Customer Reviews

The Scientific American Book of Astronomy

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I bought this book after having missed far too many articles on astronomy in Sci. Am. This book offers thorough readings on the developments of astronomy and astronomy related space discovery during the last 10 years. It has great chapters on everything from Gamma Ray bursters to the "Life on Mars Rock".

A very nice review of current astronomy issues and is a good complement to the articles you can read in current issues of the magazine.

This book is a collection of articles from different people over the last five years. How much you like any article may depend on how interested you are in that topic and how well the author presents it. Since all of them, however, are tied together by Scientific America, I would have expected a more consistent style.

Unfortunately the editors do not seem to have much control of the writer's style. So, some of the article were very clear, others were not written as well. It really is hit or miss in this book. There are some really good articles and some that don't quite make the grade. My two favorites were about the Kupiter Belt and the Oort Cloud.

The Kupiter belt is a colletion of rocks, really, beyond Pluto. Indeed, Pluto appears to be the largest of these planetoids on the fringes of our solar system. That is why you may have heard that some scientists don't think Pluto desires "planet status."

Further out, about 1/5 of a light year, is the Oort Cloud which contains the true leftovers of our solar system. The Oort Cloud is believe to be the source of comets. Comets are relatively "new" and have to come from somewhere because they lose mass every time they come near the sun. My very favorite was the theory that all the water on Earth came from comets because, when the Earth was formed, all the water was burned off of it while the ground was molten. Indeed, the moon might have stuck the Earth during this time and then stayed as it was caught it the Earth's gravity.

Again, overall, this book was fun. Written for the masses, but with enough scientific details to satisfy most people with some background in the field. Probably a better bargain, though, if it comes out in paperback.

This book was published in 1999 and contains articles written between 1991 and 1998. Articles cover a wide variety of then "cutting edge" science on the topics of comets, asteroids, meteorites, rays, waves, particles, planets, stars, galaxies and technology used in space exploration. Unfortunately, as of 2010, most of these articles are pretty outdated. For example, the chapters on the search for planets outside of our solar system contain considerable conjecture on the subject but none were discovered as of the time the article was written. Since then, not only have about a half dozen large Jupiter and Saturn sized planets been discovered but there is serious discussion of an Earth like plant having been discovered. The chapter on space travel, for example, makes no mention of using solar "winds" for space travel. Another problem with the book is the relatively heterogeneous writing in each chapter, not surprising considering how many authors contributed. Some of the chapters are very dry while others are better written and hold reader's attention in a more interesting fashion.

Why reach for the moon when you can have the stars? And a few planets, some black holes, assorted gamma-ray busters and a nebula or two? What may sound like a boring (read: unreadable) subject --- a series of 30something essays penned by the editors of "Scientific American" magazine --- is actually pretty nifty (read: out-of-this-world) stuff. The most fascinating articles are those that deal with extraterrestrial life and reevaluate of the Big Bang Theory. We promise you will never be able to simply look up at the night sky again and not wonder.