Origins: How the Planets, Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe Began (Astronomers' Universe)

From the reviews:

I'm happy to say that I don't think author Stephen Eales has to worry about [falling short of achieving his goal]... . His ambitiously titled book is a sound and readable addition to the astronomy shelf. ... It's a fine reference, well indexed, and, in less than 300 pages, contains the history of the universe. For only one volume, it's a great value. (Jeff Kanipe, Sky & Telescope, August, 2007)

Eales, an astronomer at Cardiff University in Wales, has written a survey of astronomical origins, starting with our solar system and moving ever outward to the origin of the universe. ... The book is well researched and has an affiliated Web site to help readers keep up with the rapid change in knowledge about our origins. ... A work for general readers, it could also be a good course resource for a general education astronomy class. ... Summing Up: Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates. (R. A. Kolvoord, CHOICE, Vol. 44 (11), July, 2007)

Origins, follows naturally ... discussing how things came about how we found out about them, covering the origins of planets, stars, galaxies and the Universe itself. ... Almost every aspect of astronomy is included in considerable detail and as with the previous volume there are many useful diagrams, some colour photos and amazingly low price for a quality product. ... In addition the author provides his own version of the life of a professional astronomer and its well worth reading. (Bill Barlow, Astronomy Now, June, 2007)

Origins is a great book-it's concise, timely, and instructive. ... Origins describes the discovery of new planetary systems in the vicinity of our Sun, and the techniques that lead to a better understanding of their formation and evolution. It makes the reader familiar with new types of telescopes and observations. ... The text is kept at a fundamental and basically non-mathematical level that clearly conveys all the physical concepts ... of today's front-line astronomy research. ... I warmly recommend this book. (Thomas Puzia, The Observatory, Vol. 127, December, 2007)

As an astronomer, Stephen Eales has travelled around the world, working in Cambridge, Honolulu, Toronto, and at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. He is currently a professor of Astrophysics and Cosmology at Cardiff University, where he carries out research into the origin of galaxies.