Asteroids Books

If one could ignore the author's blatant anti-Americanisms, the plot is a fairly decent what-if kind of storyline. For the UK fans of Mr. Napier's work who have not ventured across the pond, just for your general information, not all Americans are ugly, bent on world domination, nor are they all bombastic jingoists with Southern accents; but if "Nemesis" is your only window into the US, you would come away with that impression.

I enjoyed Napier's other novel, The Lure, much more than this work. While i enjoy astronomy and other scientific pursuits, the conversations between the characters get a bit heady at times. Good character development and an ending with a few twists do result in an enjoyable book, but it was very similar in overarching plot devices to his other works, so it becomes a bit easy to figure out what is happening too early.

Bill Napier graduated from Glasgow University in Astronomy and pursued a career in that field for many years prior to taking up the profession of novelist .Nemesis was his first novel and appeared in 1998 .It was reissued following the success of The Davinci Code as there is a strand to the book with faint-actually very faint-echoes of Mr Brown's mega seller in that Renaissance manuscripts are involved in the plot

The protagonist is maverick British astronomer Oliver Webb whose holiday in the mountains of Scotland is interrupted by the arrival of a government helicopter which ,against his wishes ,transports him to the US ,and in particular to an observatory in Arizona .There he forms part of a top seceret team charged with averting a threat from an asteroid apparently diverted from its course by a newly aggressive hard line Soviet government intent on wiping out the USA .The team have only a limited time to detect the path of the asteroid and divert or destroy it before the US must contemplate massive retaliation against the Soviets It is the galactic equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack.Things do not proceed smoothly;one of the team is murdered ,team members bicker and the military ,who head up the enterprise are pushing hard for quick answers.Webb comes to believe the key to locating the asteroid may lie in an obscure Renaissanace era text by a man named Vincenzo ,persecuted for his support of Galileo's "heretical "notions.(The book incorporates flashbacks from the present day to 17th century Italy and the trial of Vicenzo). Most copies have mysteriously vanished and Webb most travel to Italy to locate the sole remaining copy .During the course of his trip ,his main ally is murdered ,he is blackmailed amd kidnapped .

There is a sub-plot involving an attempted coup by the Joint Chiefs of Staff against a President they see as weak and pacifistic in the face of Soviet bellicosity

There are a few too many pages of techo-babble for my liking ,although some of the facts around nuclear and asteroid aftremath are compelling ,and worrying .In geneeral howevewr these tend to slow up the pace of the plot .I failed to see the deft plot twist and found the book to be quite gripping .It would benefit from trimming and the characterisation is functional only but on the whole a good first novel and a good page turner

Let me say up front, I could not finish this book. I made it through 128 (painful) pages and just gave up. After reading some of the other reviews, I am glad I did! Most of those 128 pages are brainstorming sessions among scientists about how to stop an asteroid that could be hurtling towards the US. I like astronomy, but this was WAY over my head. I could feel my eyes glazing over as I read....for example, "The gravitational target area exceeds the geometric one by 1+(Ve/V)2 where Ve is the escape velocity from Earth and V is the Nemesis approach speed." Not light reading by any means. If you're a science nut, you'd probably like this book. I got it more for the hint of 17th century manuscript angle (since I'm a history nut), but even that couldn't get me through Nemesis.

Unless you have a doctorate in astrophysics, almost every explanation in this book will be over your head. The characters are so underdeveloped you'd think the author thought giving them names would be more than enough and the premise is ridiculous. When a character dies, it's on par with asking what the weather is outside. No emotion, no depth, and absolutely no imagination. I'm angry at myself for purchasing it.

WARNING - There is graphic sexual violence against women in this book.

As my title states, this book is basically a means for Zebrowski to share his views of the American prison system. If you are interested in the subject, then read the book. There are pages and pages of his viewpoints. Many times I had to reread a paragraph just to figure out what he was trying to say.

There is not much of a plot here. Prisoners are placed in hollowed out asteroids. Other than Zebrowski's opinions, it is an exploration of how different types of criminals could survive with each other in isolation. As expected, it brings out the worst in human beings. There is graphic sexual violence which is not for the meek.

Great concept. However, the author seems to have run up against an editor's deadline and rushed to finish the book. Also, I thought the author was too graphic at times dealing with sexual deviants and other criminal activities.

okay..i thought this book was great. i found it intersting to learn about what the would do to all those criminals. what really baffleed me was the way it was written. so vivid that u could actaully feel like u were there. the criminal's were more or less..like those that u would find nowadays. the living inside the astroeids seemed so magnificently odd. however, this book had lost o' ideas and pointerz in it that would make one think. (p.s. : i am a teen...i don't know y i read this bk. i found it in the libraryt in adult fic section. i'm addicted 2 adualt fic bks. i like the Dragonriders series and all. adult fic books r soo kewl. and i luv sci-fi/fantasy mix bkz)

After reading the back of the book, I was very interested in the concept of putting criminals on hollowed out asteroids and putting them into cometary orbits. As I progressed through the book, however, it seemed to lose focus for me. I was expecting a lot more about the actual people in the asteroids and not so much about how humanity has treated and viewed criminals. After a while, I found myself skimming the second half of the book looking for the parts I wanted to find out about.

In all, the concept for the book was great, but for me it failed to deliver what I was expecting. I would rather have read about how the criminals dealt with their new reality. This is written about, but not to any great lengths. There is a lot of in between the lines kind of reading and that felt unnecessary to me.

This book is still worth reading, even if you skim over parts of it.

The idea of putting penal colonies in space is really interesting. Zebrowski tries to tell the story of the individuals in the colonies and at the same time examine the long term social effects of hurling thousands of people into a closed environment in only 200 pages. This brevity resulted in the isolation of both ideas. What we get is the beginning and the end of what could have been a good book had the middle not been left out.

At best, Turner's book is a regurgitation of a few of the historical proposed human Mars mission concepts. At worst, it is inaccurate. For example, on Page 251, it states that the core Magnum vehicle was based on an "extended Space Shuttle main fuel tank." The real proposed Magnum core would have used composite fuel tanks and RS68 engines, none of which were derived from Shuttle. The Magnum concept did propose using standard Shuttle SRBs, for boosters, not the liquid flyback boosters, as stated. Also Figure 9.1 is of a sidemount Shuttle Derived Vehicle (SDV), like Shuttle-C, and not a Magnum, as stated. The RS68 engines, referred to on Page 289, would not fit the pictured sidemount SDV configuration. The real proposed Magnum configuration is correctly identified in Figure 8.3. Few of the figures/photos in the book are in color and none give credit to Jack Frassanito, whose company produced most of the enclosed artist's concepts.

Will the first Human mission to Mars be a historical fact in my liftime? This is the central question of the book and the answer from a technological standpoint is certainly positive. The book Expedition Mars covers all technological fields needed to make a manned mission to Mars happen. The orbital mechanics of such a trip described in this book are even for a non-expert easy to follow, while the section on launch mass makes clear that every kilogram of payload to be send to the Martian surface needs a major increase in the launch mass of the rocket lifting the mission of Earth's surface. In the chapter on possible propulsion systems the author takes into account the public distrust in nuclear propulsion and describes the necessary measures to be taken to test such an engine on Earth without the release of radioactive material. He also clearly explains that such a engine will only be used and activated in space, greatly diminishing the risks. Not only technical issues related to a mission to Mars are described in the book, but also the financial-economical and social part of such a mission are well covered, proving that scientists and engineers are able to explain their work to the man in the street. In the final chapters Martin Turner explains the NASA reference mission to Mars, greatly influenced by the work of Zubrin and coworkers, and shows that the improvement in the design of such a mission is ten fold in almost every aspect. The costs for a human mission to Mars is currently estimated at 55 billion dollars as much as the (ANNUAL agricultural subsidies of the European Union) to be spread over a period of 15-20 years, equalling 2 billion dollars a year. This fits in the American as the European space budget. It is even lower than the annual amount spend in the Space Shuttle programme. The last chapter is devoted to the social-economic arguments for and against a human mission to Mars and should be a must-read for every one in the space business. In a realistic way the pros and cons of a manned mission are explained with even new arguments, such that the money spend on space missions is mostly covered by the man hours in such a project. This refutes the statement by antagonists of the Mars programme that all money is launched into space instead it is launched into the local economy by the people who work in the space industry.

All in all this book should be on the list of all space enthousiasts and space professionals and can well be used in science classes to get students back to studying natural sciences and engineering.

Arno Wielders
Chairman Mars Society Nederland

This book is so full of errors and mistakes that it ends up being more of a waste of time than anything else. In addition, the writing style is amateurish - almost to the point of being funny. You get the impression that the author was simply transcribing Sky&Telescope rather than thinking through what she was actually trying to say.

This book is a useful overview of what we know about Jupiter. Anyone interested in Jupiter will find it readable. And some of the information will appeal to specialists as well.

An introduction gives a short history of observations of the planet, including the robotic missions of Pioneer and Voyager. After that, there is a chapter on Jupiter's atmosphere and another on the famous Red Spot. Beebe then tells about the problems in modeling the interior of the rapidly rotating Jupiter. And we find out more about modeling of the upper atmosphere.

I was intrigued by the part about spectrographic measurements of the hydrogen and helium in Jupiter's atmosphere. You see, spectrographic analysis gave a mass ratio of 21% to 22% of Helium in the Jovian atmosphere. But Beebe tells us that the Galileo Probe in situ observation was more like 25% Helium. That is actually important. It turns out that a very straightforward calculation of Big Bang nucleosynthesis predicts a minimum of 23% to 24% primordial Helium in the universe. The percentage of Helium in Jupiter ought to be a little higher than the primordial one. So it could be that the Big Bang calculation of 23% to 24% is indeed right on the money. On top of that, as Beebe points out, the Probe results could confirm that there is enough mixing in the upper Jovian atmosphere to prevent much Helium from separating out and falling to lower elevations.

Beebe continues with a description of Jupiter's satellites and ring. By the way, I would like to point out that many more satellites of Jupiter have been discovered since her book was written. Those discovered in 2000 include Kalyke, Harpalyke, Isonoe, Taygete, Themisto, Praxidike, and Magaclite. Those discovered in 2001 include Aitne, Hermippe, Eurydome, Thyone, Autonoe, and Euanthe. Several more were discovered in each of those two years. By early 2004, a total of 63 satellites of Jupiter had been found.

The author then briefly describes the Jovian magnetosphere. And she concludes by discussing the Shoemaker-Levy comet collisions with Jupiter and the results from the Galileo Probe.

I recommend this book.

This book I was waiting for with great anticipation, after dog earing my Demetra George's book asteroid Goddess, I thought this was going to be a continuation of that one. Although a lot more practical than mythical it was brief at best. I was expecting more "meat" to this book and was disappointed in that aspect of the book.
However, this book is great if your are needing meanings on the major asteroids in houses and signs, it can give you a wider perspective and for that I liked the book. Be forewarned! If you are an avid researching like myself, you can find this information on the web!

Vee-ga or Vay-ga? Kerrod won't tell you in his series of "Planet Library" books. Despite it's lack of proncunciation guides, the series -- like "Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors" for example -- is very well written with a reader-friendly layout. There are plenty of recent NASA/ESA color pictures and drawings, and the binding will make the books last well into the next century. All of Kerrod's information is accurate, but sometimes slighly skewed; fpr example, he mentions the "Mars canals" mix-up with Schiaparelli and Lowell, but does not explain that the problem was translating "canali" to canals, not channels. But give Kerrod his due: it's not easy to distill so many scientific concepts for young readers, and ultimately Kerrod does a good job covering a broad range of astronomy topics, and includes just enough 'fun facts' to keep young readers smiling while they learn.

This is probably the most disappointing of the Commander Toad books, which my sons, ages 4 and 8, truly ENJOY and even beg for! It is a fun read, but not as outstanding as the other books in this series.

The crew receives a message from a planet inhabited only by doves. It turns out that their beans have swollen and clogged the storm sewer drains, causing the entire planet to flood. Very far-fetched, indeed.

The birds sent an SOS to Star Fleet when their wings grew tired from having no place to land. Mistaking their bird language, Commander Toad's crew brings a shipload of beans, which the birds don't really want. They just need dry ground on which to rest.

In the end, Commander Toad saves the day by swimming underwater to pierce the swollen beans with his official Star Fleet gadget. Then he must hold on to a statue of the Mayor while everything unattached goes down the drain! Swallow your disbelief!

The reason this book is not as good as the remainder of the series is because, in a few cases, the pictures don't mesh with the story. I.e. the text says Doc Peeper goes to the planet's surface, but the image doesn't show him in the sky skimmer. Also, the plot is even more oddball than usual.

Incredibly fun series of books. Try _Commander Toad and the Space Pirates_ or _Commander Toad and the Intergalactic Spy_.

We are all made of stardust, but the story of how supernova debris became planets and people is neither simple nor fully understood. Harry McSween, a geologist by trade, begins his story with the accretion and evolution of the earth and follows it to the relatively recent development of its thin skin of living creatures. His narrative traces both planetary history and the history of the sciences that have enabled us to understand where we came from

I was expecting more from this book as it has been well reviewed. The book reminds me of the Seinfeld episode in which Elaine wants to use nothing but exclamation points for every sentence in a book she is editing. This author uses so many exclamation points that I wonder why he didn't write better sentences to emphasize a point. The history of various spots reads as a touch dull. Although this book is billed as the latest in observational details, most of the information seems to have been collected from 2001 to 2002, though some of the information comes from earlier or later years. The writing is sloppy with a number of errors in charts; some of the errors in the writing are distracting or cause confusion. A good read, but the writing makes the reader work harder to find the few good (exclamation) points.

Writing this review, I was not sure if I should designate three or four stars to this book. In the end I opted for three stars although, if it were possible, I would rather give the book a rating of 3½.

This book was written in 1988, after the encounter of Voyager-2 with Uranus (January 1986) but before the encounter with Neptune (1989). As a consequence this book mainly focuses on Uranus. On a total of 180 pages, 142 pages (chapters 1-4) deal with Uranus and only 38 pages (chapters 5-6) with Neptune and Pluto/Charon.

The first chapter (44 pages) describes the space probe, including its technical problems, summarizes the encounters of the space probe with Jupiter and Saturnus and describes the encounter with Uranus, focussing especially on its moon Miranda. The second chapter (34 pages) describes the discovery of Uranus by William Herschel in 1781 and all knowledge of Uranus (including its rings and moons) gathered before the encounter of Voyager. The third chapter (22 pages) describes the findings of Voyager concerning the planet Uranus itself and the fourth chapter (42 pages) the findings concerning the moons and rings of Uranus.

The writing style is quite readable, albeit edging on the dry and technical. There are 50 photographs reproduced in the book, including 10 photographs of Miranda (some quite nice), 12 of the other moons of Uranus (many quite mediocre but probably the originals aren't that good either, being taken from great distances), 6 of Uranus, 9 of the rings (some nice, some quite grainy). Reproduction quality of the photographs appears only reasonable, not excellent. Many drawings and tables are included in the book although the drawings often look a bit "primitive".

The fact that Uranus is visited by only a single space probe makes this book, although written in 1988, still up to date. If you can find a good copy for a fair price, don't hesitate to buy one.