Comets: Creators and Destroyers [Paperback]

David H. Levy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 20, 1998

David Levy brings these "ghostly apparitions" to life. With fascinating scenarios both real and imagined, he shows how comets have wreaked their special havoc on Earth and other planets. Beginning with ground zero as comets take form, we track the paths their icy, rocky masses take around our universe and investigate the enormous potential that future comets have to directly affect the way we live on this planet and what we might find as we travel to other planets.

In this extraordinary volume, David Levy shines his expert light on a subject that has long captivated our imaginations and fears, and demonstrates the need for our continued and rapt attention.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Comets have long dwelled in our imaginations as harbingers of fortune, good and bad, and this very human interest lies at the heart of the book. Comets, by astronomer and science writer David H. Levy (one of the discoverers of Comet Shoemaker-Levy, which battered Jupiter in 1994). He proves that you don't have to be a stargazer to succumb to the allure of the comet, inspiring the novice and satisfying the curious with up-to-date scientific fact, speculation, history, literature, and his own obvious enthusiasm for the subject. Whether exploring comets' role in seeding Earth with the building blocks of life or their link to mass extinctions, Comets consistently engages the reader with a conversational tone that provides just the right level of detail. These visitors from the fringes of our solar neighborhood are sure to rise on everyone's Top Ten Lists as the millennium approaches; this book outlines their relationship with our past and our future. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly

The recent discovery of an asteroid seemingly on a near-collision course with Earth has heightened awareness of the real risk to our species and civilization posed by asteroids and their spectacular cousins, the comets. Levy, who was a discoverer of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994 (and who chronicled the comet's explosive demise in Impact Jupiter), has authored a host of other books about comets and is science editor of Parade. In his compact and literate new book, he notes that comet impacts on the early Earth were the likely source of the water and organic materials that developed into life. They were also the most likely cause of the demise of the dinosaurs (and other mass extinctions), paving the way for the rise of mammalian life. The book is rich in photographs and images, including three paintings by James V. Scotti, discoverer of the near-miss asteroid that made recent headlines. Science fiction buffs will appreciate the millennial doomsday scenario Levy offers, beginning with a terse scientific announcement heralding a train of disrupted comet pieces heading for a spectacular impact on Earth in July 2000. Those who prefer fact-based speculation to flights of imagination will appreciate his knowledgeable discussion of the possibility of comet-seeded life on other worlds in the solar system, the Milky Way and beyond. 40 b&w photos.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (May 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684852551
• ISBN-13: 978-0684852553
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #735,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Comets, Meteors & Asteroids

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A love affair with the sky, June 2, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Comets: Creators and Destroyers (Paperback)

This is a love story. From the first moment author Levy said "Twinkle twinkle little star..." he did more than just wonder what they were but made it his life study to find out. The words flow trippingly off the page. If you only read one book about comets in your entire life, this is the one to read. It is truly a page turner; it kept me up half the night. Don't walk -- RUN and get it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five stars! An 'edge-of-your-seat' book!, June 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Comets: Creators and Destroyers (Paperback)

This is a truly wonderful story not only giving a great deal of easy to understand information about comets, but doing it in such a way that it kept me at the 'edge of my seat' throughout. This book reveals the secrets of the beginning of life on earth, and possibly the end of civilization as we know it. I would give this book 5 stars, a great read from start to finish!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Yes, Virginia, Comets Do Hit Planets", February 16, 2008

By 

Zadius Sky (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Comets: Creators and Destroyers (Paperback)

David Levy was one of the astronomers who discovered the infamous Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which had collided with the planet Jupiter in 1994. He brought this book to public to tell the story of the comets as he mixed his experiences/discovery with the science behind the comets. Indeed, it is a book for the layperson to read as well to understand the grave dangers from space: comets.

This book is also informative in a way as Levy discussed the history of the comets impacts, especially in the chapter eight where he listed the time line of major comets seen in the skies in the past two thousand years. Also, in the fourteenth chapter where he brought to light the terrifying "Doomsday" story about "what would happen if a comet exactly like Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 to hit Earth," to which he brings the reader to experience the Earth colliding with a comet. It was a scary story because we would have no warning.

In all, there are fifteen chapters, with roughly 240 pages. Well-written and readable. And, I certainly like the title of the thirteenth chapter: "Yes, Virginia, Comets Do Hit Planets" as I think it is an important point from the book.

Much recommended.