Solar System Books

This is the only book that you will ever have to read to know anything about solar heating systems or solar hot water systems. Technical yet understandable. My young son can understand the technical workings of solar heating with this book.

THIS STORY IS ABOUT 2TWIN SISTERSWHO ARE NOTHING ALIKE.AN AIR MAIL FROM OUTER SPACE ACCEDENTLY DROPS SOME LETTERS SAILING DOWN TO EARTH.CONNIE&BONNIE CATCH A BIRTHDAY CARD FROM PLUTO.SO THEN THEY HAVE TO BUILD A ROCKET SHIP.

Easy to read overview of astronomical techniques such as measuring distances of distant bodies and interpreting spectral patterns, as well as stars, nebulae, and star and planet formation. The cosmic cycle of interstellar clouds collapsing, the formation of stars, the death of stars with dust and enriched matter going back to interstellar clouds, is described. The Big Bang is theorized to have only created hydrogen, helium and a bit of lithium, with heavier elements produced in stars later. It is thus interesting to note that while older parts of our galaxy contain stars with very low levels of heavy elements, no stars have yet been discovered containing no metals, ie, with only the hydrogen, helium and lithium of the Big Bang.

Though some of his ideas or "philosophys" are extreemly out of date, it is a marvel to read the book that first experessed the "crazy" ideas that are now common knowledge for a 3rd Grader. I feel that anyone intent on studying philosophy, astronomy, mathamatics, or is just very intrested in the greatest works of all time should deffinitly read this book. Although sometimes hard to understand (Nicolaus is not the greatest writer) because of it's crypticness, it is a "must read."

This book is truly wonderful. Easy and fun to read. It is one of the few science books I have read that eschews all mathematical formulae and still does a great job fully explaining the material. I really appreciated the way he explains background material rather than just glossing over it. For example he does a great job explaining magnetic fields from a very basic level. Unfortunately the price seems almost prohibative, I received the book as a gift from a relative in England, I hope it is cheaper there.

I watched a TV show on Galileo a couple of nights ago. With his crude telescope he saw the four big moons of Jipiter and was sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life. What could you imagine he would thought about receiving a kit like this one that represents what we have learned since his time. Here is a desktop mobile that has all the planets (it even has pluto, but what can I say), planets then called the wanderers because they moved back and forth among the stars.

There's a book on exploring the solar system, including those from the past and missions planned through 2055. Again what would Galileo have thought about the very concept that we could send probes into space. Since the basic concepts of electronics hadn't been invented, he couldn't have imagined getting information back.

All in all, a beautiful book for the interested. The kit is marked as suitable for ages 14 years and older. It would be a great birthday/Christmas present. Something the young scientist would find interesting but something he/she would not likely buy for themsel

DISTANT ENCOUNTERS is a fascinating, very readable account of the unfolding drama of the Voyager spacecraft travels to Jupiter and Saturn in the late 1970's. Some coverage of the preceding Pioneer flybys is also provided. You can almost feel the emotions of the JPL engineers as they simultaneously battle frustrating technical problems with the spacecraft and experience the triumphs of some of the greatest scientific returns in the history of planetary exploration. Nontechnical, sometimes humorous, and quite informative regarding the status of space exploration during this time in history, this book proves that an engaging account of unmanned space technology and exploration can be written for the general reader.

When it comes to exploration, there's nothing like being there. Yet at some point, all explorers need to tell others what they have seen - as well as find a way to understand and recall the experience themselves. Exploration is pointless if it is not shared.

The first humans to explore new places would return home with verbal descriptions of where they had been and what they had seen. These stories would fade and lose accuracy with each retelling, yet they still had the power to inform and inspire. Over time, the invention of writing and art allowed these tales to take on a greater amount of clarity.

Soon, professional illustrators and then photographers would be enlisted. Accurate as these captured impressions were - they were just that: captured impressions - by someone else. Of course, the only way to get beyond that barrier is to go to these places and see things for yourself.

Yet even when someone makes the trip, they have to take in what they see before they can appreciate where they are. Some vistas and locations are so utterly alien and novel that explorers need a context with which to integrate what they see. And of course, even the most incredible adventure will fade over time in the mind of an explorer. As such recorded impressions also serve to aid one's own memory of events in years to come.

It is the process whereby explorers put new vistas and experiences into a context they can internalize - and then how these impressions are shared with others that fascinates author William Fox. This book chronicles a writer as he sees things for the first time. Yet it is also a book on polar science, astrobiology, planetary exploration, ecology - and art history. Weaved together as part travelogue - part natural history, these books are eminently readable. This book serves as a tutorial for anyone seeking to visit and explore other worlds.

As I was reading this book, I was reminded of the way the James Michener often opened his books so as to give readers a portrait of a certain place and time. Michener also sought to show how that place came to be over a broad canvas of history - covering thousands and (sometimes) millions of years. Fox also makes sure that you know who visited these places first - and how these first feats of exploration echo forward to the present day.

You also get a sense of the future in what Fox writes. It was little surprise to see such an influence given Fox's friendship with author Kim Stanley Robinson and the referencing of his books "Red Mars" and "Antarctica". People are learning as they explore. They also seek to apply what they have learned - here and off world.

In Fox's book you find descriptions of people who are often quite ordinary - yet in many ways are extraordinary, placed in utterly alien and hostile locations. In some ways how they adapt is unusual - yet they also bring a surprising amount of their lives back in the real world with them.

Yet despite attempts not to spoil the very location they have come to study, these modern explorers transform these locations (or at least small portions) nonetheless. This is an issue that concerns Fox - and it will be an issue that will face us as we travel outward from Earth to explore and live on other worlds.

The arctic offers many locations that are analogous to what we may find on Mars - and elsewhere in the solar system. In particular, Devon Island, home to the Haughton Mars Project (HMP) is such a location. While you can fly to the hamlet of Resolute Bay in an hour - and to full-fledged civilization in a few more hours, this logistics chain can be cut at a moment's notice - and you are left with what you have on hand to survive. The veneer of connectivity to the rest of Earth is much, much thinner here. That is part of the value - and the allure.

HMP base camp is located next to the 38 million year old Haughton impact crater in a polar desert less than a thousand miles from the North Pole. Devon Island is largest uninhabitable island on Earth and is located in a region visited by many expeditions in the 19th century in search of knowledge - and the fabled Northwest Passage. Past, present, and future exploration co-exist in this place.

Visiting Devon Island evokes some truly alien impressions on all who visit. Having spent two one-month stints there myself, I speak from experience. There are places where your brain has no problem grappling with the idea that you are on Mars. It is there where I first met Fox who was researching Driving to Mars.

Driving to Mars is focused on this one location - and the natural history that makes it a good analog for Mars. You get to travel with Fox - on ATVs, modified Humvee rovers, and leap frogging in Twin Otter airplanes as he traverses the island. His travels take him to various locations where astrobiologists and geologists seek to understand this place on Earth - and yet place it into the broader context of comparative planetology. You also get to meet people who are trying to figure out how spacesuits need to be outfitted so as to allow people to truly explore the surface of Mars.

As you roam across Devon Island with Fox, you meet a variety of characters along the way (yes, I am one of them) who come from a variety of backgrounds. Everyone comes to this island every summer to not only study the place, but also learn how to conduct scientific and engineering research in a remote, hostile other worldly environment. All of these people also need to take something back from this place when they leave - their recollections being one of the most important.

Reading this book, you get a very good sense of place - not just what it is like to be there - but also what it is like for current visitors to walk in the footsteps of explorers who came before them - and (in the case of Devon Island) the indigenous peoples who explored the area thousands of years earlier.

The core theme of this book is how people take in what they see and then how they convey the experiences to others. Having spent two months myself doing precisely that in one of the locations Fox portrays (Devon Island), I have to say that he has aptly captured what it is like to be there - and the process whereby those experiences get interpreted and distributed.

As I write this review, new pictures are arriving on Earth from Mars. One set of imagery comes from the rim of Victoria crater as the Mars rover Opportunity seeks to find a way down inside. Meanwhile overhead the newly operational Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has begun sending back stunning high-resolution images of Mars. The first color image to be sent back shows the stunning vista of Victoria from above - including a recognizable speck on its rim - Opportunity itself. Yet as stunning and enticing as these images are - they are being sent back to us by a robot - without a human context. It can't tell us what it is like to be there.

Right now we are exploring Mars by proxy using our amazingly resilient rovers. One day we will go there ourselves. Only then will we truly begin to know the planet in a human context. And when we do go there we will make the planet our own as we explore it, understand it, and then tell folks all about it back home. In so doing we'll always be trying to strike a balance between what it is we have come to visit, what we bring with us, what we leave behind, and what we take back with us.

If you want to understand the people who are trying to figure out how to do this - and travel to remote locations on Earth in order to do so, then I heartily recommend this book.

This is one of the most useful books I have ever bought. This graduate level text explains everything you could ever want to know about dust in space in language that is easy to follow and using simplified mathematic situations. From the archaic conventions of observational astronomy to understanding how solid particles interact with light waves, to how particles form, in what environments we can observe them and how, this book provides a great introduction to the subject as a whole and offers suggested further reading. I would recommend this book to any graduate level scientist who wants to learn about space dust

This is a rather dense book about Mars and its place in the popular culture. A great deal of space is spent on Mars related movies.

This book shows that the claims of Percival Lowell regarding Mars as a dying planet still heavily influenced scientists about Mars even into the present day. Scientists wanted to believe in water and plant life on Mars even after scientific evidence showed that was extremely unlikely.

Despite its denseness, this is an important and insightful book about Mars.