I was given a copy of this newly published book for my birthday recently. It is beautifully printed and bound, but more importantly, it is an extremely accessible account of the current state of cosmology.
What I particularly like is that it explains "how science is done", and presents the raw data so that you can replicate the basic work yourself. The first couple of chapters on measuring and weighing the Earth even demonstrate how to do some actual experiments yourself. (Did you know you can get a good estimate of the size of a molecule using nothing more than a glass of water and a drop of vegetable oil?)
By the time we get to measuring the scale and age of the universe, most (but not all) of the raw data requires equipment that is beyond most amateurs, but again, the key data and basic equations are provided in a way that you can do the math yourself. (And if you're challenged by this, you can skip it and just read the text and look at the graphs and pictures.)
Highly recommended! (This would be a great time to start dropping hints about what you want for Christmas!)
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/180728/universal/
sounds awesome!
