Life Cycle of a Star in Plain English

You have heard that we are made of stardust, and you have never quite been told what that actually means. Every explanation either talks down to you or drowns you in equations.

This audiobook follows a single star through its whole life, one stage per chapter, from a cold cloud of gas to ignition, through its long steady middle age, into the red giant years and on to the white dwarf, the supernova and the neutron star left behind. Each stage is pinned to one everyday comparison you can picture, and each chapter closes with a short spoken account of how astronomers actually know this, including the places where the science is still unsettled.

By the end you will hear the word supernova and think of the calcium in your own bones. Press play, and let one star tell you where you came from.