Every atom in our body was once part of a star. Our own star, the Sun, is crucial for the development and sustenance of life on Earth. This very brief introduction offers a modern, authoritative examination of how stars live, produce all chemical elements beyond helium, and how they sometimes die spectacularly, ending up as remnants like black holes. Andrew King demonstrates how understanding stars is key to understanding the galaxies they inhabit, and thus to the history of our entire universe and the existence of planets like our own. King presents a fascinating exploration of the science of stars, from the mechanisms that allow stars to form and the processes that enable them to shine, to the outcomes of their inevitable death.