Fred Hoyle’s “Frontiers of Astronomy” (1955) is now available for free, online, in a variety of realtime and downloadable formats from

http://archive.org/details/frontiersofastro031522mbp

Half-century old astronomy books, no matter how celebrated, are of limited usefulness (except perhaps to remind us to leave our hubris at home when pontificating about the Universe), but this one is worth looking through. I read it in paperback when in Junior High School (actually, I had to read it several times times until I got through it, it is not written for children). It had an enormous influence on me.

“Frontiers” is notable in that it gives a thorough and popular treatment to Hoyle’s greatest failure (the Steady State Theory: the alternative to the Big Bang) and his greatest success (Nucleogenesis, the origin of the chemical elements due to thermonuclear processes in the course of stellar evolution). Hoyle argues both very convincingly, but he only got one right.

Looking through these pages was like running into an old lover; delight, regret, fond and bittersweet memories — shock at the toll of the years, but an appreciation and affection for the inner beauty that is still there if you take the time to look.

Rest in peace, Fred.