Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

An excellent, engaging and straightforward introductory text. Smethurst's knowledge and enthusiasm create an enjoyable read but it is definitely more suited to someone who has read little about space or astrophysics.

I enjoyed this chatty and informal book on space - I am a total novice (or should it be cadet?) on all things astronomy related but I live with a big space nerd and it was really good to read this to be slightly more informed. Smethurst never talks down to her reader, is not shy about her own enthusiasm and is able to make some pretty highfalutin concepts sound relatively down to earth. Pun intended. Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly huge it is. But in the hands on this writer, it all begins to sound like something that it is ok to be excited about without a degree in astrophysics. And it's given me a whole load of new vocabulary to throw around at home so win win all around.

Thanks to Orion Publishing and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting collection of 10 essays on the topic of Space. The book is written in a relatively informal style and it's clear the author is hugely passionate about her subject. I'm really interested in Space but find it hard to get my head round some aspects of it.

Some of the essays work better than others. The book is touted as entry level but I was completely flummoxed by some of it. That might just be me being thick but I felt a little frustrated sometimes as I wanted to learn more about the topic.

This book would be a great gift or a good book to read in the bath or on a commute.

This was a short and informative guide. This reminded me of Carlo Rovelli's work due to how accessible and clear it was in terms of content and structure. I liked the fact it was short which meant the theories and ideas were not a daunting prospect and made the book fly by.

These ten essays written by Oxford astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst are a fascinating overview of ten topics relating to space.

I had previously done some reading about some of these topics, but many of the concepts I’d come across before were difficult to get my head around. I found this book great at complimenting and adding to my previous knowledge and made some concepts finally make sense to me (or as much as they’ll ever make sense to my non-scientist brain!)

This is a very well-written book that communicates big ideas about space without being overloaded with scientific jargon. The essays are concise and provide both a solid one-off overview of topics for people with a casual interest, as well as a good foundation for selecting topics you would like to explore further in other books.

I would recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t read about astrophysics since school, as well as to those who have already started to explore the immense subject that is space.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

3 stars

I was excited about this book because I have always had an interest in space but I'm not an expert so thought this book would be perfect for me!
Sadly in my opinion it fell a little flat. The information and writing was fine but the title and cover of this book looks to be marketed at people that want to take a first step into learning about space and it jist disnt fulfil that. At times it was a little boring, and I don't think the 10 things included are necessarily what should have been chosen.
I did learn a few things though and I enjoyed a few chapters so a 3 syar review from me.

Please note that I was gifted this ebook in return for an honest review.

I've always been fascinated by the night sky and the mysteries of space - who hasn't? It's an ever present part of our lives, and it's only thanks to a Goldilocks-precise set of criteria that we, as humans on planet Earth in our solar system in the Milky Way, exist.

That said, I've always been slightly put off by some of the astronomy books I've seen, which feature complicated mathematical formula or incredibly difficult concepts that I struggle to get my head around and end up frustrated with. So when Space: 10 Things You Should Know popped up, I was delighted to see a concise book which endeavored to explain some of the core fundamentals and biggest mysteries of space in a user-friendly format that even I could understand.

Did the book succeed in being informative without sacrificing readability? I'm pleased to say that yes, it did.

The book features 10 chapters, each tackling a different aspect of space in concise, but packed, detail. There's chapter on gravity, why the night sky is dark, dark matter, the likelihood of aliens and the author's particular specialty, black holes. I came away not only with a better understanding of some of these concepts, but also some great nuggets of information. For instance, I never knew that seasons were caused by the Earth being on a tilted axis - Summer in your hemisphere is when the planet tilts you nearer to the sun, and Winter is when you're tilted further away.

The author also tackles well the question of how far we've really come in our understanding, and how far we are away from unlocking more mysteries of the universe. She's clear that we've come a long way since even 100 years ago, but that a lot of our understanding and computation of the universe has been shaken by the existence and significance of subatomic particles and dark matter. In some ways, she points out, we're still as in the dark as we've ever been. It's a sobering thought but important to ground our understanding - we are rather well known, as humans, for inflating our own successes, after all.

The writing is very pleasant - simple but with enough turns of phrase and metaphors to be pleasing to read. For instance, the axis that the Earth is on (23 degrees) is described as 'like a dog lovably cocking their head at you' and the writer numerous times explains our judgement of distance in space through the example of crossing a road at night and assessing the distance of a car by the brightness of its headlights. It all helps to add colour to a subject which, while fascinating, could also be very dry.

Overall, I'd thoroughly recommend this as an introduction to astronomy and space for an interested reader without much background. It's a short, accessible read but dense with content and perfect to broaden out the reader's knowledge base. On top of the fascinating content, it's also beautifully written, and I'd like to end the review with a quote that sums this up, but also illustrates some of the challenges of our understanding of space:

'Perhaps if we all took some time out from the hectic pace of twenty-first-century life to merely gaze up at the night sky and contemplate the things we don't know, we could once again feed that natural child-like curiosity in us all.'

I love this book!! As a child I remember watching Neil Armstrong take those first steps on the moon live! I dreamt of travelling there too and maybe even further, whilst I have never achieved that dream my passion has never waned and books like this keep that fire burning bright, it’s an awesome book, but it now!!