Give audiobooks, support local bookstores! Start gifting
Our Accidental Universe by Chris Lintott
  Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account
Illustration of person sitting

Shop small, give big!

With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of local bookstores.

Start gifting
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Nowโ€™s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, weโ€™ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Sign up today

Our Accidental Universe

Stories of Discovery from Asteroids to Aliens
Due to publisher restrictions, this audiobook is unavailable for purchase in your selected country.
Narrator Chris Lintott

This audiobook uses AI narration.

Weโ€™re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.

Learn more
Length 7 hours 29 minutes
Language English
  Add to Wish List

Almost ready!

In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.

      Log in       Create account

Brought to you by Penguin.

The BBC presenter of 'Sky at Night', and Gresham Professor of Astronomy, Chris Lintott, takes us on an astonishing tour of bizarre accidents, big characters, and human error to tell the story of some of the most important astronomical events of the past hundred years.

- Our first views of the earliest galaxies were brought to us by the Hubble Space Telescope when it was pointed at absolutely nothing.

- The ice-covered Enceladus, one of Saturn's nearly one hundred moons, was revealed as a possible habitat for life after a by-chance fly by of NASA's Cassini probe on a mission elsewhere.

- Pulsars, the spectacular remnants of long-dead massive stars, were discovered as 'scruff' in the data for measurements of the twinkling of possible radio stars.

As new telescopes are built on mountaintops and in deserts around the world, aiming to transform our view of the universe once more, Chris Lintott shows us that keeping an open mind will benefit us all - whatever might still be out there for us to find.

Praise for Chris Lintott
'Superbly written insights.' - Professor Brian Cox
'Chris Lintott is a modest genius. He has quietly revolutionized modern astronomy.' Brian May
'Lintott deftly interweaves personal experience and more philosophical ruminations.' Michael West, Nature

ยฉ2024 Chris Lintott (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Chris Lintott is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, where his research ranges from understanding how galaxies form and evolve, to predicting the properties of visiting interstellar asteroids. He is Principal Investigator of the Zooniverse citizen science platform, which provides opportunities for anyone to contribute to scientific research, and which was the topic of his first book, 'The Crowd and the Cosmos'. Lintott is best known as presenter of the BBC's long-running Sky at Night program, and as an accomplished lecturer and performer in venues from music festivals to planetaria. In 2023, he was appointed the 39th Gresham Professor of Astronomy, a post that dates back to the 16th century. Away from work, he cooks, plays real tennis and spends time with a rescued lurcher, Mr Max, with whom he presents the Dog Stars podcast.

Chris Lintott is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, where his research ranges from understanding how galaxies form and evolve, to predicting the properties of visiting interstellar asteroids. He is Principal Investigator of the Zooniverse citizen science platform, which provides opportunities for anyone to contribute to scientific research, and which was the topic of his first book, 'The Crowd and the Cosmos'. Lintott is best known as presenter of the BBC's long-running Sky at Night program, and as an accomplished lecturer and performer in venues from music festivals to planetaria. In 2023, he was appointed the 39th Gresham Professor of Astronomy, a post that dates back to the 16th century. Away from work, he cooks, plays real tennis and spends time with a rescued lurcher, Mr Max, with whom he presents the Dog Stars podcast.

Illustration of person sitting

Shop small, give big!

With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of local bookstores.

Start gifting
Phone showing make the switch message

Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Nowโ€™s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, weโ€™ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

Sign up today

Reviews

A riveting real-life Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Highly approachable and elegantly explained ... a splendid book. An enjoyable tour of astronomical discoveriesโ€ฆHis excellent book is a laymanโ€™s guide to the surprises. Entertaining and enlightening. Dense with information, Our Accidental Universe is also light-hearted and funny, thanks to Lintottโ€™s nerdy humour, especially in the many footnotes. But most of all, his boundless enthusiasm for everything cosmic makes it hard to put this book away once you start reading. Expand reviews
Give audiobooks, support local bookstores! Start gifting