Back to Astronomy Cafe [Paperback]

Sten Odenwald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2003

How fast does gravity travel? When will the sun go nova? Who invented the light year? Will we ever travel to the stars? These are just some of the unusual and popular questions NASA astronomer Sten Odenwald answers in Back to the Astronomy Café, based on his award-winning website "for the astronomically disadvantaged." Since his acclaimed earlier book The Astronomy Café published in 1998, the space community has been turned on its head with entirely new discoveries: ion propulsion, dark matter, gravity and magnetic reversals, the Cosmic Dark Ages, and over 100 new planets. In the all-new Back to the Astronomy Café, Odenwald answers the latest and most-asked questions relating to these recent discoveries. His highly personal and authoritative style makes understanding the cosmos less intimidating, exciting, and fun.Since he opened his website "The Astronomy Café" in 1995, Odenwald has answered over 50,000 e-mailed questions. His individual answers have been downloaded over 7.5 million times, making him the most sought-after "answer man" for astronomy in human history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Meticulously researched by the education and public outreach manager for the NASA IMAGE satellite program, this question-and-answer book of astronomy, complete with pictures, timetables and a "glossary of annoying terms," provides explanations for many phenomena regarding the sun, moon, Earth and beyond. Odenwald occasionally waxes poetic, writing, for instance, that our world is "a cosmos where every shining star sports a discoverable retinue of worlds to explore." The well-informed amateur will reap much informative detail from this follow-up to the author's original The Astronomy Cafe, based on his popular Web site, but those who are getting their feet wet for the first time may feel that the explanations assume too much prior knowledge.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Sten Odenwald an award-winning astronomer with Raytheon ITSS, is currently the education and public outreach manager for the NASA IMAGE satellite program. The author of The Astronomy Cafe and The 23rd Cycle, Sten Odenwald writes a regular on-line question-and-answer column called “Ask the Space Scientist” for the Washington Post, and is a frequent contributor Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines. He is the recipient of the 1999 Goddard Space Flight Center Excellence in Outreach Award and the Popular Writing Award from the American Astronomical Society, Solar Physics Division. He lives in Kensington, MD.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1St Edition edition (October 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813341663
• ISBN-13: 978-0813341668
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,401,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All kinds of astronomy questions answered., February 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Back to Astronomy Cafe (Paperback)

Due to the fact that this book is written in a question and answer format, its easy to read a little at a time as your schedule allows. It covers a broad range of topics related to astronomy with very understandable answers. The author isn't afraid to admit that scientist often don't know the answers. This type of honesty is refreshing in that you feel you are being leveled with as opposed to being given an answer that is intentionally over the layman's head to avoid admitting ignorance. On the other hand, sometimes the author presents theories as if they are established facts. I think that a lot of scientist do this (perhaps unintentionally) because they are putting forth the explanation that is dogma in the scientific community and forget to remind the reader that other possibilities may exist. Overall, this is a great book and is certainly worth your time.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This science teacher's new best friend, January 9, 2007

By 

Julie Darby "avid reader" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Back to Astronomy Cafe (Paperback)

Teaching astronomy is not easy when you know nothing. This book asks all the questions I have and my students have. It has fairly technical language for my 7th graders, but I can get the main ideas and relay them.
How old is the solar system? (I forget) Will the sun go super nova? (no)
There is an awesome time line which goes way back, and then tracks events predicted by science fiction authors. (fun!)
There is an excellent website too, but I had to buy the book because the web site wouldn't give all the answers - it said to buy the book!
I did and I am not sorry.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars astronomy cafe, September 12, 2010

By 

franco - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Back to Astronomy Cafe (Paperback)

i found the book very interesting, with comprehensive answers, which allows beginner and non beginners to have a detailed vision of what is happening in the universe.very well done. an index of all the questions would improuve it.