Clocks in the Sky – The Story of Pulsars Author: Geoff McNamara Publisher: Springer-Praxis ISBN: 978-0-387-76560-0 Price: £19.99 (Pb), 190pp
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Presenting the story of pulsars might have been a difficult task in view of its history, which in astronomical terms is relatively short, being contained entirely within the period from 1967 to the present day. It is also a very human story in spite of being rather specialised from an astronomical point of view.

The author begins with some background information on the life and death of stars, an introduction to the neutron that is essential, some comments on quasars and a few words about Tony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell to set the scene. The manner in which the two worked together is treated sensitively as indeed it should be, they having brought back radio astronomy to the public attention by their discovery of the radio pulsar. After the announcement of the discovery it was inevitable that a search would be made for an optical version of the same phenomenon and three young men, a Briton, Mike Disney, and two Americans, John Cocke and Don Taylor made the important discovery using, it is said, borrowed equipment.

Not surprisingly the number of teams involved in the search for more and different pulsars grew quite quickly. The personnel changed, but the excitement continued and success brought more success, a situation that the author has captured and sustained throughout the book. Being Australian he has also included the efforts of the Australian radio astronomers, which were extremely successful. There are now a number of different types of pulsar, some having been found in the most unlikely places, for instance globular pulsars, pulsars with planets, magnetars and multibeams.

The presentation is never boring and manages to convey the continued excitement that identifies the subject. I can only recommend it.

Bill Barlow