Stars in Their Eyes([ABCDEF]+.)(.*?)The Scientific American Book of theCosmos edited by David Levy,Macmillan，￡20,ISBN0333782933([ABCDEF]+.)(.*?)Previous
generations of scientists would have killed to know what we know. For the firsttime in history,we have a pretty good idea of the material content of theUniverse,our position
within it and how the whole thing came into being.([ABCDEF]+.)(.*?)In these timesof exploding knowledge there is a definite need to take stock and assemble whatwe
know in a palatable（受欢迎的）form.______(46)([ABCDEF]+.)(.*?)The essays in The Scientfic American Book of the Cosmoshave been selected by David Levy, co-
discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9,which in 1994 struck Jupiter with theviolence of several full-scale nuclear wars.______(47)This is certainly a greatcollection of
essays,but it is not , as the book promises , a seamless（完美的，无缝隙的）synthesis of our current knowledge.([ABCDEF]+.)(.*?)Nobody can faultthe range of articles
Levy has included.There are essays on the planets, moons and assorted debris（碎片）in the Solar System , and on our Galaxy , the Milky Way.______(48)([ABCDEF]+.)
(.*?)The contributors,too,are stars in their own fields.Not many books canboast chapters writ-ten by such giants as Erwin Schrodinger and Francis Crick.Mypersonal
favorites are a piercingly clear essay by Albert Einstein on general relativityand an article by Alan Guth and Paul Steinhardt on the inflationary（膨胀的）Universe.
([ABCDEF]+.)(.*?)So much for the book's content. But Levy has not succeeded inproviding an accurate synthe-sis of our current knowledge of the cosmos,whichthe book
jacket promises.Gathering together previously published articles inevitablyleaves subject gaps,missing explanations and so on. ______(49)But there isn'tone.In
fact,surprisingly for a book so densely packed with infor-mation,there is noindex.([ABCDEF]+.)(.*?)Collecting essays in this way is clearly a goodpublishing wheeze（巧
妙的主意）.But this approach shortchanges the public,whowould be better served by an account moulded into a seamlesswhole.______(50)However,for the next
edition,please,please can we have an index?

______ (48)

A.Tegmark fears he may hold the record for the longest time taken to read onebook.

B.In a more positive vein,this is a wonderful collection of essays to dip inand out of if you already have a good overview（概述）of current cosmic understanding.

C.Levy is an active astronomer and an accomplished writer,so you'd expect himto provide a broad and accurate picture of our current understanding of thecosmos.

D.Scientific American has attempted to cater to this need by bringing togetheressays that have appeared in the magazine.

E.To some extent , these could have been plugged with a glossary（词表）of terms.