(Credit: Park Photo Studio by Matt Kim)

In his 2024 nonfiction debut, Cosmic Wonder, uber-precocious B.C. high-schooler Nathan Hellner-Mestelman attempted to explain, as the subtitle put it, “our place in the epic story of the universe.” Released barely a year later, Hellner-Mestelman’s second book covers similarly expansive thematic ground, looking to tell “the backstory of our universe – yes, the whole thing … from its explosive birth to the present moment.”

Hellner-Mestelman aims to cover all of this in fewer than 200 pages, which even he admits, in the book’s preface, is far too few for such a task. Instead of keeping things simple and covering only the universe’s biographical highlights, however, he flings himself (and the reader) deep into some of the most complex and confounding scientific ideas, theories, and realities that underpin all existence. Even something like the big bang, which most young people have a basic sense of, becomes, in Hellner-Mestelman’s hands, a swirl of uncertainty: “our scientific knowledge simply tanks like a deflating submarine when it comes to explaining the very moment of cosmic creation. Space is far too glitched up.”

The Language of the Stars is clearly not a patient, step-by-step primer on the history of the universe. Instead, it is a restless torrent of ideas and enthusiasm in which every sentence vibrates with Hellner-Mestelman’s obvious love for his subject. He has zero chill: “Clouds of gas stirred up into stars, hotspots cooled down, stars exploded, planets lumped and crumbled, life arose and rotted, and overall, the cosmos went from a spotless canvas of plasma to looking like a teenager’s room – and we’re so lucky it did.” As long as the reader is willing to be pulled along at the book’s breakneck pace, and to eschew simple answers for exposure to large cosmic mysteries, the book will be an impressively mind-blowing experience. His cartoon-like illustrations are both charming and frequently helpful in nailing down difficult concepts.

There are a number of places where Hellner-Mestelman’s overeager prose leads him into imprecision, like in the first chapter’s discussion of dark matter: “if something’s ubiquitous enough in the natural world, it’s going to pop up again, and again, across the universe.” Similarly, that chapter’s attempt to link its perplexing topic to the history of chocolate beer is one of many metaphorical flourishes that don’t pay off.

Those who are merely universe-curious should opt for a milder ride than The Language of the Stars. But for readers whose minds work at the same high frequency as its author’s, this will be a trip worth taking.