The Space Oracle by Ken Hollings review – why humans are star-struck

From astrology's houses of the zodiac to the 'lost cosmonauts', this beautifully written book appraises humanity's relationship with the stars

At the start of this succinct survey of our undying love affair with the cosmos, Ken Hollings notes that we are all, even in this scientific age, "secretly familiar with our star sign". His book's 12 chapters echo the 12 houses of the zodiac. It is not a defence of astrology, though, rather, a wonderfully impressionistic exploration of how we have tried to make sense of the stars, from ancient cultures such as the Maya and the medieval idea that astronomy was an art, to the "lost cosmonauts" - the Soviet astronauts who preceded Yuri Gagarin but never returned, their capsules lost in space.

Hollings's beautifully written account takes the reader on some delightfully unexpected cosmic journeys. A riff on how, through polished glass, stars look like snowflakes, leads to Robert Hooke's comparison of snowflakes and urine crystals, and ends with an Apollo astronaut describing how in space "a urine dump at sunset" was "the most beautiful sight in orbit".