The Universe - book and TV series

[Dog Star]

Knowing of my interest in matters astronomical, a bloke at work lent me a book - The Universe, by Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest.
I've got about 15 or so books on astronomy but this one impressed me with its sheer readability - a real page turner.
It's one of the most concise and easy to understand books on the subject that I've ever read. Complex and baffling concepts (to me) are treated in an informative and user friendly manner.
The blurb on the inside cover states "It accompanies the television series "Universe", created by Pioneer Productions for channel 4 in the UK and The Learning Channel in the USA."
I've never heard of it and it's not often that a show like this gets past me.
Has anyone else heard/seen or read about it.
If the tv series is anywhere near as good as the book, I'd love to get a hold of a dvd of it.
The book is copyright 1999.
Anyone know anything about it?

[Kevnool]

check out ebay phil i reckon i saw the series on there for about 59.00 us currency but dont quote me tho....cheers Kev.

[Dog Star]

Many thanks for that, Kev:thumbsup:
You've not seen it yourself, then?
Damn! I can contemplate black holes, comets and hypernovas but E-bay scares the hell out of me.
Oh well, once more into the breach then.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I've got some episodes at home Phil, the series has been playing on the History channel on Austar for a while, on occasions I've had the hard drive recorder running at the same time .... :whistle:

I've been trying to find time for ages to edit the adds out and copy these onto DVD for you - add it to the huge list of stuff I never seem to get done anymore since we went to 12 hour shifts - like actual observing, or finishing the motor driven bino-chair, or working on the car, or catching up with mates, or going to the beach, or snorkelling, or fishing......
[RANT mode off]

It is a great series, well worth watching again and again. There are into series 2 now.
I'm pretty sure it played on SBS as well.

http://www.historychannel.com.au/tv-shows/showDetails.aspx?show=7

[Dog Star]

Damned if I know how it got past me!
If the series is as good as the book then it would have to be one of the best space doccos ever.
Series 2, you say? This book only has 12 chapters. Are we talking about the same show here?
Maybe I fell into a bottle of Drambuie, er..that is to say, a singularity?
:doh::rofl:

[Gargoyle_Steve]

During my online search for the History channel stuff for you there before I found this link too, thought you in particular would be curious:

http://www.dogstar.tv

[Dog Star]

We may be at cross purposes here.
The show I'm talking about is Universe (not THE Universe)
It was made for the Learning Channel ( not the History Channel)
Chapter titles are;
COSMOS - Edge of the Universe; Big Bang; Death of the Cosmos.
STARS - Secret Sun; Supernova; Black Holes.
PLANETS - New Worlds; Impact; Red Planet.
ALIEN LIFE - Abodes of Life; Genesis; The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
This all sounds a bit different from the link you provided, although I understand that your link referred to a "series 2"
The book I have is 9 years old; how old is the series you're talking about?
Be that as it may, I still wouldn't mind a copy of the show you're talking about:D

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Yeah definitely crossed purposes then. Interesting!
Must check into that other one.

"Keep watching the skies!"

[Jen]

:hi: Hi there Phil :) i thought this site might be helpful to you :thumbsup: cheers looks good im checking this out myself :thumbsup:
http://www.hencoup.com/Heather.htm
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004T8U2/qid=1099671233/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_2_5/202-9724094-1222230

[Dog Star]

Many thanks for those links Jen. Just what I needed:thumbsup:
I thought the names of those authors were slightly familiar. I noted that they have also written a book called "The History of Astronomy" which I can highly recommend. (I gave my brother a copy for his birthday.)
She seems to have that gift of being able to make a subject very, very readable.
Might have to check out more of her books. Hope you find some good stuff for yourself as well.
Cheers for that Jen:)

[Jen]

Your welcome Phil :thumbsup: yeah that book "The History of Astronomy" looks good i have just added a few of those books to my xmas wish list :P:whistle:

[Tandum]

The Universe is the US version of the British show and season 3 of it has just started. The Universe (http://www.mininova.org/search/the+universe/8) can be got via torrents but they don't list the British version. They do list the British show The Sky at Night (http://www.mininova.org/search/the+sky+at+night/8) which is worth a look but not available to download for long. It's not as popular as heros :)

Other shows may appear in these searches and you need a bittorrent client like utorrent (http://www.utorrent.com/) to get them.

[Dog Star]

Until I started searching, I didn't realise how many shows and books called Universe or The Universe existed.
Still, I suppose it is a pretty inclusive title.:)
Sky at Night is a great show and it comes on a cd with the monthly Sky at Night magazine which I buy regularly.
Thanks for your reply Tandem. I think I've got this sorted. I just need to buy about 4 books and half a dozen dvd's:doh: