Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Space and Astronomy (Facts on File Science Library)

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This is a huge, up to date, single volume encyclopedia. It is not a text, but an alphabetical listing of just about everything there is to know about the subject. More than most astronomy books, this one contains a lot more information about the various space oriented NASA projects. I can't say that every mission is documented, but in looking several up I couldn't find any that were missing. Likewise other aspects of space technology aren't left out. You don't find discussions for instance on the de Laval nozzle in most other books.

On the astronomical side, his discussions on dark enery and dark matter are as good as any I've seen. This is not to say that he claims to know what they are, but he gives a good description what the leading current theories say. I notice that he has no comment on the speed of gravity (which nobody seems to know), but I guess you have to draw the line somewhere.

One problem with this book is putting it down. It is so big, and has so much information that you tend to want to read it from beginning to end. Except that you get distracted and start jumping around as something new grabs your interest.

So far,I haven't found a single astronomical term that was missing or one for which the encyclopedia gave less than satisfactory explanation.