Eating the Sun: Small Musings on a Vast Universe

by Ella Frances Sanders Narrated by Imogen Church

Overview

“Strong on science but just this side of poetry.”*-Nature*

An exploration of the principles, laws, and wonders that rule our universe, our world, and our daily lives, from the New York Times bestselling creator of Lost in Translation

Have you ever found yourself wondering what we might have in common with stars, or why the Moon never leaves us? Thinking about the precise dancing of planets, the passing of time, or the nature of natural things?*

Our world is full of unshakable mystery, and although we live in a civilization more complicated than ever, there is simplicity and reassurance to be found in knowing how and why.
*
From the*New York Times bestselling creator of*Lost in Translation,*Eating the Sun*is a delicately existential, welcoming exploration of the universe-one that examines and marvels at the astonishing principles, laws, and phenomena that we exist alongside, that we sit within.

“[A] lyrical and luminous celebration of science and our consanguinity with the universe. . . . Playful and poignant.”*-Brain Pickings

Editorial Reviews

DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile

Imogen Church’s stellar narration highlights the vivid detail and poetic language of this beautiful contemplation of our cosmos. In just under three hours, author Ella Frances Sanders whimsically explores our universe, considering carbon, stars, and our planet—among a myriad of other things—and how they relate to us. Church takes on the lyrical nature of the narrative with her own melodic charm. Her English accent and resonant voice provide a crystal-clear articulation that relishes words like “constellations,” “luminosity,” and “glittered imaginings” in descriptions that spark pondering and a sense of wonder. Church’s irresistible way with the spoken word compensates somewhat for missing out on the winsome imagery and playful fonts of the illustrated print book. This is a performance that is as out of this world as its subject matter. M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

★ 10/22/2018
In this small volume, Sanders (Lost in Translation) beautifully personifies the universe with lyrical prose and whimsical color illustrations. Brief chapters discuss numerous natural phenomena or theoretical concepts in poetic yet scientifically illuminating ways, ranging from the life cycles of suns through Darwinian evolution to geosmin, the smell of damp earth, which “leaves a person feeling as clean as if they had been dragged backwards through a cloud.” Readers learn how blue skies exist because “blue has shorter, smaller wavelengths, and is therefore scattered more”; how the modern understanding of time “is built on Einstein’s general theory of relativity, in which time is just a coordinate”; and a little about various other science concepts too numerous to list. Sanders further outlines why scientific language is so often foreign and frustrating to nonscientists: “it takes familiar words and puts them in entirely different contexts” while also introducing “a whole other vocabulary that a person would never normally have reason to encounter.” But in her fluidly conversational style, Sanders renders that language both accessible and appealing to her audience. Even more importantly, she consistently captures a sense of awe and wonder at the universe, and ignites (or reignites) that same sense in the reader. Agent: Jennifer Weltz, Jean V. Naggar Literary. (Apr.)

From the Publisher

Praise for Eating the Sun

“[A] lyrical and luminous celebration of science and our consanguinity with the universe. . . . Playful and poignant.” —Brain Pickings

“Sanders elucidates many of the wonders of our world . . . Each inspiring snapshot feeds the curiosity of anyone interested in exploring the universe that we exist in and that exists in us.” —Scientific American

“With this pairing of witty illustrations and an open-weave narrative—strong on science but just this side of poetry—Ella Frances Sanders has penned a pocket-sized book vast in ambition.” —Nature

“Ella Frances Sanders uses intricate illustration and thoughtful articulation to ask and answer the big questions about the universe, the solar system, and the world, marveling at the way nature works in a way that’s both visually and intellectually powerful.” —Food52

“If you’re looking for a book to ignite passion in science, and a reminder that despite the misery shown daily in the news the universe is in actual fact quite beautiful, then you should read this book.” —Chemistry World 

“Sanders beautifully personifies the universe with lyrical prose and whimsical color illustrations . . . poetic yet scientifically illuminating . . . Sanders renders [scientific] language both accessible and appealing to her audience. Even more importantly, she consistently captures a sense of awe and wonder at the universe, and ignites (or reignites) that same sense in the reader.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A wonder-filled excursion into the sometimes-baffling and formidable world of science. . . . Presenting information in a charming, conversational style, the author seeks to demystify science with panache. . . . A fun, accessible introduction to a variety of scientific topics that readers can explore further.” —Kirkus Reviews

“In this sweet and optimistic new book, author-illustrator Sanders explores the sweeping science of the universe and then breaks it down so that even right-brainers and hopeless romantics can comprehend. . . . Unique and delightful . . . Sanders’s marveling is inspiring and sure to be contagious, even for the least scientifically minded of readers.” —Booklist

“Wondrous . . . Remarkable . . . Read[s] like poetry. . . . [Sanders’s] colorful drawings, like her writing, encourage a childlike awe. This slim but lyrical exploration of the universe elicits poetry and awe out of science.” —Shelf Awareness for Readers


Praise for Lost in Translation

“A great little book . . . lovely.” —The Washington Post

“Beautifully illustrated.” —BuzzFeed

“A fantastic collection.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Thoroughly fascinating.” —Refinery29

“A charming little book with delightful illustrations.” —San Francisco Chronicle

DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile

Imogen Church’s stellar narration highlights the vivid detail and poetic language of this beautiful contemplation of our cosmos. In just under three hours, author Ella Frances Sanders whimsically explores our universe, considering carbon, stars, and our planet—among a myriad of other things—and how they relate to us. Church takes on the lyrical nature of the narrative with her own melodic charm. Her English accent and resonant voice provide a crystal-clear articulation that relishes words like “constellations,” “luminosity,” and “glittered imaginings” in descriptions that spark pondering and a sense of wonder. Church’s irresistible way with the spoken word compensates somewhat for missing out on the winsome imagery and playful fonts of the illustrated print book. This is a performance that is as out of this world as its subject matter. M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2019-02-03

A wonder-filled excursion into the sometimes-baffling and formidable world of science.

Sanders (The Illustrated Book of Sayings: Curious Expressions from Around the World, 2016, etc.) takes readers on a lively, nonstressful journey through the world of science in short chapters or "musings," each accompanied by her own whimsical color line drawings. Presenting information in a charming, conversational style, the author seeks to demystify science with panache. Each "muse" covers one specific topic, mostly astronomical but some natural and human sciences as well. She avoids scientific language, which "isn't designed to appeal to human ears, isn't especially melodic"; it "remains stubbornly inaccessible for most nonscientists." However, she will resort to some when the need arises—e.g., eigengrau, the gray color eyes see in the dark, or chronoception, the perception of time. Sanders also enlists the services of professionals such as physicist Ludwig Boltzmann, astronomer Arthur Eddington, and physicist Richard Feynman. Sanders is quite fond of statistics and factoids, and most of them are useful. Someone who is 80 years old "may have taken more than 700 million breaths" and walked the "equivalent of Earth's circumference five times…more than 110,000 miles during their lifetime." Their hearts will have beat 2.6 billion times. In the titular piece, about the sun, photosynthesis, and plants, the author discusses the "digestible sun fuel that we are consuming….It's astonishing to think that we have been solar powered since the beginning of anything at all." Plants, scientists have discovered, possess "memory, learning, and problem-solving," and "more than one in five is threatened with extinction." While there are more than 3 trillion trees on Earth, "they can't keep up with the amount of carbon dioxide that we are pouring into the atmosphere." Planting more "seems a more important pastime than ever," and global warming is even "having an effect on the very spin of Earth."

A fun, accessible introduction to a variety of scientific topics that readers can explore further. For Sanders, "everything is fascinating," and she hopes readers will agree.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172598128
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	11/26/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

THE MOST LUMINOUS OBJECTS IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE

Your luminosity is intrinsic, but your brightness will depend on who is looking at you. In astronomy, the luminosity of an object is the total amount of energy that it emits across all wavelengths, measured over time. It is often used when referring to stars, whose luminosity will depend on their size, and mass, and temperature. Brightness (formally known as apparent brightness), although related to luminosity, varies wildly depending on the location, positioning, or proximity of the observer. Something with great luminosity might, to us, seem nothing more than a fleck of dust, only because it’s sitting and burning and minding its own business unthinkably far away. For a human standing on the surface of the planet, the brightest object is the nighttime star Sirius, primarily because it is a mere 8.6 light-years away. It is by no means the most luminous star, though, and even within the constellation containing Sirius, Canis Major, at least three other stars are thousands of times more luminous; they only appear fainter as they are so much farther away. Even the most ordinary of stars seem noteworthy from where we are, and so we point at those pins of ancient light, nod at the brightness, assign them names and neighbors. In February 1963, a Dutch astronomer named Maarten Schmidt was analyzing an unusually bright speck in the sky, slowly realizing that while he had thought it might be a nearby star, it actually was something entirely different: not close at all, but rather 2 billion light-years away, and in order for it to still be so bright at that distance it would have to be more than anything known at the time. Schmidt named this object a “quasar,” which is short for “quasi-stellar object,” or QSO. Named 3C 273, it is located in the constellation Virgo, and optically speaking is the brightest of the bunch. In the fifty or so years since this discovery, hundreds of thousands of quasars have been observed. They remain some of the most astonishing things in the universe, and are perhaps the most luminous of all. Lying in the middle of galaxies, galaxies with vast black holes that can be billions of times larger than the sun, the temperature of a quasar can reach tens of millions of degrees, and their immense radiation means they outshine everything around them, drowning out all nearby stars. But they are not unchanging, and while one minute a quasar might be blinding, ten years later it can have become just another average galaxy. In astronomical terms, ten years is the briefest of moments, but it is events and observations such as this that lead to a better understanding of a black hole’s appetite: how they can be ravenously hungry one moment and completely disinterested the next.

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