Asteroids Books

This book is written by a world class planetary geologist. In it, he has done an excellent job of bringing together the diverse threads of the planetary geology. The book is written on an introductory level, and so the language is not so technical that a novice cannot follow it. However, it might be helpful for the reader who has no background to read another introductory text first (this would then act as an 'upper level' introductory text). The book is strewn with quarter to full page photographs from the various space missions to the planets--and indeed, it is the best illustrated introductory text available. The author does provide a good overview of all the geological processes and imaging technology in his initial chapters, which is then followed by his descriptions of the planets. Overall, this text gets a very good recommendation, and readers will find themselves engrossed in the spectacular photography for hours on end

You probably don't want my review included, although I think the book is excellent, primarily because I am its lead author.

I admit it. I like comprehensive textbooks that cover a subject convincingly. If I had to teach a class in Planetary Science, I'd probably pick the book by de Pater and Lissauer. That's a really good comprehensive text. But this one is good too. And I certainly would enjoy teaching planetary science from either book.

What this book does is cover descriptive planetary science in twelve chapters, covering about 190 pages. These chapters require very little prior knowledge of mathematics, physics, or astronomy.

After that come 42 chapters on very specific topics. These take another 280 pages or so, and they require a little more knowledge of mathematics, physics and astronomy. They also teach some fundamentals of physics and astronomy that prospective planetary scientists need to know. Look at the table of contents to see the topics in this section.

The benefits of this approach are twofold. First, the book can be used to teach a course at a rather elementary level, using mostly the first part of the text. Second, the book avoids the trap of glossing over a large number of topics without explaining any of them really well: the 42 well-chosen topics are presented wonderfully.

The negative side of all this is that some topics are omitted. I'd never think of writing a book like this one. But I'm sure glad Cole and Woolfson did!

This book has vivid pictures which make it worth buying just for that. The information is extreemly useful and some of it can be hard to find in other place.

I bought this book in the late '70's and have not found any asteroid interpretation book to replace it since. It is excellent, to the point and seems amazingly accurate, IMV. It has the natal planet to natal asteroid, plus the synastry of one natal planet to the other person's asteroid placement (but conjunctions only).

It definitely deserves a reprint!

For a century Mars has been the object of more interest, more studies than any of the other planets in our solar system. The reasons are clear: it is the most Earth-like of the other planets, it's the only one where we can get good images from the surface rather than clouds, and from Lowell's announcement of the canals of Mars it has been the subject of speculation both serious and fictional, the pictures released by the various probes, and finally President Gush's announcement on 14 January 2004, "We will build new ships to cary man forwart into the universe ... human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond!"

This splendid book, is written for the popular reader, and covers everything from Lowell's work to the latest pictures from the rovers and then projects on the future planned missions and those that remain yet as dreams.

This is a delightful book for anyone interested in the skys.

I have read this book with the very exciting feelings ,as reading a good scientific novel. The story bigins with the history of scientific novels as well as the history of the observation on Mars. The central portion of the book would de the argument of the experiments about the possibility of life on Mars. This argument is too deatiled to read the book with patience, but may be of considerable scientific importance. After leaving the story of Mars, this book also refers to the future endevour for searching life in the outer space beyond earth. This book may be best dedecating for amature astronomers or students interested in science.

This work depicts many pictures of Mars in full color together
with the scientific background and history of the planet. Fine
mosaics show the Daedalia planum, Solis planum and Vastitas Borealis from various areas of the planet. Calculations of orbital eccentricity are shown for the scientifically inclined.

Dark areas of exposed rock are depicted. The atmosphere is pictured at 95% carbon dioxide chemical content. There are no oceans visible on the Marsian surface-anywhere. The crust is shaped from volcanic activity over many centuries, The surface temperature is 80 Fah.

This book would be a fine acquisition for any student of science,
mathematics or astronomy. It would be perfect for any school
project.

20 years after publication, "The Surface of Mars" is still the absolute best starting point for anyone interested in learning the basics about what Mars is like. Chapters describe the channels, craters, volcanoes, history, moons, etc. as best as these topics were understood at the end of the 1970s Viking missions. Even after Pathfinder and with Mars Global Surveyor, this is still the book I suggest people start with to learn about the Red Planet.

1. Landscapes with craters: meteorite impacts, earth, and the solar system

2. Target earth: present, past, and future

3. Formation of impact craters

4. Shock-metamorphic effects in rocks and minerals

5. Shock-metamorphosed rocks (impactites) in impact structures

6. Impact Melts

7. How to find impact structures

8. What next? Current problems and future investigations