Asteroids Books

In this densely written book, Heidelberg University professor Peter Ulmschneider covers a remarkably wide range of questions related to extraterrestrial life and intelligence, and does so with convincing authority. His work, part of Springer's Physics and Astronomy series, has the flavor of a university textbook, with numerous graphs, tables, and diagrams, and a few equations. Readers will need either a basic knowledge of science or a willingness to learn while reading.

Part I, about planets, discusses the origin of chemical elements, planet formation, the search for extrasolar planets, and planets suitable for life. Part II, about life, begins at the most basic level of organic chemistry, then moves on to a condensed discussion of biological evolution on Earth. A much briefer chapter provides a quick overview of the search for extraterrestrial life. Part III, on intelligence, takes an unusual approach by beginning with the future of Humankind, emphasizing human expansion into the solar system and possible threats to our survival. Ulmschneider argues that, by thinking about our own future development, we can gain insights into the nature of extraterrestrial intelligence. He concludes his book with a discussion of extraterrestrial intelligent life, briefly noting some of the proposed explanations for the Fermi Paradox.

This book is not for casual readers. Because it covers so much territory, the discussions are highly condensed. Nonetheless, Ulmschneider has done an impressvie job. The book includes some small but well-reproduced colored pictures.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It is carefully written, has an enormous amount of up-to-date information, and covers the subject reasonably well. Astrobiology is a relatively new subject, and this is one of the best books about it. I was very impressed by the amount of material Ulmschneider was able to cover in only 250 pages and how clearly he explained everything. He went through the origin of the chemical elements, planet formation, the threat of planetary migration, the search for extrasolar planets, planetary atmospheric instabilities, theories on the origin of life on Earth, the evolution of life, the threats to the Earth's environment from the existence of life (such as the Huronic glaciation), the search for extraterrestrial life, and much more. That included some speculative material, some of which I found dubious. But that does not detract from the overall value of this book.

This book was so dense with information and so elegantly organized that I found it easier than most recreational reading I do these days. The author explains how one might answer what I consider to be the ultimate question: Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? The author refrains from pontificating his own opinion, but rather provides the background information necessary for the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. The basics of planetary science, astrophysics, and biology are presented in the first section, followed by a description of the conditions in which life has evolved, and where elsewhere in the universe we might find such conditons. Part three (the section that I found to be the most fascinating) described the nature of intelligent life and the fate of humanity. As a student studying astrobiology, I found that this book did an amazing job of unifying many of the classes I have taken, and painted a very good picture of Astrobiology as a sigle subject. I would recommend the book to anyone intersted in astrobiology, space exploration, or the future of mankind. The material presented was sufficiently detailed for a student to gain insight, yet presented in such a simple manner that even the casual reader would walk away with and understanding of the contents.

It is a technical term "non-expert audience." The editorial description of this book says that such is its target audience. A non-expert audience means that the intended reader does not have much -- perhaps next-to-no knowledge of the subject matter; HOWEVER, that same intended reader is used to going into depth and has similar or at least somewhat close level of expertise in some totally different area to what the author possesses about his/her subject. In short, one could say a "non-expert audience" reader is one who is very well educated, not afraid of depth and details, can concentrate well, but just so happens to know nothing of the subject matter he/she is about to read. Scientific American articles of the 70's and 80's are superb examples of writing to the "non-expert audience".

That being said, are you one who likes or hates concentrated reading? That can have a bearing on whether you should get this book.

However, if you are searching for a big compendium of facts -- in tables in many cases, this book would serve that one purpose admirably.

Do you want to know details of how Voyager accomplished what it did? Be careful what you wish for: this book has much on that topic. (But so does Burgess' book on Neptune.)

The book has much about Voyager's experiences and results at Jupiter. A very nice bonus. Jupiter is not at all covered skimpily. In fact, the book's title is nearly inaccurate as perhaps 40% of the book is about Jupiter and it's moons.

For the scientific methodology / teamwork interested person there is plenty of that. What I found intriguing was how they discovered that a cause of blur in Neptune pictures was the starting and stopping of the digital tape recorder reels (needed due to low bit-rate required of the faint [how faint: seeing a penlight flashlight on Earth while standing on the moon!] signal from as far away as Neptune). The tape recorder reel starting and braking would torque the Voyager spacecraft! (A command was sent to fire thruster a few milliseconds every time recorder would start or stop.)

If all you want is pictures, there are good ones, but better you get Burgess' book -- or Seymour Simon's children series -- or Asimov's series if all you want are pictures.

For this book, you have to enjoy either lots of details -- content details and/or methodology details -- or having tabulations of facts (such as for all the Jupiter and Neptune moons). If neither of these appeals to you but you want more than a childrens book, get the Burgess book "Far Encounter".

Neptune, the 8th planet in our Solar System. I won't say there are little books write on a single planet, however, books which write simply on Neptune, you can count. Apart from the technical masterpiece "Neptune and Triton" published by Arizona University Press, this Praxis publication is the best book on Neptune ever had.

I remembered when this book was first published, I bought it immediately. Firstly, it is because this is one in the excellent Springer-Praxis book series, I always love the books published by Praxis. Secondly, "Neptune" is a special book, in early years; Miner also published a very good book "Uranus" for Praxis. Therefore, I didn't think buy bought a copy of "Neptune".

When I not yet started my reading, and found that only the second half of book talk about Neptunian atmosphere, interior, ring etc, but used the first half to talk about the Voyagers and the pre-Neptune discoveries, I thought that that it was traveling out of scope.

However, when I started my reading, it is not the case.

Miner was one of scientists in-charging the Voyager mission to Neptune, his personally experience cannot be replaced by others. His writings are to point, no dummy words, everything he wrote are related to the Neptune findings. Even for those he mentioned for the Voyager findings on Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, are all concise and it's important for the story of Neptune discoveries. It is totally different from my first impression.

More, Miner described the history of Neptune, the telescopic understanding of Neptune before Voyager; the story of Voyager, its beginning, preparation for the Neptune encounter, the detail sequence of events during the encounter as well as the in-depth Neptune sciences. From his firsthand experience, you can see how NASA's daily operation, and the details of Voyager mission, these are already worthwhile for the book.

The only weakness of this book is the coverage of Triton is too little. Since Triton is a very important moon in the solar system, persaonlly I think there should be a whole chapter dedicated for Triton.

This book is a great reading for those who love space exploration and the Solar System. This book is not too difficult nor too easy, so I suggest this book to those who have basic knowledge of the Solar System and planetary exploration.

I highly recommend this book!

Neptune is the eighth planet in the solar system, the last gas giant and the last planet of any real size. Due to its great distance from the sun, everything that we knew about this planet, until Voyager 2 visited it in 1989, was determined by telescopic observation. In this book, the authors, who both worked on the Voyager science team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, summarize the discoveries made by the spacecraft, the spacecraft's design and the discoveries made by telescopic observations. As with all the books published in the Springer-Praxis, Astronomy and Space Sciences series, there are numerous high quality photographs, line drawings and graphs in this book. Other than a few children's books, I believe that this is the only text, which covers Neptune in any detail.

The first quarter of the books examines the pre-Voyager findings from Galileo's possible sighting, to its modern discovery that was determined by mathematical methods and its possible origins. The next portion of the book, which is also approximately one quarter of the book, covers the development of the Voyager probes and their subsequent discoveries at Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus (Voyager 2 only). The remainder of the book focuses on the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune in 1989 from the long-range pre-encounter observations to the post encounters studies. In this large section of the book there are discussions on everything from, rings and satellite discoveries, radio science, the moons, the moon Triton and its atmosphere, cloud structure and much more.

A few final thoughts. First, if you don't have a great summary the Voyager mission, this book definitely provides it. Secondly, even though I have a technical background, I found some sections, especially the chapter of the magnetic fields a bit too technical. With that said, this book is definitive text about the planet Neptune.

This book was great! It was so heartfelt and such an easy read. I just couldn't put it down, I had to find out what happened in the end. This book was awsome and I would recomend this book to any who can read!!!!

This book has it all! It has sadness, hope, love and suspense. It shows courage from every single character in the book, and you just can't put it down- You are drawn to find out what happens in the end. It tells us what each person is thinking, how they accomplish difficult obstacles, and forget their failures. I abslutely loved this book, and would highly recommend it to anyone with a heart!

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission completed in 2001 was the first to orbit and eventually land on an asteroid. That fact makes it significant. The fact that the mission was an unqualified success-when a success for NASA was truly critical in the aftermath of two successive failures with Mars probes in 1999-makes it rare. The fact that it was conducted by the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory over the protests of the mighty Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA's traditional solar system exploration center, makes it politically sensitive. The fact that the NEAR team performed the mission on the cheap, spending less than $150 million, makes it unprecedented for deep space probes. The fact that it returned thousands of images, spectra, and other measurements about the large near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros makes it scientifically relevant.

After a long gestation period, NEAR began its voyage to Eros on 17 February 1996, the first mission flown under NASA's new Discovery program, a series of low-cost planetary science projects. NEAR finally moved into orbit around Eros on 14 February 2000, roughly a year later than intended.

Throughout 2000, NEAR explored Eros offering spectacular pictures and a rich harvest of spectroscopy data. At the conclusion of the mission, on 12 February 2001, the mission team landed it on the surface of Eros. Although the NEAR spacecraft was not designed to survive landing, its instruments remained operational until 1 March 2001.

In "Asteroid Rendezvous" several of the scientists and engineers who conducted the NEAR mission describe it in their own words from initial concept studies through development, launch, and cruise operations. The book is liberally illustrated throughout with both stunning images from the mission and explanatory diagrams.

"Asteroid Rendezvous" is long on description and celebration and short on analysis and critical examination. Even so, it is a very interesting book, and a fine start in documenting the history of this important mission. It will be of interest to amateur astronomers and general readers who want to know about the American space program. It will serve as grist for future serious historical studies of planetary exploration.

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission was the first of NASA's "Faster, Better Cheaper" spacecraft. Its primary mission was to orbit the asteroid 433 Eros, thereby becoming the first robotic explorer to orbit and eventually land on an asteroid. On the journey to Eros, NEAR flew by the main-belt asteroid Mathilde as well as our home planet, the Earth and returned dozens of pictures; however, the journey to Eros was almost lost when a software error caused the main engine to shut down prematurely. Due to the efforts the engineers and scientists supporting this project, the space probe was saved and the NEAR mission became one of the most successful NASA missions. In the end, the mission returned with hundreds of thousands of images, spectra, and other measurements about the large near-Earth asteroid Eros.

In this book, the author, Jim Bell, a planetary scientist and professor at Cornell, has assembled nine different articles about various aspects of this mission into one concise book about all aspects of this specular mission. The book opens with a chapter providing an overview of Eros and then moves into two chapters dedicated to the spacecraft and its mission, and its trip to Eros, from launch to rendezvous. The remaining chapters cover the different discovers made by the NEAR spacecraft, such as its overall landscape, its history, and several on its geology. There is also one chapter, which explains the photography planning, and eventual execution of this plan.

In general, I did not find the book to be very technical and there is a glossary of terms to help the layman as well as numerous photographs, figures and graphs are found throughout the book to further explain a given topic.

If you are interested in planetary exploration or the space program in general, this book would an excellent addition to your library.

I found this book while researching in the library one day for astronimical events. I opened it and became intrigued immediately. The information contained within it kept me fascinated for hours and still does. I refer to it anytime I wish to know anything about the planets, eclipses, statistics concerning the planets etc. Each planet is addressed separately giving a history of the founder, how it was located. The beginning of each section pertaining to a planet includes items such as:

Physical Data: Size, Mass, Escape Velocity, Temperature Range, Oblateness, Surface Gravity, Volume, Magnetic Field Strength and orientation, Albedo, Density, Solar Irradiance, Atmosphere Pressure, Composition of Atmosphere, Maximum Wind Speeds, Cloud Features, Surface Features, Orbital Data, Observational Data, Early Ideas (a good history of how people interpreted information in earlier periods of time when technology was not as advanced as now), Important Concepts, Transits, Interesting Facts, Observing Data which includes Conjunction dates, elongation dates, Close conjunctions, Eclipses if applicable, Historical timelines.

The above information is provided for each planet, which makes this invaluable source book. In the beginning of the book there are comparison charts showing how each planet compares in Albedo, Angular Size, Atmospheric Composition, Atmospheric Pressure, Brightness & size of the Sun from each planet, Brillancy at Opposition, Cloud Features, Constellations Visited by the Moon and Planets, Density, Distances from Earth, Distances from Sun, Eccentricity, Escape Velocity, Future Dates of Conjunction (up to 2010), Future dates of Opposition (up to 2010), Future Significant Alignments, Future Transits (up to 2255), Inclination of Orbit, Magnetic Field strength and orientation, Mass, Named features on the planets and the Moon, Names of the planets, Sun and Moon around the world (includes: Arabic, Danish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Spanish, Swedish), Oblateness, Orbital period, Orbital Velocity, Rotational Period, Rotational Velocity (equatorial), Size, Solar Irradiance, Speed of Light Travel Times, Surface Gravity, Synodic Period, Temperature Range, Tilt of Axis, Volume, Winds Speeds, Satellites (which includes all the subject headings here for each satellite)

This is a wonderful book, packed with information that will fascinate and amaze at the same time teaching you about the universe. Science was not one of my favorite subjects but now as an adult I truly have begun to love it thanks to this one book.

I also consult this book whenever I wish to validate any astrological information that I might be working with or on. Truly and indispensible book.

If you need a quick look up reference for statistical information on the major bodies of the solar system then this is a really fine book.

NO ONE HAS REVIEWED THIS BOOK??? Fie on you SF snobbists! "Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids" and "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" are the best two SF novels of the last half of the 20th Century. Asimov and Heinlein. I must be missing something. Maybe Amazon accidentally erased the reviews. Even though the Lucky Starr series was published under the name of Paul French, they were Asimov stories thru and thru. He targeted the younger audience with these books but talent will out and I challenge anyone to say the Lucky Starr series isn't exciting and fun to read no matter what your age. In the first two books David Starr and Bigman Jones meet and embark on interplanetary adventures working for the Council of Science. Heck, don't waste time reading this review, get 'em and start reading.

You should definetly check this book out if you haven't already, especially if you're into Sci-Fi. All the Lucky Starr books are wonderful. I've been hooked on them since I was ten. They are great for any age. Playful, well-written and in praise of science (which deserves all the attention it can get). A real feel-good-about-science-and-the-human-race/spirit-lifter. Not to mention the quaint substitutes for real swearing ("Sands of Mars!") Read them, I bet you'll be hooked, too.

Very well written. I used this book for a class from one of the authors of the book. He does a really good job with up-to-date info in the book. Very well-written. Keeps you wanting to read more. It could definitely be enhanced if it had color pictures, though.

Dr. Christiansen is my professor for my Astrogeology class. This book is wonderful, the photos are awesome and more than that, it really is interesting. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the planets. It's worth the price.

The Rocket Men is a must read, along with the authors' Soyuz and David Harland's Mir, for anyone wanting to know about the Soviet space program. When it happened, all we knew about was what Soviet propaganda told us. Now that records are available, people are available to talk, we have a more complete story of those days. The book also debunks or verifies different myths from those days on disappearing astronauts and astronaut deaths and other aspects of the Soviet program.

Over the past few years Spring-Praxis has begun publishing high quality books about various aspects of space exploration, ranging from robotic missions to human exploration. This book is latest entry in series and continues the tradition of providing high caliber books. This time, the book focuses on the development of the Russian space program and the early flights (both men and women). While the book covers all the usual Russian firsts, like the first man and women crew into space and the first EVA, there are also a lot of other firsts, like the first civilians into space, which are covered as well. This truly an excellent book and presents a lot new information in a relatively non-technical way.

The book is divided into four main sections. The first section deals with the early Russian space pioneers, like Tsiolkovsky, and the development of the ballooning programs. The next section, which is the largest section, focuses on the Korolyov (The Chief Designer) and the development of the early Russian space program. The third section covers the early human space flight missions and the final section examines the unmanned vehicles that followed. Occasionally a few paragraphs about the US program are presented, to allow the reader to better gauge the Russian progress.

The first section of the book examines the early space flight theories of Tsiolkovsky and the early Russian pioneering efforts in stratospheric ballooning with the goal of trying to set a new manned altitude record. Two important benefits that came about due to these efforts were the development of pressurized suits for low altitudes and the understanding of parachuting fundamentals and parachutes clubs, which were ultimately applied, to the Russian space program.

The next section covers the Russian space program after World War II and the use captured German hardware to begin a space program. From these initial test flights, the Russian were able to begin development their ballistic missiles. The books presents the progression of the Russian missile program from the German V-2 through the Russian R-7, and it is easy to see that the Russian launch vehicles are direct descendants of the German launch vehicles.

The main section of the book focuses on the development of the early Russian space program, both manned and unmanned and contains a lot of information about the chief designer, Sergie Korolyov. The section of the books cover the construction of the Baikonur launch facility, the artificial satellite program, the development of the Vostok capsule, crew training, crew selection and loads of other stuff. I found the parts about the selection and construction of the Baikonur launch facility extremely fascinating. While it was in part chosen for its remoteness, it was also chosen that in the event of an abort, the launch vehicle could come down Russia and in relatively unpopulated areas of Russia. The construction crews faced a lot of hardships and death, but eventually after several years of hardships, the facility was completed. Also included in this section are detailed descriptions of the crew selection and training and ultimately their flights into Earth orbit. It is impressive to see than the Russian cosmonaut program paralleled the US effort and in many cases surpassed NASA. Specifically, the choice of women and civilians for spaceflight happened years before NASA even considered doing so. While some of the motivation behind these efforts may have political, these efforts were nevertheless carried on with success.

The final section of the book covers the unmanned flight since the Vostok and Voskhod missions. It was extremely interesting to note that many of the unmanned Earth orbiting Russian satellites even up to the most recent launches are based significantly on these early designs.

This is one of the best books I've read on the early Russian space effort with the only possible exception being Jim Oberg's Red Star in Orbit. It covers all the aspects of the development of the Russian space program and present a lot new information. Highly recommended!!!!!

This book is not really for the casual reader. On the contrary; this book is rather technical. The first four chapters deal with geological subjects like planet formation, satellite formation, accretional heating, radiogenic heating, tidal heating, partial melting, icy volcanism etc. etc. etc., and describes the Voyager and Galileo space probes. Then follows a description of (only) the bigger satellites.

In describing the "world in their own right", the writer puts them into the following categories:

DEAD WORLD:
Callisto (11 pages), Rhea, Iapetus, Mimas, Oberon and Umbriël (all 2-3 pages each).

RECENTLY ACTIVE WORLDS:
Ganymede (13½ pages), Miranda (8½ pages), Ariël (8½ pages), Dione (6 pages), Tethys (4½ pages), Titania 1½ pages).

ACTIVE WORLDS :
Io (18½ pages), Europa (17½ pages), Triton (12 pages) and Enceladus (6 pages).

UNSEEN WORLDS :
Titan en Pluto/Charon (3½ pages each).

Each moon is visualised with photograps (circa 95 photographs in total, of which nine in color), "shaded relief maps" (a total of 16) and plenty diagrams/drawings etc.

If the emphasis on geology in this book does not appeal to you, I advise you to leave the book alone. If, for instance, you only want really impressive photographs then buy a book like "Beyond: Visions Of The Interplanetary Probes". That book has much nicer photographs.

If on the other hand you really want to dig into the subject of how these "world in their own right" came to be and if you want to understand what you see on photographs of these moons, then this is your book!
The writing style is clear and understandable. You don't have to be a geologist already. This book will offer you many hours of enjoyable reading!

Though the number of pages in this book may seem a bit small to provide a good explanation the geological processes that shaped and are still shaping the moons of the outer planets, the author does an excellent job of doing just that. Excluding the Moon and the two small satellites of Mars, this book covers all the planetary satellites (moons) of our solar system. The book does include the latest findings (as of 1999) from the Galileo space probe.

The first quarter of the book describes in quite some detail, at least for the non-geologist, the different theories that have been used to classify these planetary bodies. The remainder of the book, excluding the conclusion section, is divided into three parts: dead worlds, recently active worlds and active worlds. Each of the moons falls into one of these categories and a detailed description of each moon is provided in its corresponding section. Each section also includes high resolution Voyager and Galileo photographs and shade relief maps.

After finishing this book, I came away with the idea the solar system is a very geologically diverse place and there is a lot we don't know. Even the author, in several places was willing to admit to that.

I bought this book based on the first reviewer's comments, hoping that I, too, could have some laughs and learning about the Red Planet! A guide to Mars just seemed so over-the-top, I had to explore it!

When I received the book and read this comment on the back cover, I knew I was in for something wonderfully unique: "Each year, more and more modern families are considering Mars for their summer holidays. The old inconveniences associated with travel and accommodation on the exciting and scenic Red Planet are fading fast. Anyone who enjoys a crisp and bracing climate, guaranteed year-round sunshine, and picturesque boulders far for the madding crowds should look at Mars again." I was hooked! hahahaha I wanted to go to Mars!

The book is divided into seven intriguing sections, which inform as well as entertain:

1) Travel (A clever description on how to pack for and get to Mars, where the round-trip journey is about 309 million miles! Also, there is a quiet talk about passports, Visas, and other entry issues. )

2) Practical A-Z (Here are some important travel tidbits regarding best times to go, climate, the Martian calendar and events, sky-gazing, food and drink, the Martian entertainment and night life, where to stay, calling home, religion, sports... You know, all your typical travel highlights!)

3) Mars in the Night Sky (A clever look at retrograde motion and Mars curious celestial personality)

4) Touring the Planet (An insider's detailed look at Aerography, the study of Mars' surface features and landforms: the Martian Poles, Mare Australe, Promethei Rupes, Big Joe, Cydonia & The Face, Tharsis, Olympus Mons, Valles Marineris, Syrtis Major, and others. Don't forget your moon trips and climbers' tips!)

5) A History of Mars (Explore the Martian Genesis; Mars in Earth mythology, history, science, and astrology; the Canal Craze; Mars in Sci-Fi and Fantasy--including a cool section called "War of the Worlds, Part II: All's Well that ends Welles." )

6) The Space Age begins (Read all about "Early Mars Tourism" efforts! LOL :) Enjoy early missions to Mars and their results. Tiny debate: does the face on Mars look like Ted Kennedy? Only readers can decide! This section also includes speculations on Martian Colonies for the future!)

7) Marsology (In here, find a fantastic listing of books and other media--fiction and non-fiction-- devoted to the Red Planet. Any Mars fan can benefit from this extensive guide to other resources, a grand checklist to explore.)

For a small book, there is a lot of info (and "dry" British humor) packed in the Cadogan Travellers' Guide to Mars. It is a refreshing read, and I believe it is well worth the price paid. The book is also an excellent resource for students who may have to study Mars science, history, and / or mythology. Makes a great primer for how to prepare for that BIG vacation of a lifetime!

Home-schooling parents and early college educators who wish to do unique, integrative studies mixing science, literature, mythology, humor, critical thinking, and creativity should take a look at what this book offers. People interested in colonizing and terra-forming Mars should read this book too! Celebrating imagination and innovation, this book offers its readers a fun journey that is both real in the context of its time and extraordinary.

As we learn more about Mars and as we continue to visit the planet with new technology, no doubt some of the facts / ideas in this book will begin to date themselves; however, that too will be quite funny--just as we now look at all those canal theories at the turn of the century and laugh! The best way to appreciate this book is to enjoy it for what it is...a clever travel parody that promotes further reading and discussion about the Red Planet and its many mysteries.

NOTE to those concerned: What you won't find in this book are the very recent Mars rover missions like Spirit and Opportunity or the upcoming Phoenix mission, slated for May 25, 2008. Readers who prefer a more serious, more in-depth "trip" / treatment to the Red Planet should investigate William K Hartmann's A Traveler's Guide to Mars or Planet Mars: Story of Another World (Springer Praxis Books / Popular Astronomy) by François Forget.

I brought this after reading Bill Bryson's comments in the New York Times and had a good guffaw. The authors, who usually write very irreverant guides about Europe, give Mars the same treatment-it not only makes science fun, but it makes you want to go to Mars on the next rocket out. Even my 11 year old has picked it up and used it for her science project at school. Pics are great too--altogether a fun little book!