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ASTRONOMY is an exception to the general rule that highly specialist topics are covered only at an advanced level. Take typical subjects, say the black hole at the centre of our Galaxy, sunspots and planetary life, and you often find books geared to all kinds of students from the mathematically challenged to the extremely competent. The driving force is the massive amateur following for astronomy. Most will happily buy a few astronomy books each year.

Let me begin with the most accessible. Judit Brody鈥檚 The Enigma of Sunspots is a well-crafted and beautifully illustrated historical review of attempts to understand these solar blemishes and their effects on Earth. The interplay of observational evidence and theory, amateur and professional endeavours, makes this a perfect case history of the way 19th-century astronomy advanced.

Fulvio Melia combines two exciting topics. The Black Hole at the Centre of our Galaxy provides the reader with an excellent equation-free introduction to the vagaries of general relativity and the gravitational fields of massive condensed objects. He also gives a fascinating insight into the problems of observing exactly what is happening right in the middle of our Galaxy. We will never see its black hole, but impressive recent technological advances have enabled us to peer through the thousands of light years of swirling cosmic dust to glimpse a dark spot near Sagittarius A. Astronomers soon hope to pick out the event horizon of the enigmatic central black hole silhouetted against the backdrop of nearby radiating gas.

Turning to the primordial cosmic 鈥渄ark age鈥�, one of the intriguing problems of modern astronomy is explaining how the remarkably uniform gas in the early Universe managed to clump together to form billions of galaxies. William Keel has written an accessible introduction to this complex subject. He delicately balances observational evidence against today鈥檚 relevant theoretical possibilities. The Road to Galaxy Formation is authoritative, up to date and thorough.

Closer to home is the Solar System. The Planetary System by David Morrison and Tobias Owen is a respected classic. We now have a revised and updated version of this equation-free introductory text. I love the way the authors home in on the relevant, stressing their points by an unfailing choice of the right image and illustration. These planetary scientists show an uncanny understanding of the student鈥檚 requirements. I know of no better place to begin trying to get to grips with the significance of the space-age planetary observations and the relevance of our Solar System to understanding the mechanisms of how planets originate around stars in general.

In Planetary Science, George Cole and Michael Woolfson concentrate on planetary surfaces and interiors and the interactions between planets and nearby stars. Their book elegantly combines physics, mathematics, geophysics and astronomy. They begin with an overview of planetary and satellite characteristics. The second part is refreshingly unusual, concentrating on 41 planetary science topics from spin axis precession, tidal heating, orbital migration to interstellar interactions in open clusters. The mathematical and physical approach is elegant, relevant and at a typical second-year university level. This book encourages understanding and not mere assimilation of data.

Finally, let鈥檚 turn to astrobiology, a relatively new topic on the timetables of progressive universities. For a general non-mathematical introduction we have Daniel Altschuler鈥檚 Children of the Stars, a dramatic and engaging overview of humanity鈥檚 place in the Universe, the evolution of life and the hazards to its continuation. A more detailed and well-referenced approach is Intelligent Life in the Universe by Peter Ulmschneider. He concentrates on planet formation and the characteristics needed for the development of life, the timetable of evolution, and the effects on our planet and others of life becoming intelligent. A lecturer could build an intriguing general science module around this book.