and ongoing research were well researched and offered some very nice insight into both the discoveries and difficulties encountered by astronomers. Galactic evolution and the tricky nature of dating distant objects by redshift are central to the book and offer a very interesting point of view for the intermediate astronomy reader. Four stars. ( )

I didn't expect much from this, and got precisely what I expected.

It's a discussion of what big picture astronomy looks like in about 2005; what has been observed of galaxy and star formation from the big bang onwards.

Unusually, my complaint in this case was not with gee whiz science; there was mercifully little of that, and the author assumed his audience is literate enough
about astronomy that he didn't have to waste time explaning the obvious.
The problem was that the book is completely unstructured, like a bunch of magazine and newspaper pieces thrown together (which is what it may well be).
There is no attempt to weave a single coherent narrative and place everything within that frame, and the book is much weaker as a result. ( )

A science journalist's account of the current state of observational cosmology. The enigma of dark matter and dark energy, etc.