Like people, stars are born and die. At its heart, a star is a nuclear reactor. As long as its nuclear fuel lasts, a star is alive. However it is doomed when its nuclear reactor runs out of fuel, leading to fatal and violent consequences. But don't worry - our sun has another 5 billion years to go before that happens. This talk will discuss the fascinating history of how stars were discovered, and some of their bizarre and even incomprehensible qualities and behavior.