Moons and Planets (Hardcover)

by William K. Hartmann (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Fully updated by William Hartmann, this text retains a comparative approach to the principles of planetology, including organization by physical topic rather than by planet. This unique approach promotes an understanding of the unifying principles and processes that cause similarities and differences among the moon and planets. This edition features finding and photos from Mars Pathfinder, Global Surveyor, Hubble, and photos of Jupiter's atmosphere from the Galileo probe, new data on Pluto and other small bodies, and more! The text's unique math boxes give you the flexibility to teach planetary science at a descriptive level or at a moderately advanced level involving algebra and elementary calculus.

About the Author
William K. Hartmann is known internationally as a planetary astronomer, writer, and painter. He is a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. His research has involved the origin and evolution of planets and studies of the surfaces of Mars, the moon, asteroids, and comets. Asteroid 3341 is named after him in recognition of this work, and in 1998 he was named first recipient of the Carl Sagan medal of the American Astronomical Society for communicating planetary science to the public. In 2002 he was awarded a medal from the European Geophysical Society for his work on planetary cratering. He has authored three other astronomy books for Thomson, Brooks-Cole, several popular astronomy books, and two novels, MARS UNDERGROUND and CITIES OF GOLD.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Brooks Cole; 4 edition (August 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534546307
• ISBN-13: 978-0534546304
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,472,662 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Solar System Reference Book for the Rest of Us!, March 27, 2000

By	Brian L Davis (Illinios, USA) - See all my reviews

The first time I read this book was when one of my graduate teachers asked me to review it. While he thought it to basic for graduate-level work, I have used this book ever since, for students of all ages. Well written and illustrated with black-&-white pictures as well as the author's own well-respected artwork, it covers so much in such a small book it's hard to believe. The appendix of plantary data is up-to-date & comprehensive, lacking only some of the more esoteric elements (like the moment of inertia factor and J2 moment - if you don't know what those are, you won't miss them). Best at an undergraduate level, no math is required; all the math is set aside in boxes from the text, ready to use when the reader is ready but not required for a firm understanding of the subject at hand. And while it's clearly written as a textbook, it's far better reading than your average college text on the subject. While there are many "overview" books on the market, this is one of the best in my opinion; while I like and use more flashy texts like "The New Solar System", this is the one that I go back to again & again to review the basics or perform a simple calculation.

2.0 out of 5 stars Overpriced and ineffective, December 8, 2008

By	Keaton Bell (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Moons and Planets (Hardcover)

The most important things for you to know if you are considering buying this book are that it is boring, there's not a drop of color ink in the whole book, and that the concepts presented are rarely put into a useful context. The book is a very dry read which is inexcusable because it actually addresses some very interesting concepts. And at nearly two hundred dollars (one of the most expensive books I've ever purchased), there's no reason that the whole thing is printed in grayscale. Full color photos depicting similar things as the gray photos in the book are many many times as fascinating. Finally, the complicated (and sometimes simple) math and physics behind many of the phenomena explained in this book are usually not included or, at best, left as a footnote. For this reason, the complicated concepts addressed cannot be understood from the most fundamental viewpoint and leave the reader without the ability to really apply the ideas to modeling or predicting real-world situations. I'm sorry that I do not have a recommendation for a better book, as this is the first (of hopefully many and better) book I have read on the topic. Hope this isn't required reading for you, like it was for me.