The proposed book introduces the reader to what is known to modern science about the star islands of the Universe - galaxies. The author fascinatingly talks about the history of discovery and study of galaxies, their morphology, research methods, determination of extragalactic distances. The reader learns about the structure of galaxies, interacting galaxies, clusters of galaxies, quasars and radio galaxies and possible sources of their energy, the search for intergalactic gas. A separate chapter is devoted to the origin and evolution of galaxies.