Published By: Collins
Pages: 112
Released On: 08/10/2026
The universe is teeming with beauty beyond what the human eye can detect, and only relatively recent advances in technology have allowed us to capture it in all its glory.
Galaxies explores the Universe on an expansive scale, showcasing and examining the gargantuan structures of stars, planets, gas and dark matter that populate our cosmos.
Such structures do not exist in isolation; their interactions play a pivotal role in their evolution. We witness galaxies swallowing their smaller counterparts whole in acts of galactic cannibalism, growing ever larger in the process. When two or more massive galaxies collide head-on in spectacular fashion, the destruction unleashed leads to the creation of a new generation of stars as two become one.
So why do galaxies cannibalise each other? When will the Milky Way meet its end? And how many distant galactic superstructures lie beyond our gaze? Galaxies reveals all of this and more in a compact and accessibly informative way.
From the earliest sketches and black-and-white photography of the first discovered galaxies, all the way to observing distant megastructures in our own back gardens, galaxies persist in intriguing and confusing us in equal measure. The mystery of their origins, the abundance of dark matter within them, and the true nature of the supermassive black holes at their centres all continue to push the limits of our understanding.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Collins for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I’m obsessed with space, it absolutely fascinates me so I jumped at the chance to read this.
The photos are so beautiful. There’s a nice balance between the images and the text, but I will say, there is a lot of text. If I’m honest, I preferred the images over the text because a book like this, I think, requires a visual learning, but it’s all very interesting.
It doesn’t necessarily need you to have any prior knowledge to understand it, but I think if you’re already an expert then it won’t give you much more information than you already know. This almost starts as a beginner’s guide, but not in a dumbed-down way.
I like that he’s given an historical edge to it, how generations who lives thousands of years before us saw the same galaxy and how their knowledge compares to ours.
I know space scares some people (my Mum included) because it’s so vast, but that’s what fascinates me. We are all, in essence, sitting on a ball that is floating in a never-ending vacuum. It is terrifying when you think about it, but it’s this vastness, this idea of what could be out there that fascinates me.
I got some astronomy binoculars for my birthday and I cannot wait till it gets to the winter and it becomes dark enough to properly see some plants. Just with my birdwatching binoculars I cried seeing the outline of Jupiter for the first time, so I don’t know what I’ll be like when I get a clearer view.
I am desperate to go somewhere with no light pollution so I can take in the amount of stars. And I want to go to Greenwich Observatory, but from what I can find out, it’s not very wheelchair friendly so I’m not sure how I’d fare but I’m willing to give it a go.
I read this as an e-arc but I might have to get a physical copy when it’s out. It would make a great coffee table book.
Books By Your Bedside 