Review of The Milky Way Smells of Rum and Raspberries ... and Other Amazing Cosmic Facts by Jillian Scudder

Phillip Helbig

The Observatory, 145, 1305, 65–66 (April 2025)


This is a book review of The Milky Way Smells of Rum and Raspberries ... and Other Amazing Cosmic Facts by Jillian Scudder.

The Milky Way Smells of Rum and Raspberries: ... and Other Amazing Cosmic Facts, by Jillian Scudder (Icon Books), 2023 (originally published 2022). Pp. 255, 19.7 × 13 cm. Price £10.99 (paperback, 978 1 83773 101 5).

As one might expect from the title, the book is a collection of interesting facts, the thirty-four chapters of about four to eight pages each discussing them in turn, starting with the entire Universe and moving in through galaxies, stars, and black holes to the Solar System (with which somewhat more than half of the chapters are concerned). Although chosen to be interesting, they are used as jumping-off points to explain various aspects of astrophysics. As one might expect from the title, the book is a collection of interesting facts, the thirty-four chapters of about four to eight pages each discussing them in turn, starting with the entire Universe and moving in through galaxies, stars, and black holes to the Solar System (with which somewhat more than half of the chapters are concerned). Although chosen to be interesting, they are used as jumping-off points to explain various aspects of astrophysics. This is a nice book suitable as an introduction to those interested in astronomy but with pointers to more information, but probably everyone could learn something new from it.


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