Lives of the Planets: A Natural History of the Solar System [Hardcover]

Richard Corfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2007

Lives of the Planets describes a scientific field in the midst of a revolution. Planetary science has mainly been a descriptive science, but it is becoming increasingly experimental. The space probes that went up between the 1960s and 1990s were primarily generalists-they collected massive amounts of information so that scientists could learn what questions to pursue. But recent missions have become more focused: Scientists know better what information they want and how to collect it. Even now probes are on their way to Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Pluto, with Europa-one of Jupiter’s moons-on the agenda. In a sweeping look into the manifold objects inhabiting the depths of space, Lives of the Planets delves into the mythology and the knowledge humanity has built over the ages. Placing our current understanding in historical context, Richard Corfield explores the seismic shifts in planetary astronomy and probes why we must change our perspective of our place in the universe. In our era of extraordinary discovery, this is the first comprehensive survey of this new understanding and the history of how we got here.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Corfield (The Silent Landscape) paints a companionable guide on this tour of the solar system. With a subject spanning 4.6 billion years, many billions of miles and eight (well, maybe nine) planets, a host of moons, asteroids galore, a plethora of comets and more, it is not surprising that many of the details are not filled in. Nonetheless, there is much to grab the average reader. Corfield focuses in turn on each major item in the solar system. Chapters begin by discussing the early ideas humans had about each object and then move to the advances we've made over the past 50 years. Finally, Corfield synthesizes available knowledge and explains what we currently know and why we know it. Throughout, he does a good job of articulating why he believes the billions of dollars spent on space exploration have been worthwhile. Discussing the joint NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens project to explore Saturn and Titan, one of its moons, Corfield says, We went to Titan because it seemed the world most similar to the Earth when our world was new. With his strong writing and expansive subject, it is impossible not to be infected with Corfield's enthusiasm for planetary science. 28 color photos. (July 9)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Modulated for a general audience, Corfield's tour of the solar system rides on space missions dispatched to the planets. Proceeding from the sun outward to Pluto—planet or not, a spacecraft is speeding toward it right now—Corfield balances the technological with his scientist's eye for the geophysical questions these space projects were intended to answer. After pioneering reconnaissance supplied a basic idea of a planet's appearance and hospitability to life, subsequent missions, as Corfield explains, were designed with more precise goals in mind. Corfield describes these aims and analyzes how well they have been met—obtaining atmospheric and surface information about Venus and discovering if life did or does exist on Mars. He then expands his findings into descriptions of the sun, each planet, the asteroids, and the outer limits of the solar system, from where the Voyager spacecraft are currently sending data. The author also poses the questions that future missions will pursue, such as determining a possible ocean on Jupiter's Europa. A clear and enthusiastic introduction to our cosmic neighborhood. Taylor, Gilbert

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 16 and up
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (June 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465014038
• ISBN-13: 978-0465014033
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #762,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Comets, Meteors & Asteroids

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not really about the planets, December 9, 2007

By 

Artyom Kopp "artyom" (Madison, wi United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lives of the Planets: A Natural History of the Solar System (Hardcover)

I must say I was very disappointed in this book. Not that it's bad, it's just not at all what I expected. "Lives of the hardware launched into space" would be a more accurate, although perhaps less alluring, title.
I would say that roughly 1/3 of this book is actually about the planets and other celestial bodies. Most of it is about hardware, NASA, science administration and funding, mission managers and engineers, and the authors family life and childhood interests. Things like planetary surface topography and chemistry, geological history, atmospheres, orbital mechanics, etc. - the actual "Lives of the Planets" - are skipped over with an absolute minimum of detail. Volcanism on Io is barely dignified with a mention while the political infighting between different space agencies and laboratories takes center stage. To my taste, there just not enough meat in this book. If you enjoy "human interest" stories, by all means go ahead and buy this book - just don't expect much science. You'd be better off browsing through old Scientific Americans.
By the way - if someone can recommend a good, up-to-date "science" book on the Solar system, I'd appreciate it.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars PWNED!!!!!: The Astronomy Book!, June 29, 2008

By 

racapowski (Great Falls, MT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lives of the Planets: A Natural History of the Solar System (Hardcover)

As already noted, this is a history of the various satellite missions to the planets instead of the planets themselves. And that's OK; I expected such, having read the reviews and a few sample passages in the store. What shocked me, though, was Corfield's odd and plainly mean-spirited decision to focus on the programs' blunders and failures, however miniscule they may be in comparison to their accomplishments. Strange to see an astronomer, someone who presumably has a big-picture outlook on the world, caught up in such pettiness.

Corfield consistently portrays of scientists as a stupid lot, their beliefs founded on fads and personal prejudice until the evidence knocks them upside their empty heads. Funny thing about that evidence; it seems to show up of its own accord, with no human responsibility for its discovery. (Who's pursuing the truth and amending previous theories, then? Flying spaghetti monsters?) Any researcher who has ever come to a conclusion we now perceive as erroneous, regardless of the limitations of their era or tools, is smirkingly dismissed as worthless and chuckleheaded. (Galileo failed to properly identify Saturn's rings with his 17th-century telescope - heh, what a hopeless moron.) Forgive me for flinging this accusation at an accomplished astronomer, but - Corfield doesn't seem to get how science works. I imagine that "PWNED!!!!!" is a prominent part of his everyday vocabulary.

Corfield's approach makes his account of space exploration opaque. It's not important what the Pioneer missions observed, only that those losers eventually got thrashed by Voyager; it's not important what Voyager observed, only that its team was unforgivably boneheaded for not following the course Corfield would have. Corfield's...interesting priorities don't address the questions one usually has about these programs. His technical explanations also fail to define crucial terminology (H-R diagrams, for example, are mentioned but never explained), leaving laymen in the dark.

The author also makes the poor decision to shove a ten-page climate change denial manifesto into the very first chapter, blaming the phenomenon completely on sunspot activity. (A thin layer of "some people say" weasel words fools no one; take responsibility for you own crackpot theory, buddy.) He introduces the idea of climate change as a collection of "doom-laden forecasts [from] highly-paid think-tank moguls and academics with an eye on their funding". Ah, yes, Big Science, with all those researchers getting rich off global warming! My heart and expectations sank as I read it; it nearly discredited Corfield for me right off the bat.

There are some neat things in here, like a thorough and convincing archaeological exploration of Stonehenge as a giant astronomical clock in the Sun chapter. Corfield also worked on Britain's Beagle 2 mission to Mars, which never reached its landing site; we get a vivid and insightful chronicle from Corfield on the would-be landing day, as it gradually becomes sadly apparent that things have gone awry. Every time I got hooked by something awesome and intriguing, though, Corfield soon steered back to his personal grudges and schoolyard smirks. You can pick out good tidbits from "Lives of the Planets", and it might be worth borrowing from the library if you're interested in astronomy. If you want a solid popular-science book about the solar system, though, I'd recommend Dava Sobel's "The Planets" instead.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good read., September 17, 2010

By 

Shar - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lives of the Planets: A Natural History of the Solar System (Hardcover)

I needed a book for a book report I was doing. I am also not an astrophysicist, so I was extremely happy that this was such an easy book to read and understand. It gave a fairly comprehensive overview of where we have come with exploration since the beginning of the space age. I enjoyed it.