Venus Revealed: A New Look Below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet [Hardcover]

David Harry Grinspoon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1997

"Grinspoon clearly loves the subject of this exemplary work, the unfolding of our knowledge of 'Earth's Twin.'...His book is full of quieky facts, references to popular culture, clever sililes, and inventive and revealing metaphors and analogies. Even the footnotes are entertaining". -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In a book that is as much romantic as purely scientific, David Harry Grinspoon combines historical perspective on the nearby planet Venus and data from recent observations, notably the Magellan spacecraft's detailed mapping of the planet's surface and gravitational field. In a lighthearted way, Grinspoon conveys the vast body of knowledge that scientists have recently acquired about the planet that is often called our "twin," despite its metal-melting surface temperatures and runaway greenhouse effect. (Could we learn something about our own climate in observing that of Venus?) In a fun though perhaps overconfident section, Grinspoon even argues that the likelihood that life once existed on Venus is as high as for Mars--an intriguing possibility, especially if evidence that life once existed on Mars becomes stronger.

From Publishers Weekly

University of Colorado-Boulder planetary scientist Grinspoon clearly loves the subject of this exemplary work, the unfolding of our knowledge of "Earth's Twin." As a principal scientist on the recent Magellan mission to Venus, he quite naturally focuses on that project's discoveries, but his book is rich as well in anecdotes about correct and incorrect speculations, blind alleys and spectacular surprises as human knowledge of our sister planet grew over the centuries. Grinspoon himself winds up speculating about non-carbon-based life on Venus and about the possibility that carbon-based life began there and migrated here on meteorites four billion years ago. Though some might view this concept as outrageous, his irreverent style and his admission that he is indulging in a flight of fancy with serious intent make his final chapter, like all his others, great fun as well as greatly informative. At important points in the book, Grinspoon leaves Venus and returns to Earth, highlighting the way people do-and love-science, the relationship between big science and national defense projects, the vagaries of government funding and, most important, our role as custodians and manipulators of our fragile environment. His book is full of quirky facts, references to popular culture, clever similes and inventive and revealing metaphors and analogies. Even the footnotes are entertaining. But Grinspoon remains true to his serious purpose, concluding that "the most important benefit of planetary explanation will be self-knowledge.... We should treasure every bit of knowledge and insight Venus can provide. It's the only twin we've got." Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 355 pages
• Publisher: Perseus Books (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201406551
• ISBN-13: 978-0201406559
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,792,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book that's fun to read, February 25, 2003

By 

Charles G. Fry "cgfry" (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Venus Revealed: A New Look Below The Clouds Of Our Mysterious Twin Planet (Paperback)

Anyone that wonders why humans should continue to invest in space exploration--especially important at this time of tragedy with the Columbia mission--will find many answers in this excellent book. Grinspoon is one of those rare writers that enthralls us with the mystery and wonder of science, while at the same time not shying away from, or diminishing the complexities of scientific discovery. He describes with clarity why studies of other planets are important endeavors in their own right, as well as for our continued understanding of our own planet Earth.

All readers will gain an appreciation from Grinspoon for scientific discovery: how it builds with improving data from insights that at first seem remote and uncertain into solid foundations for better understanding of issues such as global warming on earth. Volcanology, plate tectonics, acid rain, and planetary climatology are all discussed in detail, as well as the more esoteric phenomena of planet formation and extra-terrestrial life. While the later topics might be argued as to their importance with regard to current problems on our planet, Grinspoon makes excellent connections for studies of the former issues on Venus, and their impact to our knowledge of our own home planet. Anything that significantly improves our understanding of global warming, plate tectonics (earthquakes), etc., is worth a significant and continuing investment. Venus Revealed is great book in many respects: lack of a bibliography is the only fault worth mentioning. (And I, for one, loved the often hilarious footnotes!) Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good work of comparative planetology, October 30, 2001

By 

Joan Roch (Montréal, Qc Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Venus Revealed: A New Look Below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet (Hardcover)

Besides a excellent historical and scientifical synthesis of the Venusian system, this book does a good job at comparing the three main terrestrial planets, from the astronomical, physical, geological, atmospheric, etc. point of views. This is very refreshing because Venus is often overlooked in most books, that usually focus more on the binary comparison of Mars vs the Earth, and, in many ways, Terra is actually closer to Venus than Mars.

The text itself is clear, accurate and very entertaining to read (especially the footnotes!). Everything is based on scientific facts, except the last chapter, that digresses a little too much from the main subject, but it's ok.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, December 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Venus Revealed: A New Look Below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet (Hardcover)

Venus Revealed by David Grinspoon is one of the best popular-level astronomy books of the 1990s. It is full of substantial information, yet is entertaining and suspenseful. In this regard, it resembles books such as Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne; The Alchemy of the Heavens by Ken Croswell; and Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos by Dennis Overbye. Venus Revealed traces astronomers' knowledge of the planet Venus--from ancient times, when it was merely a beautiful object in the morning or evening sky, to the era of telescopic observations, which gave rise to fanciful speculations about life, and finally to the modern era of spacecraft, which revealed the true nature of Venus: a dry, torrid world with an atmosphere 90 times thicker than Earth's. Two minor complaints about the book: the numerous footnotes are often silly, and the book lacks a bibliography. Venus Revealed is definitely a lot more appealing than its inhospitable subject.