Meteorites and their Parent Planets [Paperback]

Harry Y. McSween Jr (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521587514 | ISBN-13: 978-0521587518 | Publication Date: February 13, 1999 | Edition: 2

Meteorites and Their Parent Planets provides an engrossing overview of a highly interdisciplinary field--the study of extraterrestrial materials. The second edition of this successful book has been thoroughly revised, and describes the nature of meteorites, where they come from, and how they get to Earth. Meteorites offer important insights into processes in stars and in interstellar regions, the birth of our solar system, the formation and evolution of planets and smaller bodies, and the origin of life. The first edition was immensely popular with meteorite collectors, scientists and science students in many fields, as well as amateur astronomers. In this second edition all of the illustrations have been updated and improved, many sections have been expanded and modified based on discoveries in the past decade, and a new final chapter on the importance of meteorites has been added. Everyone with an interest in meteorites will want a copy of this book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a detailed and extremely comprehensive introduction to the subject of meteoritics. The book discusses the nature of meteorites beginning with the reasons for suspecting their origin as extraterrestrial, through their different classifications, chemical compositions, geological histories, and what information meteorites carry regarding their parent bodies....McSween's fascination with meteorites and his enchanting style of writing contribute to the enjoyment of reading his book." Meteoritics & Planetary Science

"An illuminating introduction to the science of meteoritics, Meteorites and Their Parent Planets demonstrates what these visitors from space can tell us about the birth and infancy of our solar system." Astronomy Book Club

"...the book gives a very readable account of these interesting extraterrestrial rocks. I recommend the book as an excellent introduction to meteoritics for those Earth Scientists who have an interest in but not a specialist knowledge of the subject." Geological Magazine

"A pleasure to read, very personal and narrative, but most importantly, it is correct: no oversimplification, no omission of hard-to-describe facts like ages, isotopic and chemical peculiarities or nucleosynthesis. The author has to be congratulated; the book is highly recommended." Space Science Review

"Cambridge University Press offers the public, and those familiar with basic astronomy, an outstanding introduction to nearly everything currently known about meteorites." Planetarian

Book Description

Meteorites and Their Parent Planets provides an engrossing overview of a highly interdisciplinary field--the study of extraterrestrial materials. The second edition of this successful book has been thoroughly revised, and describes the nature of meteorites, wher e they come from, and how they get to Earth. The first edition was immensely popular with meteorite collectors, scientists and science students in many fields, and amateur astronomers. Everyone with an interest in meteorites will want a copy of this book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (February 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521587514
• ISBN-13: 978-0521587518
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Comets, Meteors & Asteroids
  • #97 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Mineralogy

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating - I was amazed at the power of geochemistry, September 23, 1999

By 

A Geology Teacher (Western U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meteorites and their Parent Planets (Paperback)

I'm a geologist who loves to find good summaries of geology / planetary science topics, and "Meteorites and their Parent Planets" is one of the best I've found. While I've always been more interested in "geometric" topics like structural geology, McSween's book made geochemistry and cosmochemistry come alive like I'd never imagined. He weaves a fascinating tale of the amazing deductions that have been made from analyses of meteorites. "Compositional" sciences like petrology and geochemistry used to make my eyes glaze over, but now I think that if I had it to do over again, I might go into geochemistry or meteoritics! I look forward to reading McSween's other books.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate meteorite book., September 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Meteorites and their Parent Planets (Hardcover)

Meteorites are amazing. Most people don't realize how much of what we know about the earth and solar system is based on the study of meteorites. McSween is a scientist and this book is technical but is well written and understandable to a layman with a reasonable scientific background. He covers topics from the earliest history of recorded meteorite falls to the chemistry of these objects. With the exception of martian microbes and armegeddon, meteoritics is largely ignored by the lay press. This book weaves tales of ancient asteroid impacts and planets long ago destroyed. The progression of the book is logical, and along the way, the author stops to explain how tests such as spectrophotometry and radioactive dating work. If you're the type who wants to know "how did they figure that out?" this book is for you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding resource, March 8, 2007

By 

Joseph Hilbe (Florence, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meteorites and their Parent Planets (Paperback)

I both collect meteorites and give talks about them throughout the U.S. I am always looking for good books on meteorites that I can recommend to those who attend my presentations. Norton's books, as well as McSween's, are the best. It's chock full of very interesting information that has been abstracted from research journals and put into language that non-specialists can understand. It's by no means a beginners book, but one that you'd want to read after the more superficial ones.

The main theme is, of course, identifying the parent planets and asteroids for the classifications of meteorite. McSween provides his readers with the most up-to-date information, by 1999 standards, and when there is no agreement, he offers us his best opinion.

The book is organized by first providing a good overview of meteoronics in general. Then he addresses chondrites in Chapter 2, followed by a chapter related to possible parent bodies for the chondrites discussed. Ch 4 and 5 do the same for achondrites, and Chs 6 and 7 for Irons and Stony-Irons. The final two chapters get into subjects such as the geography of teh asteroidal belt and Kirkwood gaps, resonance, fractionations, and so forth -- this is the discussion that will interest those who have been involved with meteors for awhile.

I highly recommend the book and hope that he updates it in the near future. It has a 1999 date -- 8 years ago from this review. I'd love to read a third edition.