I read a lot of astronomy books, so any one book tends only to reinforce what I know already, plus just a little bit of additional information.

This book was different. I learned a lot about star formation and particularly about the meaning of the ubiquitous Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. The diagram is obligatory in a discussion of any astronomy other than planetary, but it tends to be described rather than explained. Here Kipenhahn goes through the life of stars of various sizes, showing their evolution along the H-R diagram and why the "main sequence" is so thickly populated (simply, because that's when the stars are burning hydrogen, which is what they do most but not all of the time).

Once done with the basics, he goes on to cover binary stars, neutron stars, and other stellar oddities. He also devotes a chapter to planetary formation and the possibility of life on other planets. Three brief but valuable appendices cover the measurement of stellar velocities, distances, and masses.

This book is a treasure and an authoritative work on the topic. Highly recommended.

with out question one of the most exciting books about star evolution.

This book is truly wonderful. Easy and fun to read. It is one of the few science books I have read that eschews all mathematical formulae and still does a great job fully explaining the material. I really appreciated the way he explains background material rather than just glossing over it. For example he does a great job explaining magnetic fields from a very basic level. Unfortunately the price seems almost prohibative, I received the book as a gift from a relative in England, I hope it is cheaper there.

Mr. Kippenham has written a thoroughly enjoyable book! I've read a great many books on Cryptology, and while his book won't make you an expert, it gives descriptions and explanations superior to many other "beginner texts". In fact, the explanation of the mathematics involved in RSA encryption is the most lucid and easy to understand that I have yet read. Much of the book is a rehash of some other good crypto books like "Decrypted Secrets" and Beutelspacher's "Cryptology", but at least Kippenham puts it all together in an easy to understand style. For a more comprehensive history while still an enjoyable read, try Simon Singh's "The Code Book", the book that started me on my expensive journey of "collecting" crypto books, and if you're still interested, David Kahn's "The Codebreakers" is the holy grail of Crypto history, but a bit more dry. BEWARE. . .you may get hooked like me! Then the American Cryptogram's Classic Crypto Book Service or Aegean Park Press (both of whom specialize in Crypto books) will be "collecting" some of your money!

This is one of the best books on Cryptography that I have read. One of the best features of the book is the long detailed discussion about the "Enigma" machine of World War II. A lot of really suprising revelations about who REALLY broke that code system. How every encoding system works and how they are cracked are also discussed. Amazing how most code systems are very insecure. The book was great but a little dry to read, which I suspect has to do that it was translated from German. The examples are mostly English so it is easy and fun to read.

and finally a book that explains the detail in a clear, simple manner from Caesar's to credit cards. It's difficult to do this succinctly in few pages, but Rudy does it expertly. I highly recommend this small, interesting, cheap, and well-written book.