The PlanetsDava Sobel's The Glass Universe will be available from Viking in December 2016 With her bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, Dava Sobel introduced readers to her rare gift for weaving complex scientific concepts into a compelling narrative. Now Sobel brings her full talents to bear on what is perhaps her most ambitious topic to date-the planets of our solar system. Sobel explores the origins and oddities of the planets through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history. Written in her characteristically graceful prose, The Planets is a stunningly original celebration of our solar system and offers a distinctive view of our place in the universe. * A New York Times extended bestseller * A Featured Alternate of the Book-of-the-Month Club, History Book Club, Scientific American Book Club, and Natural Science Book Club * Includes 11 full-color illustrations by artist Lynette R. Cook "[The Planets] lets us fall in love with the heavens all over again." -The New York Times Book Review "Playful . . . lyrical . . . a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we're being educated as we're being entertained." -Newsweek " [Sobel] has outdone her extraordinary talent for keeping readers enthralled. . . . Longitude and Galileo's Daughter were exciting enough, but The Planets has a charm of its own . . . . A splendid and enticing book." -San Francisco Chronicle "A sublime journey. [Sobel's] writing . . . is as bright as the sun and its thinking as star-studded as the cosmos." -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An incantatory serenade to the Solar System. Grade A-" -Entertainment Weekly "Like Sobel's [Longitude and Galileo's Daughter] . . . [The Planets] combines masterful storytelling with clear, engaging explanations of the essential scientific facts." -Physics World |
Contents
MYTHOLOGY | |
BEAUTY | |
GEOGRAPHY | |
LUNACY | |
SCIFl | |
ASTROLOGY | |
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES | |
NIGHT | |
PLANETEERS | |
A Note About the Illustrations | |
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Common terms and phrases
ancient Apollo asteroid astrology Astronomer Royal billion years ago body bright carbon Cassini century clouds collision color Columbus comet Copernicus craters crust dark discovered discovery disk distance Earth Earth’s atmosphere Earthly eclipse exoplanets full Moon Galileo Galileo probe gases Gerard Kuiper giant gravity Gustav Holst Halley heat heavens helium Herschel Holst horizon hundred Huygens hydrogen images inside Jovian Jupiter Jupiter’s Kepler Kuiper Belt land lava leap second Leverrier lunar Mars Martian mass Mercury Mercury’s meteorite Moon’s natal chart Neptune Neptune’s night Observatory observed ocean once orbit particles planet planetary planetesimals Pluto pole predicted probe Ptolemy Ptolemy’s resonance rings rock rotation satellites Saturn Schiaparelli scientists Solar System solar wind space spacecraft spheres spins stars Sun’s Sun’s light surface telescope temperature thousand transit turn universe Uranus Uranus and Neptune vapor Venus Venus’s Venusian volcanoes Voyager William wind York