Solar System Books

This is classic sci-fi in its space opera format. I read this when I was a teenager because I'd read Lord Kalvan (Paratime series) serialized in Analog. It's quintessential escapist fiction--one of the most popular sub-genres in sci-fi. Taken as part of Piper's grand Future History saga, this is one of the best.

If you ever played Traveller, or GURPS or anything else like that, you will love this story. Very well written and entertaining. Piper's death was a loss that the SCIFI community will never recover from, especially with books he wrote like this one.

This novel reads like an adolescent fantasy. What would I do if my new bride were murdered? Become a space viking of course! And start an empire, and then everyone would respect me!

I found the messages disturbing as well. A couple that come across include the idea that stealing from and killing those weaker than you is OK, and the concept that those in power shouldn't tolerate lower classes working toward equality.

For the price of the Kindle edition, it wasn't awful, but I'll take an early Heinlein any day.

_Space Viking_ (1963) was a four-part serial in _Analog_ in 1962-63 and was accompanied by some marvelous John Schoenherr illustrations. It was reprinted by Ace shortly thereafter to modest attention. Since Piper's death by suicide in 1964, a number of his admirers have tried to make a case that the novel is a classic. Well, it isn't. It is a well-crafted space adventure that has some intelligent things to say about politics and warfare. But there is nothing highly original about the novel in plot, style, or content. It doesn't have the sparkle of his own Little Fuzzy novels.

Briefly, the story is this: The Galactic Federation has collapsed, and planets are now at the mercy of marauding Space Vikings. The hero is a nobleman named Lucas Trask whose bride is murdered on their wedding day by a madman. To catch the killer, Trask becomes a Space Viking and begins a series of conquests across the galaxy. But gradually, he finds that he is also rebuilding...

One of the characters in _Space Viking_ is an admiral named Otto Harkaman, who becomes a right hand man to Trask. The name sparked an echo in my mind when I reread Piper's novel. And then it clicked. It reminded me of the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Frank Herbert's _Dune_ (1965), another _Analog_ novel. One man is essentially heroic, while the other is essentially villainous. But both are politically savy. Orson Scott Card once complained that most science fiction writers knew little about politics. They would have politicians in their stories say things that politicians would never say in real life and do things that real politicians would never do. This is not true of Piper and Herbert. You sense that their depictions of political meetings are authentic and that the policies that they make are realistic. Granted, their politics are somewhat on the medieval and Machiavellian side, but they are realistic nonetheless.

In any event, I heartily recommend _Space Viking_. Classic it may not be, but it deserves more attention than it has received in the past.

I picked this book up the other day at a used bookstore. I decided to do this when I saw that the book was in better shape than the one I have in the basement and the price was great (only $3.00, not bad at all for a book that I love). Having picked it up, I immediately started to read Space Viking (again for the upteenth time). As with many of Mr. Piper's books, Space Viking is as much a look at society and political systems as it is a space opera. In this case a futuristic feudalism is examined while remnants of the Old Federation raid their poorer neighbors.



For me this is a five star book. The story telling is descriptive, the plot; while simple it does have a style that enables the space opera to move forward nicely while Mr. Piper explores space feudalism (and other forms of government) and the impact when people leave one country/planet to seek their fame and fortune. While this book was written in 1963, Mr. Piper does a great job making this a timeless classic. More science fiction writers would be better if they'd emulate Mr. Piper's works.

After reading reviews for this book I made the purchase hoping to have the basics of solar water heating covered. The book does that very well. Like most of us I'd love to see a book covering a detailed step by step installation with tools, equipment, costs, etc. But people with a handy man ability or a bit more like myself (builder)can figure things out pretty easily. Over All an excellent resource!

This is a very well written book. Bob Ramlow has done a lot of work on the subject of solar heating and makes the subject fun to read. I highly recommend that if you are interested in solar heating you also read "Build Your Own Solar Heating System" by Kenneth Clive. Build Your Own Solar Heating System

Very good and useful book if you want to understand/evaluate offers/tenders of companies that will construct your solar water heating system. Contains all the rules of thumbs and all the subjects really you need to know (system components, scaling of the system, types of solar water heating systems, system maintenance, system installation, cost calculations, etc.). My only real disappointment is the pervasive use of non-metric units (btu/therms, feet, gallons) throughout the book. This makes it hard to read for non-American readers. There is a unit conversion table, but it would have been better to include the second unit system between brackets or just to use the international metric system. Also a decision diagram/tree for helping to decide what type of solar heating system you would best go for depending on your climate/freezing conditions or not, etc. would have been a useful addition. This information, though, is in the text, but you just have to read it all.

This book is practical and written in a very easy to understand manner. The author has extensive experience in the area of solar heating of water and conveys that knowledge to the reader very effectively. This book goes beyond hot water for household use and into radiant heating with the use of a heat storage system using a large sand bed which is the GEM of the book! I am planning on building a cabin in the Colorado Mtns and wanted this retreat to be self-sustaining and not a warm cabin that was sucking power or energy while not in use. This book has inspired me to design into the cabin solar hot water for household and radiant use. Now if I could just find a decent book about radiant heating for less than $100...........

Content wise this is an excellent book. The level is just right for individuals that need to make the right choices to provide renewable Domistic Hot Water and Space Heating for their homes without having to sift through many non insightful therory and math. It has good collection of rules of thumb for a quick design. I have one criticism for this book. In my copy pages 113-144 are printed twice. The book is really only 240 pages and not 288 as stated in Amazon by the publisher. Not that the 40 extra pages would have completed the book. The book is fairly well written and complete as it is. I am just for saving paper/trees.

This is a really cute book about space. Fun and educational. My boys 5 & 6 love it as much as I do.

This is a great book but it's out of date. Pluto is no longer a planet. I would just skip that page but it's hard because there is also a mnemonic device that includes Pluto in it. They need to update this book with a second edition. Otherwise, it's a great book.

The concept of this learning book is fine and it is a good book to introduce young children to space. I read it to my 4 1/2-year-old granddaughter and she enjoyed it. However, about half of the poems could have been much better. They lacked proper poetic cadence. A few seemed very ordinary. The publisher surely should have asked the writer to improve them. The statement that the spinning Earth will never slow down is technically incorrect. That's a fine point, but it would have been easy to present the idea correctly.

Love this book!! It gives nonfiction science content in a Dr. Seuss format. Keeps the kids' interest while they learn science - excellent!

My son sees this book at his doctor's office and begged for his own copy. He's usually a truck guy, so I don't understand his attraction to this book, but he definitely strongly likes it. And, heck, there's no harm in him learning the names of planets and a bit about space! Great book.

It was very easy to order and the price was the same as my bookstore at school. The only thing that made it more expensive was the shipping and then it took about 5 days to get to me. When I received it it was in a very solidly sealed box that I couldn't open without a knife. When I finally opened it, the back cover of my "soft" textbook had poke holes all over it from where I tried to open the box on the back seam.
The book itself is well written with great pictures of the cosmos.

This textbook is well written with well thought out sequence of topics and its bundled softwares are superb. It expounds the items of astronomical subject in clear unambiguous words arranged in logical order requiring only a modest mathematical skill, well suited for a freshman student for science requirement as well as an intelligent and curious lay reader. The content is quite up-to-date; more remarkable for its online companion for prompt updating for currency. For instance, in barely 2 months after new definition excluded Pluto as a planet, the webpage supplement already informs its reader of it. Included exercises and problems are thorough and complete, and thus allowing students to critically refine their grasp of the preceding topics. There are a few minor errors which are easy to be discovered by a reader, and how to access additional websites and CDs are not clear enough in the preface to the student. I base my review only on the first 5 chapters that was covered in my first academic quarter of study. However. browsing the subsequent chapters to the end lend me confidence that the quality has been maintained.

Most introductory astronomy texts take the descriptive approach and subject the student to very little mathematics. Such tomes assume that the student is taking the course to fulfill a core science requirement or to satiate non-technical interest. This text is a rare exception to this rule.

Throughout the book simple explanations of the scientific phenomena discussed are detailed using algebra and trigonometry. Basic formulas are illustrated and ample problems are given to drive home the mathematical nature of astronomy. This text is perfect for the freshman or sophomore science major who requires a deeper knowledge of astronomy than a non-mathematical text could provide.

Make no mistake, the text can be used easily in a general astronomy class that requires no math prerequisites. However, for the physics or astronomy major who is just starting her study of the subject, this text is the perfect blend of description and mathematics. It would also make a fine introductory graduate text for elementary and high-school teachers who wish to pursue a master's degree.

The software on the enclosed CD-ROM disks makes visualizing the concepts presented within the text much easier. If one's physics department doesn't have access to a planetarium the software offered remedies the problem quite nicely.

While the reason for buying the book was met (required text book for university study) the condition of the delivered item was very substandard. When the book arrived it was bent and creased and the front cover had been "pushed" in such a way that it was starting to come away from the spine. The book was not secure in its packaging and was able to slide around inside the box scuffing both front and back covers. I would not be happy if this happened to a $20 book let alone a book that cost me AUS $135.

I will seriously consider next time I need a book whether I will get it from Amazon.com . The amount of money I saved was not worth the damage that occured to the item.

Not Happy!!!!

I'm an amateur astronomy nut, and have read several dozen books on astronomy, cosmology, etc. This is probably the most clear, in-depth, understandable treatment of astronomical issues that I have ever read. Be it stellar evolution, stellar death, theory of relativity, black holes, galactic evolution -- you name it -- this book presents the research clearly, and explains tough to explain issues in terms I can understand. Bravo! My only complaint is that it's a bit heavy on Solar System research (first half of the book); I found the last half more to my interest.

my 3.5 yo daughter loves this book and has memorized almost every fact in the book!

I put this book in my 4 year old sons Easter Basket, and it was his favorite part of the basket. He loves it and has learned SO much from reading it. Not only is it a great book for this age, it teaches so much in a really easy format that is easy to retain. We love it.

I have a 5 yr old that loves anything to do with space. I got older (adult) books from the library about the solar system and he learned tons of info. When we got this book he was excited but he didn't end up learning anything new. The book mostly talks about the relationship of the planets to the sun, their order, if they're hot or cold. They grouped the planets together stating which ones were hot or cold but didn't individually talk the planets other than saying you can see Mars early in the evening and Earth is the life planet.

My son is obsessed with planets. This text is good and the artwork is nice. But a new edition needs to come out to explain that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. We have to read the book and then explain that to him afterwards.

This is an excellent overview of our solar system. It has great engaging illustrations with enough little "gems" to find on every page (Shrodinger's Cat for instance). This book introduces young children to a more detaialed look at our Solar System and with specific facts about each planet.

As other reviewers have noted, the book is thematic. The illustrations included allow the parent/ teacher to point out "real world" uses of scientific knowledge (math, physics, etc.). There is one page that includes "footnotes" for the captions on the oppostie page. This is useful in teaching younger children such concepts for later reading.

As a home educator to my 4 year old son, I found the craft ideas especially beneficial in that it provides you with specific details on how to enhance the learning of these concepts with a couple of simple hands-on projects using materials easily found around your house. This material is easily adapted for older kids, although it may not include enough specific details for the older end of the age spectrum.

beautiful coffee table book. not the sort of thing you sit and read, but great to have out when guests come over. fantastic images.

This book is really a space buff's wet dream. I mean, there is not a single book on the market, anywhere, that has such gorgeous, exquisite and detailed pictures of the planets and moons of our solar system as this book has (made by Voyager, Galileo, Maggelan and the like). You just won't believe your eyes. And the essays of Benson (and those of Arthur C. Clarke and Lawrence Weschler) are also splendid, one by one. Convince yourself and surf to the website of Kinetikon Pictures to behold some of the photographs offered in this book and to read some of the essays (and even more). Robotic planetary photography made into (abstract expressionist and impressioinst) art, that is what Beyond is all about. Buy this hefty beast of a book before it is sold out.

this has a lot of good pictures in it. It is well worth the purchase if you are looking for a reasonable compilation of planetary images. The one problem is that is does not have any of the Cassini-Huygens images of Saturn. This is extremely unfortunate because the book would have benefited greatly by these images. Other than then that it is mostly pictures without a lot of explanation. So if you have a decent knowledge of the planets or you are in the mood to do some internet research on the things that you see, it is a great book.

I am floored every time I open this book of pictures of our Solar System. The images are so amazing and clear. I sometimes wonder that these are actually our neighboring planets.

The main planets themselves are mind-blowing in and of themselves. Io is perhaps the single most jaw dropping moon - a planet in its own right - and evokes so much imagination. Gallisto is also a fascinating moon with its craters coming to life.

Only two regrets with this book. First, the pictures of the moon were not satisfying at all. They didn't portray the moon in any way that is as beautiful as the rest of the solar system. Instead the pictures focus on close up pictures of its surface, which is interesting as well, yet I would have still liked to see whole far off pictures of the moon. And lastly, one of Saturn's moons is mentioned in passing - Titan - as perhaps the most interesting and fascinating of the solar system, and yet it isn't included. Why? Because they didn't want to detract from Saturn and its rings! Including Titan, if it is as fascinating as they are saying, would only add more to Saturn.

Both are trivial and it doesn't in any way change my view of this fantastic collection of pictures of our Solar System. This is a must for all households. A definite recommend.

5 stars.

Have you looked up into the night sky or early morning to see the plethora of stars in their stark beauty. On a clear day, it is a spectacular sight, as on this morning's. Mars is getting closer to the Earth, but that is not the sight you will get if you go out and observe the solar system in all its glory.

Near the outer reaches, the second largest planet hovers like a shimmering star with its rings; Saturn is 250,000 miles wide and formed of minute to boulder-size particles held in the gravitational grip of a rapidly spinning central sphere. Jupiter, the largest, has two moons as discovred by the Galileo probe in its fourteen year mission.

Galileo Galilei made telescopic discoveries of the universe; Johannes Kepler used meticulous mathematical charting of the planets; and NASA's 'Spunik' and 'Ranger' spaceflights of the past four decades shows the beauty of the spheres as they appear "suspended in space like weightless jewels." Venus is out nearest and Mars the other next-door neighbor. The 'Mariner 9' probe showed the vastness of the "grandest canyon in the entire solar system and as wide as the continental United States." Venus is the brightest planet we can see from Earth.

Mercury speed around the Sun every 88 days faster than any other planet. It is forty percent larger and far denser than our Moon. It has an overall magnetic field and an iron core, like Earth. Jupiter and Neptune have also been closely obsrved by NASA's 'Voyager 2.' Jupiter is the largest planet with fourteen moons; no, make that sixty-one, according to the 'Voyager 1' probe.

Once upon a time, some years ago, I gave a tour of the Solar System to a literary group. Being a new member, I had stuck with travel books until I got a firm footing and learned what the others were reviewing. So, I began, "Today I will take you on a tour, but not like one you've ever been on before -- we will soar out into the sky and view the Universe as man knows it today." Much has been discovered since then, as the photographs Michael Benson uses in this book show in detail. He confesses that he retrieved most from NASA's Planetary Photojournal web site. They are "out-of-this-world" in every aspect.

OK, I admit it:I'm an Apollo nut, and author of two space book titles myself.But this book is the best thing written on the lunar missions since Andy Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon." With intense detail and great narrative of the geological science behind the missions, as well as records of the collected samples, it's the best thing I have seen on the moonwalks.

Note: This is a very enjoyable read, but not a casual one. You should be prepared to invest some time into the process. Otherwise you will not reap the full benefit of this very enjoyable book.

At last,a book about the Apollo missions that does not dwell on Buzz's drinking, one-small-steps or the "unfolding human near-tragedy" that was Apollo 13. These are all great topics but they have been done to death. What Harland has done is chronicle the real reason - well, it later became the real reason - that Nasa went to the Moon. Once the euphoria ofbeating the Russians had worn off, six missions were sent to explore the surface of another planet. One failed, but the 10 men who followed in Aldrin's and Armstrong's footsteps managed to revolutionise our knowledge about the big white disc in the sky. Most of what they did was geology - so there are plenty of rocks here. If you don't know your pyroxenes from your olivines you might struggle a bit, but there is a helpful glossary. You are struck by just how damn hard these men worked in the precious hours and days they had on the lunar surface. there is human drama in this book, but it is in the imagined sweat and tears that must have been exuded to get these results. Finally, you are left reeling by the tragedy of "what might have been". Apollos 18-thru-20 were cancelled, and the Saturn 5s that were to carry further lunar missions now sit rusting in a Nasa carpark. As Harland points out, "they got bored with exploring another planet".

If you are interested in the Moon, or simply in why humanity goes into space, read this book.

David Harland's book is one of the finest I have ever seen on the Apollo program or on Solar System exploration in general. Getting beyond the techincal aspects of spaceflight, the spacecraft or the astronauts' personalities which have been done by other authors, this book brings out the excitement of exploration and the discovery of the unknown that the Apollo astronauts participated in. Many people have been exposed to a taste of this in the episode about Apollo 15 in Tom Hanks' excellent television series "From the Earth to the Moon" which showed how, under excellent teachers, the astronauts, coming from a background of engineering and aeronautics, became true scientists and explorers.

It is true that a lot of geological concepts are thrown at the reader from the beginning and those (like myself) who have no previous background in geology might be intimidated but I find that a careful reading of the excellent glossary contained in the book should give enough background to make the science generally accessible. Harland makes clear why the various landing sites were chosen and what the geological issues were that were to be investigated. Traverse maps showing the various geological features to be explored are included for each mission. The many photographs presented illustrate the main discoveries and their significance. Of special note are the panoramas personally assembled by Harland (which are also available on the internet's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal) which give a stunning view of the Lunar environment as the astronauts saw it.

Finally, I strongly urge someone who finds himself becoming more interested in the subject of Lunar geology to also read Don Wilhelm's "To a Rocky Moon" which presents the historical development of our ideas about the Moon up through the famous Kona Conference in 1984 which determined that the Moon was probably created due to a giant body impacting with the fledgling Earth and also Paul Spudis' "The Once and Future Moon" which gives a summary of our state of knowledge up to the mid-1990's and directions for future exploration.

Despite a few misgivings I have about the book, it is worth reading if you want to understand current thinking in lunar geology. However, it has some weak points and it's not for the faint of heart.

The author throws around far too many hard-to-understand geology phrases. So much so, you might think he's chatting with the "boys at the lab." I've been reading up on lunar geology for years, but found I needed to keep my geology dictionary nearby just follow along.

Although well illustrated, most of the pictures are tiny and hard to see, and have a pixelated apperance as if he scanned them or copied from the Internet. You will be disappointed in them.

The last fault is the writing style. While it is informative, it is not very lively or easy going. It is slightly dry and you will have to concentrate on getting through it.

If you are an Apollo or Moon fan you will probably be glad you got it. But as I said in the title -- it's good but not great.

In the last decade no one has been more productive than British writer David M. Harland at turning out histories of spaceflight written for a popular audience. All have similar features, a mastery of the secondary literature, especially that available through the NASA History Series, a digestion of a wealth of scientific and technical information, and an engaging writing style that focuses on narrative rather than analysis. "Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions" is very much in sync with Harland's earlier works and serves as a useful introduction to the subject. Not a scholarly work--there are no footnotes--but it does have an extensive bibliography. His emphasis in this book is on the work of the six crews of astronauts that landed on the Moon, although there is an opening chapter on the robotic precursors and concluding chapters on Apollo in context and exploration of the Moon in the 1990s.

The heart of this book are the six chapters dealing with the lunar surface activities of Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Harland expends the majority of the books space on the last three of this, and appropriately so because they represented the most significant scientific return of the program. NASA took a building block approach to exploration, something that seems obviously rational now but was not so well accepted at the time, with time on the surface and complexity of the mission advancing with every flight. The last three missions, of course, were extraordinary in collecting superb scientific data about the Moon, its origins, and the evolution of the solar system. Collectively, experiments carried out as a result of Apollo yielded more than 10,000 scientific papers and a major reinterpretation of the origins and evolution of the Moon.

"Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions" is a solid discussion, if uninspired history of lunar surface activity. Readers should read it in conjunction with two other major sources. The first is NASA's official history of the Apollo lunar surface activities entitled "Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions," by W. David Compton (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration SP-4214, 1989). Is conveniently available on-line for those who do not need a physical copy at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4214/cover.html. Second, anyone who hopes to understand these missions must read the "Apollo Lunar Surface Journal," the brainchild of Eric Jones. Jones has placed on-line more detailed information about the astronauts on the lunar surface than anyone previously. This is available for all to review at http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/.

Very informative and gives a clear precise description of varying types on renovation and adaptive reuse.

The book was exactly as I expected, high quality, detailed explanations in the Caliber of detail magazine. I will defiantly be purchasing the other books in this series.

I found the essays on simple construction to be variable in quality...The chapters on wood and steel either suffered in translation or were student composition exercises to begin with. The projects illustrated, however, are of uniformly high quality, and are documented with Detail's typical precision. For an American architect, many of the projects using wood construction will be eye openers. The stone and clay construction projects are wonderful for daydreaming about a different building culture in this country. Well worth it for the photos and drawings.

This book is part of a deliriously excellent series of Birkhauser's In
Detail collection, a series of books emphasizing and celebrating the importance of architectural details and the susbsequent spatial magic that emerges from the vigilant attention to design craft. Feast on the International wisdom; it's like architectural health food.

The book describes simple and neat residential building design in detail , shape, and material. The book should be applicable to architects or designers who aspire to work in modernism or minimalism on housing and who desire to improve the residential detil design to be more insighfully clean and blight. As well, the analysis from the publication could be developed to function in other architecture types.

If the facts are as presented by Mr. Zinn, then the insulated and complacent world I have managed to surround myself with has just blown up on me! You must read this book, because if this debacle has happened to one person, you may depend upon the fact that it has happened to others, and could happen to you. Remember, "Forewarned is forearmed!"

Our Federal Government has become large and sluggish. Many Founding Fathers of our "illustrious" nation fought bitterly against a strong central government, fearing the abuse of individual liberties. Their concerns are being realized. In Mr. Zinn's example, a Federal Prosecutor was negligent in fully reviewing a case before deciding the feasibility of pursuing allegations. If it were my decision, I would not even have bothered with Mr. Zinn, as I am sure there were bigger fish to fry, and more appropriate places to spend taxpayer's money.

I am distressed by the nightmare Mr. Zinn and his family were subjected to. I am disgusted at the total waste of money. And I am scared to death that this type of unfairness is happening more frequently. Whatever happened to Truth, Justice, and the American Way?

This book is very well written and very truthful and does not exaggerate the injustices in our Federal Justice System? How do I know? Our family has lived through the same situation. If it makes Mr. Zinn feel better, my husband did not agree to a plea bargain because he did not want to tell a lie by admitting to a crime he did not commit. He wound up with a 33 month sentence. Mr. Zinn's book not only told the legal story, but, showed the devastating emotional side as well. The description of the effect on his daughter made me cry as we have a daughter about the same age who sat in the court room day after day and, along with her two brothers was heartbroken to see this happen to her Daddy. I hope this book helps to open the flood gates of those of us who have been attacked by these MAD DOGS!

Michael Zinn takes the position that "no one no matter how prominent, public spirited, or well intentioned, is safe from unfair prosecution." This is not an exaggeration. It happened to my family. Like Mr. Zinn, it came as a terrible shock to us to find out that my husband and son were targets of an FBI investigation. We soon discovered that being under investigation means one is presumed guilty. Like a "dog with a bone," the Prosecutor was intent on winning. The Draconian Mandatory Sentencing Guidelines gave the Prosecutor awesome power to extort a plea bargain. Like Mr. Zinn, we found that our civil rights were compromised because the stakes were too high to risk a trial. Both my husband and son were sentenced to a Federal Prison Camp for a relatively minor business offense, which was enhanced by the Prosecutor, for the purpose of imposing a jail sentence. Mr. Zinn passionately exposes the police state tactics used by unscrupulous, careerist, prosecutors whose goal is not to search for the truth, but to get a conviction at all costs.

Most people know about the criminal justice system primarily through television shows and newspapers. Those depictions fail to capture the real risk that any citizen is exposed to if government bureaucrats and prosecutors are inundated with accusations against you. Naturally, those who receive the letters assume that where there's smoke, there's fire. Unless you are very lucky, you will end up doing jail time.

I appreciate Mr. Zinn's taking the time to expose what happened to him, so that everyone else can understand the risk that the current system brings to us all. I think you will find his tale to be one that everyone should know.

Although he thought he was relying on legal advice about how to raise money for a political candidate, he was actually being led down the garden path. As CEO of a company under attack from hostile shareholders, the opposing shareholders used the resulting mistakes to get federal prosecutors and the IRS after him. In the process, a company which violated the law more than his company did was given immunity to get testimony against Mr. Zinn. Although this doesn't seem fair, it certainly is the way the system works. Prosecutors also relied on the accusations of people who were trying to negotiate favorable settlements from the company on other matters.

Faced with many unpalatable choices and on the advice of legal counsel, Mr. Zinn chose not to explain himself to the prosecutors. They threw the book at him. Even after he plea bargained to a reduced sentence to get "easy" time in a low security facility, they harrassed him with grand jury dates which meant he had to spend most of this time in maximum security lock-ups and in very uncomfortable transporation.

After he got out of jail, he still had the scheming shareholders to deal with. It turned out that they had found every possible ally who would work with them, and had been stealing information from the company to make running the company harder.

All the shareholders were actually hurt by this because the legal and accounting costs of these investigations ran into the millions of dollars over the years. Also, management attention was diverted from making money.

Despite this, Mr. Zinn did succeed in helping the shareholders make a bundle. Some people made more than 30 times their investment, as a result.

Consider that Mr. Zinn is obviously a very talented, intelligent, and aggressive person. He also had a lot of personal and corporate money to help defend him. If he couldn't figure out what to do and avoid a lot of unpleasantness, what are your chances? Not very good, I'm afraid.

The strength of this book is that Mr. Zinn takes you inside his experiences that led up to and through the problems so you can consider what you would have done. He also shares the emotional turmoil and pain associated with the problems, for him, his family, and for those he worked with.

If you know of anyone who is being investigated, I suggest that you give them a copy of this book. I would also encourage anyone in that situation to find a way to explain themselves to those who are conducting the investigation. Before everyone has drawn a lot of conclusions, there may be some lattitude to avoid worse problems.

There are many other new laws on the books (not discussed in this book) that make the rights of ordinary citizens quite small. I encourage you to become familiar with these risks so that you can conduct your life in ways that will reduce those risks, while finding appropriate ways to get the laws changed.

Live free!

If the facts are as presented by Mr. Zinn, then the insulated and complacent world I have managed to surround myself with has just blown up on me! You must read this book, because if this debacle has happened to one person, you may depend upon the fact that it has happened to others, and could happen to you. Remember, "Forearmed is forewarned!"

Our Federal Government has become large and sluggish. Many Founding Fathers of our "illustrious" nation fought bitterly against a strong central government, fearing the abuse of individual liberties. Their concerns are being realized. In Mr. Zinn's example, a Federal Prosecutor was negligent in fully reviewing a case before deciding the feasibility of pursuing allegations. If it were my decision, I would not even have bothered with Mr. Zinn, as I am sure there were bigger fish to fry, and more appropriate places to spend taxpayer's money.

I am distressed by the nightmare Mr. Zinn and his family were subjected to. I am disgusted at the total waste of money. And I am scared to death that this type of unfairness is happening more frequently. Whatever happened to Truth, Justice, and the American Way?

I loved reading this book! It describes the cultural, historical and scientific aspects of Venus. For instance, it discusses the significance that ancient cultures placed on Venus (the brightest planet when visible). It also discusses perceptions (and some speculation) that people have had of Venus at various times in history. Then it discusses in detail the scientific discoveries of Venus, by radar and spacecraft. It discusses the politics and development of radar and spacecraft, as well as the actual scientific discoveries made at different times. It is also very fascinating to read about the surface and atmosphere and properties of Venus. It is also interesting how the author compares Venus to Earth in these areas. Although it is obvious that Venus would be a very hostile planet to visit, it is indeed a very fascinating planet to study. In terms of land features, I think that the author points out that Venus is actually similar to Earth in many ways (though also with some of its own characteristics). I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the planet Venus in particular, or in the solar system in general.

_Venus Revealed_ by David Harry Grinspoon is a well-written, witty, thoroughly researched book on our nearest planetary neighbor, the planet Venus, often thought of as Earth's twin due to its roughly same size and mass. Grinspoon covered the history of human perception of the planet, the observation of Venus by scientists from the ground through the centuries, what the amateur astronomer can see and learn about the planet, the saga of the numerous probes to orbit the planet as well as it enter its atmosphere and even land on its surface, current understandings of the atmosphere and geology of Venus, and speculations on whether or not Venus has or had life and the future of human exploration of the planet. There are two inserts in the book, one a color insert that included a color image of the surface of Venus made by the Soviet _Venera 13_ lander in March 1982 as well as several global and regional topographic maps made by the _Pioneer Venus Orbiter_ and _Magellan_, and a black and white insert which included more Soviet lander images of the ground of Venus as well as numerous close-ups taken by _Magellan_ of a wide variety of Venusian surface features. In the text of the book itself I really liked the various diagrams included, including schematics of the sulfur cycle on Venus and a diagram of typical cloud structure. _Magellan_ images are dominant in the book, an extraordinary space probe that peeled back the "bright, unyielding clouds" with "gentle radar fingers," revealing massive amounts of new information for Venus scientists to ponder and debate over.

Venus has long attracted human attention, as it is the brightest object in the night sky after the full moon. Though the planet was noticed by virtually every human culture, no civilization paid it more mind than the Classic Maya (A.D. 300-900). They felt they owed their very existence to Venus (whom they called Kukulcan) - a debt that they paid back in human sacrifices - and based their entire calendar on the 260-day Venus appearance interval. Mayan astronomers were able to chart the appearance, disappearance, and reappearance of Venus in the night skies with incredible accuracy, so much that the Mayan Venus Calendar has an error of only two hours in five hundred years of elapsed time.

The "solid citadel of clouds" that protected Venus from observation made it into a "tabula rasa," a blank slate that was inscribed by the wishes and dreams of observers for centuries. Grinspoon documented the many speculations about Venus being a swamp or ocean world, referencing both the serious speculations of astronomers such as Percival Lowell and the flights of fancy of popular literature and film. So little was known about the planet that even its rate of rotation wasn't resolved until 1962, when Earth-based radar images established that one day on Venus equaled 117 Earth days (and that it rotated in a backward or retrograde direction, with the sun rising in the west and setting in the east). Passive radio observations in 1956 that showed the planet emitting massive amounts of microwave radiation lead to the first real understanding of just how hot Venus was, as researchers began to infer that this was heat radiation from the surface, eventually establishing the surface temperature at 900 degrees Fahrenheit (so hot that an observer on the Venusian surface at night could see thanks to the glowing of the red-hot ground).

I enjoyed his coverage of the Venusian atmosphere the most of anything in the book. Though the planet-wide cloud cover looks basically bright and featureless even from orbit, images taken with ultraviolet filters have revealed that the atmosphere is dynamic and volatile, an intricate and complex swirl of high-contrast, fast-moving tiny splotches and huge, planet-wide streaks. The identity of this material, so dark in the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum that its it responsible for absorbing nearly half the solar energy received by Venus, is still unknown and is simply called the unknown ultraviolet absorber. Its existence though has allowed scientists to study and model patterns of atmospheric circulation, an atmosphere that at the upper levels circles the planet at 200 miles per hour, circling the planet in four days (dubbed superrotation), while at the same time is virtually motionless at the surface. Explaining this phenomenon has presented another major challenge offered us by Venus, one not yet answered.

The atmosphere is unlike anything seen on Earth; immense cloud banks of sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid cover the planet, not very dense and relatively transparent but incredibly vast, towering up to an altitude of 44 miles from the cloud base at 33 miles. They are concentrated into three discrete layers - each layer with a different mixture of droplet sizes - and separated by relatively clear air between. The nature of the droplets in the lowest cloud layer (called Mode 3 droplets) is uncertain, as they are not spherical in shape, may be crystalline, and appear to contain far more chlorine than sulfur (as well as perhaps other substances).

Grinspoon gave the reader a tour of the surface, from the "continents" of Africa-sized Aphrodite Terra along the equator and Australia-sized Ishtar Terra near the north pole to the wide plains to the great variety of volcanoes on the planet, some of which are probably active. Volcanic landforms cover some 90% of the surface, ranging in size from small shield volcanoes (often less than 12 miles across), so numerous that they gather in clusters of a hundred or so in immense shield fields, to odd six to forty mile across pancake dome volcanoes to still larger ones. Many features appear unique to Venus, such as ticks (volcanoes with flanks scalloped by landslides such that the ridges appear to be the jutting legs of an insect), arachnoids (volcanic domes surrounded by spider-web like patterns of fractures and ridges), and anemonae (volcanoes with petal-like lava flows extending outward from them). Other features include the odd circular coronae and intensely deformed areas called tessera.

I really enjoyed this overview of our sister planet! Despite his background as a planetologist and university professor, Grinspoon writes for the layman with a freshness and spirit that is rare in non-fiction astronomy books. He first takes us through an extensive history of our discoveries and past theories on Venus, then reveals the major findings of the Magellan mission which laid bare the planet's high-level topography. Towards the end Grinspoon presents a couple bold suggestions as food for thought, e.g. the possibility that life currently exists on Venus and also ideas for terraforming the planet!

I especially enjoyed the virtual tour of Venus as well as the descriptions of what it would be like to spend a day and night on Venus, assuming you could survive the extreme heat and crushing pressure. Did you know that it never gets totally dark on the ground, because even at night the rocks are so hot that they glow red??!

The footnotes didn't bother me too much; in fact, I rather appreciated Grinspoon's sense of humor and chuckled at a few of them. One thing that did annoy me was Grinspoon's repeated pessimistic assertions that we humans are wreaking havoc on Earth through global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, pollution, blah blah. The fact is, it's kind of ludicrous to suggest that the Earth's overall "health" is being affected at all by us. There is no proof of this whatsoever. We may be making things worse for ourselves in the long run, but the Earth is so massive that there's really nothing we can do to hurt it.

Anyway, I've read a few books on the planets and this is the best so far! Just the right blend of science and non-technical discussion to appeal to the layman and the amateur astronomer both.

Besides a excellent historical and scientifical synthesis of the Venusian system, this book does a good job at comparing the three main terrestrial planets, from the astronomical, physical, geological, atmospheric, etc. point of views. This is very refreshing because Venus is often overlooked in most books, that usually focus more on the binary comparison of Mars vs the Earth, and, in many ways, Terra is actually closer to Venus than Mars.

The text itself is clear, accurate and very entertaining to read (especially the footnotes!). Everything is based on scientific facts, except the last chapter, that digresses a little too much from the main subject, but it's ok.

Anyone that wonders why humans should continue to invest in space exploration--especially important at this time of tragedy with the Columbia mission--will find many answers in this excellent book. Grinspoon is one of those rare writers that enthralls us with the mystery and wonder of science, while at the same time not shying away from, or diminishing the complexities of scientific discovery. He describes with clarity why studies of other planets are important endeavors in their own right, as well as for our continued understanding of our own planet Earth.

All readers will gain an appreciation from Grinspoon for scientific discovery: how it builds with improving data from insights that at first seem remote and uncertain into solid foundations for better understanding of issues such as global warming on earth. Volcanology, plate tectonics, acid rain, and planetary climatology are all discussed in detail, as well as the more esoteric phenomena of planet formation and extra-terrestrial life. While the later topics might be argued as to their importance with regard to current problems on our planet, Grinspoon makes excellent connections for studies of the former issues on Venus, and their impact to our knowledge of our own home planet. Anything that significantly improves our understanding of global warming, plate tectonics (earthquakes), etc., is worth a significant and continuing investment. Venus Revealed is great book in many respects: lack of a bibliography is the only fault worth mentioning. (And I, for one, loved the often hilarious footnotes!) Highly recommended.