Oor Big Braw Cosmos

About the Book: 

The universe is too big to traverse on foot, or via any vehicle yet devised, so humans have to probe it mentally. Some describe its majesty with mathematical formulae. Others encompass it through verse. This delightfully audacious book does both. The result it positively four-dimensional. DAVA SOBEL, AUTHOR OF Longitude Which Scotsman inspired Einstein's Theory of General Relativity? Which planet is on third made of diamond? How big is the Universe? Find out the answers to these questions and many more in this new book from Astronomer Royal for Scotland, John C Brown OBE and Rab Wilson, renowned Scots poet and NTS Scriver in Residence at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. This fascinating guide to our skies and beyond brings together science and art to convey the beauty of our vast cosmos and its scientific workings. Combining an accessible introduction to astronomy with original space-inspired poetry and haiku, and featuring hundreds of stunning images, Oor Big Braw Cosmos shows you space as you've never seen it before.

Reviews: 

The wildly different backgrounds of the book’s two creators, alongside their merging of seemingly unrelated subject matter, results in a book that is as fascinating in its own story as in its content. The 404 Ink Magazine, Spring/Summer 2019

There’s a good chance that this astronomy book – to quote one of the featured poems by co-author Rab Wilson – is “Gaun bauldly whaur nae man hus gaen afore!” PAUL F COCKBURN, BBC Sky at Night Magazine

The universe is too big to traverse on foot, or via any vehicle yet devised, so humans have to probe it mentally. Some describe its majesty with mathematical formulae. Others encompass it through verse. This delightfully audacious book does both. The result is positively four-dimensional. DAVA SOBEL, author of Longitude

Brings together the latest cosmic thinking with a Scottish twist. CHRIS LINTOTT, presenter of The Sky at Night

…it is an extraordinary combination of cutting edge science, astronomy history, amateur astrophotography, cultural references and visual art, with verses written by poet Rab Wilson in old Scots – the language of Robbie Burns. ANDY SAWERS, Chair of the Flamsteed Astronomy Society, The Journal of the British Astronomical Association

This is a book to use both for reference (the astronomer’s summaries of many subjects, from the Big Bang to solar physics and exoplanets, are models of clarity) and sheer fun… It’s a book that rewards both concentrated reading and random toe-dipping in its seas of stars and universal energies. KENNY TAYLOR, Northwords Now

Anyone who has an enquiring mind and an interest in all things beyond our world will find this a fascinating read Scottish Field

About the Authors:

JOHN C. BROWN OBE, FRSE,was made 10th Astronomer Royal for Scotland (ARFS) in 1995. In astronomy research he has published around 300 papers, winning the 2012 Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal. He is also a keen teacher and semi-pro artist and magician, so a wizard at lucid explanation and illustration of amazing science ideas. As ARFS he gives numerous astronomy talks to all audiences and ages, and collaborates widely on creative projects in every area of the arts. His 2016 OBE was for ‘services to promotion of astronomy and science education’.

John also runs a website with his upcoming news and events.

RAB WILSON is one of Scotland’s most accomplished poets. He was born in New Cumnock, Ayrshire in 1960. After an engineering apprenticeship with the National Coal Board he left the pits following the miner’s strike of 1984–5 to become a psychiatric nurse. As a Scots poet, his work appears regularly in The Herald, Chapman, Lallans and Markings magazines and he is the author of a number of highly praised volumes of poetry and a Burns scholar.

Rab has performed his work at the Edinburgh Festival, the StAnza poetry festival at St Andrews, the ‘Burns an a’ That Festival’ at Ayr and has been ‘Bard of the Festival’ at Wigtown, Scotland’s National Booktown. Additionally Rab is a previous winner of the McCash Poetry Prize and was ‘Robert Burns Writing Fellow – In Reading Scots’ for Dumfries and Galloway Region. He has worked with the artist Calum Colvin on a book of responses to Burns and he is the Scriever in Residence for the National Trust for Scotland based at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Ayr. Currently a member of the National Committee for the Scots Language Resource Centre, Rab regularly attends the parliamentary Cross Party Group for Scots language held at Holyrood. He is a ‘weel-kent’ advocate for Scots writing. He lives in New Cumnock with his wife Margaret and daughter Rachel.