Quartet to read

Unlocking the universe: Everything you need to travel through space and time 

Stephen & Lucy Hawking

"We can boldly go where no one has gone before; who knows what we will find and who we will meet?" remarked the late Stephen Hawking towards the end of his life. Given the missions to Mars taking place this year and ambitious projects underway to land craft on Jupiter's moons, this book makes the perfect primer for children and adults alike – though the book suggests ages nine to 17. It's on everything we ever wanted to know about the universe but were too afraid to ask. How did it all begin? What does it take to put humanson Mars and have them survive? What would you doif you had the opportunity to travel through space and time? This collection of up-to-the-moment essays and mind-blowing facts by the world's top scientists, including the late Professor Hawking, is curated by his daughter Lucy. It's stunning in its scope, ambition and enlightenment. Among its many revelations, we're now just decades away from becoming a multi-planet species. (Puffin)