The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System

Rating:
Summary: Well balanced!
Review: This book is written in a clear and easy to read style. If you are a novice on astronomy you will still be able to understand the text. At the same time this book offers enough in-depth and up-to-date information to satisfy the person who is more knowledgeable on the subject. The text is richly illustrated, with a multitude of photographs, charts, schematics, drawings etc.

The first three chapters of the book deal with general subjects like the history of astronomy, the forming of impact craters, the principles of volcanism in the solar system, the (presumed) existence of water on several solar objects, the characteristics of atmospheres of planets and Titan etc. etc. After this there are separate chapters about the earth, our moon, the asteroids, comets and all planets. Unexpectedly, although understandable in view of their similarities, Uranus and Neptune are put together in one chapter. Even more peculiar is the fact that there is not a separate chapter about Pluto and its companion Charon. They are described in four pages in one of the general chapters. So Pluto is not treated as a real planet but more as an object of the Kuiper-belt. The last chapter of the book is called "Worlds colliding" and deals with the impact in 1994 of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter, collisions of comets with the sun, existing impact craters on earth and the chances of disaster by incoming asteroids/meteoroids.

All in all I find this a very nice book that should appeal to both beginners in the field as to the more knowledgeable "amateur-astronomers" among us. In this way it is a "well balanced" book.


Rating:
Summary: One-Stop Solar System Shopping
Review: This is a hugely informative compendium of current knowledge of our solar system. Included is up-to-date science, compiled from the missions of all the modern spacecraft, of all (make that most) of the planets plus all of their known moons; plus comets, asteroids, solar winds, magnetic fields, and everything else present in the solar system. A bonus is found in the beginning chapters of the book, which present the history of astronomical discovery by earthbound explorers, and also a large chapter on Earth itself. Included are informative treatises on the Earth's geology, topology, and atmosphere, setting up equally fascinating examinations of those topics on the other planets. Thus we get up-to-date and in-depth coverage of everything from the bizarre volcanoes of Venus to the encrusted oceans of Europa to the pink smog of Titan. Just watch out for some sneaky politics in the chapter on the Earth, as coverage of atmospheric changes leads to some not wholly appropriate comments on the political side of global warming. And while the book is uniformly fascinating and informative, one humbug for me is a nearly complete lack of coverage for Pluto. This is likely because we haven't yet been able to send a spacecraft there, and also because the creators of this book have followed the currently accepted scientific theory of Pluto as a non-planet that doesn't deserve the attention of the "real" planets. (In fact, Pluto is actually missing from the book's lists of planets of the solar system). Come on, cut the little guy some slack already! [~doomsdayer520~]