Kim Weaver - author of "The Violent Universe"

"The Violent Universe is sure to captivate beyond a readership of astronomy students alone."--Library Bookwatch

In "The Violent Universe: Joyrides Through the X-ray Cosmos", Weaver presents stunning full-colour X-ray images of the universe and explains what they tell us about the cosmos."--Physics World

"Weaver has made it possible for everyone to share in this great intellectual adventure."--From the Foreword, Riccardo Giacconi

I have always loved astronomy. As a child I was lucky enough to have parents and grandparents who encouraged this love of astronomy and gave me some pretty amazing books to read. My favorite was a book that had lots of visible images and artists' impressions of stars and galaxies. Although the images were grainy and fuzzy (it was the 1970's, after all, and optical telescopes were still somewhat inadequate for detailed pictures), I would spend hours staring at the photographs and wondering what these objects were really like. Books like this inspired me early on to become an astronomer and for years I have wanted to offer this same inspiration to a new generation of scientists and astronomers.

I wrote The Violent Universe: Joyrides Through the X-ray Cosmos because I wanted to tell the exciting story of x-ray astronomy. This is one of the areas of modern astronomy that has exploded in recent years with amazing new discoveries about our universe from satellites like Chandra and XMM-Newton. With this book I want to share my fascination with the widest audience possible. My hope is that you will also be inspired to think about our world and our universe in a whole new way.

       - Kim Weaver

Satellites I've worked with:
XMM-Newton
Chandra

My publisher:
Johns Hopkins University Press

About the Author
Book reviews