The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System [Hardcover]

Kenneth R. Lang (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521813069 | ISBN-13: 978-0521813068 | Publication Date: October 6, 2003 | Edition: First Edition

The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System provides a comprehensive, funamental, and up-to-date description of the solar system. It is written in a concise, light and uniform style, without being unnecessarily weighted down with specialized materials or the variable writing of multiple authors. It is filled with vital facts and information for astronomers of all types and for anyone with a scientific interest in the Earth, our Moon, all the other planets and their satellites, and related topics such as asteroids, comets, meteorites and meteors. The language, style, ideas and profuse illustrations will attract the general reader as well as professionals. A thorough report for general readers, it includes much compact reference data. Metaphors, similes and analogies will be of immense help to the lay person or non-science student, and they add to the enjoyment of the material. Vignettes containing historical, literary and even artistic material make this book unusual and interesting, and enhance its scientific content. Kenneth Lang is professor of astronomy in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Tufts University. He is the author of several astrophysics books, including The Sun from Space (Springer Verlag, 2000), Astrophysical Formulae: Radiation, Gas Processes, and High Energy Physics (Springer Verlag, 1999), Sun, Earth and Sky (Copernicus Books, 1997), Astrophysical Data: Planets and Stars (Springer Verlag, 1993), and Wanderers in Space: Exploration and Discovery in the Solar System (Cambridge, 1991),

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Libraries will find a use for this book both in the reference and in the circulating collections. The photographs are stunning, the numerous charts and graphs are exemplary, and the narrative is bulging with all the important information about the solar system that is available to date. The author has done a wonderful job of making many of the complicated scientific concepts accessible to the layperson. The language is challenging for students younger than high school, but many of the charts, graphs, maps, captions, sidebars, and introductions should be understandable to middle-school readers.

The beginning chapters are an overview of the field of space science, with emphasis on discoveries, discoverers, and tools. The major planets and the moon have their own chapters. Uranus and Neptune are treated in the same chapter, because they are so similar. Pluto has no chapter at all, because it is no longer considered a major planet. Chapters on comets, asteroids and meteorites, and colliding worlds end the narrative. The lengthy chapters follow the same layout, beginning with lists of important fundamental facts, histories of explorations and discoveries, and descriptions of the atmosphere, landforms, and moons. Each planet chapter ends with a summary diagram of the essential makeup of the planet. The numerous photographs are a balanced mixture of large black and white and color, most from NASA files. There are rich appendixes of books and Web sites and a good index.

Anyone with a need for information on the solar system should find fulfillment in the pages of this handsome work, and it is a beautiful browsing book. More current and less technical than Encyclopedia of the Solar System (Academic, 1998), it is recommended for high-school, public, and academic libraries.

RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"I would recommend this book to anyone generally interested in space science and exploration." Meteoritics & Planetary Science

"...a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the planets and their moons..." Astronomical Society of the Pacific

"Lang answers the age-old question 'Why does the sun shine?' in this clearly written, up-to-date, informative text...this is a wonderful current, comprehensive companion to the study of the sun that would be a solid addition to any academic reference collection, lower-division through graduate." Choice

"A good modern summary and reference for professionals." Choice

"Anyone with a need for information on the solar system should find fulfillment in the pages of this handsome work, and it is a beautiful browsing book." Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 468 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First Edition edition (October 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521813069
• ISBN-13: 978-0521813068
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #374,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Solar System

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars sloppy errors let down a good publication, December 5, 2010

By 

RupturedSpleen (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System (Hardcover)

although this is an extensive and comprehensive guide to the solar system as understood in modern science, there are several editorial errors which let the publication down; the example that springs to mind is the mistake made in kepler's third law, written as P³ = a², which should read P² = a³; maybe nitpicking, but its a pretty bad error and there are others at several points which are misleading for anyone trying to understand the scientific model by which we explain the workings of our solar system. shame, because otherwise it has alot of information and is easily understandable.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One-Stop Solar System Shopping, September 22, 2004

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System (Hardcover)

This is a hugely informative compendium of current knowledge of our solar system. Included is up-to-date science, compiled from the missions of all the modern spacecraft, of all (make that most) of the planets plus all of their known moons; plus comets, asteroids, solar winds, magnetic fields, and everything else present in the solar system. A bonus is found in the beginning chapters of the book, which present the history of astronomical discovery by earthbound explorers, and also a large chapter on Earth itself. Included are informative treatises on the Earth's geology, topology, and atmosphere, setting up equally fascinating examinations of those topics on the other planets. Thus we get up-to-date and in-depth coverage of everything from the bizarre volcanoes of Venus to the encrusted oceans of Europa to the pink smog of Titan. Just watch out for some sneaky politics in the chapter on the Earth, as coverage of atmospheric changes leads to some not wholly appropriate comments on the political side of global warming. And while the book is uniformly fascinating and informative, one humbug for me is a nearly complete lack of coverage for Pluto. This is likely because we haven't yet been able to send a spacecraft there, and also because the creators of this book have followed the currently accepted scientific theory of Pluto as a non-planet that doesn't deserve the attention of the "real" planets. (In fact, Pluto is actually missing from the book's lists of planets of the solar system). Come on, cut the little guy some slack already! [~doomsdayer520~]

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well balanced!, November 1, 2004

By 

Peter (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System (Hardcover)

This book is written in a clear and easy to read style. If you are a novice on astronomy you will still be able to understand the text. At the same time this book offers enough in-depth and up-to-date information to satisfy the person who is more knowledgeable on the subject. The text is richly illustrated, with a multitude of photographs, charts, schematics, drawings etc.

The first three chapters of the book deal with general subjects like the history of astronomy, the forming of impact craters, the principles of volcanism in the solar system, the (presumed) existence of water on several solar objects, the characteristics of atmospheres of planets and Titan etc. etc. After this there are separate chapters about the earth, our moon, the asteroids, comets and all planets. Unexpectedly, although understandable in view of their similarities, Uranus and Neptune are put together in one chapter. Even more peculiar is the fact that there is not a separate chapter about Pluto and its companion Charon. They are described in four pages in one of the general chapters. So Pluto is not treated as a real planet but more as an object of the Kuiper-belt. The last chapter of the book is called "Worlds colliding" and deals with the impact in 1994 of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter, collisions of comets with the sun, existing impact craters on earth and the chances of disaster by incoming asteroids/meteoroids.

All in all I find this a very nice book that should appeal to both beginners in the field as to the more knowledgeable "amateur-astronomers" among us. In this way it is a "well balanced" book.