The Universe: a biography John Gribbin Allen Lane, 256pp, £20 ISBN 0713998571

John Gribbin's reputation on matters of a scientific or cosmological nature is unassailable, and yet, as a title, The Universe: a biography is not the most approachable. Then again, nor was that of his earlier book, Science: a history, and this proved to be a resounding triumph.

Gribbin's modus operandi with this latest work is much the same. A mixture of careful research and measured argument is combined with a philosophical examination of the nature of existence that has far wider appeal than any textbook, as well as an excellent glossary.

The tone, by turns academic and populist, is set by the epigraph, which is a quotation from Bertrand Russell: "It is not what the man of science believes that distinguishes him, but how and why he believes it." Gribbin is humble enough, like any good biographer should be, not to assume that he can answer all the questions behind the existence of the universe. Instead, he explores the wider issues, in a manner that is authoritative yet strangely comforting.

Even the knowledge that the world will eventually end in what he terms "The Big Crunch" does not detract from this. After all, in the words of Monty Python's Life of Brian: "You come from nothing – you're going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing!"

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