The Planets

Read on a train trip to Torquay, this was a delightful meander through the Solar System. Snippets of information, entertaining tangents, flights of fancy...all perfect for those wanting to read something escapist and interesting but probably a nightmare to the 'shoes in a strait line' scientific reader. This is not the book for you if you want to know the specific gravity of Io or if you need to calatlogue the rotation speeds of Neptune's moons.

It is the sort of book that you read in order for your mind to go somewhere else. There are plenty of fascinating passages, but there are also lots of gentle pushes from Sobel that launch you off into a completely seperate set of thoughts that will see you returning in a page or two's time having missed the book's action but, nevertheless, had a fine time. It will drive scientific minds mad. I'm OK with that.

Fact, Context and Wonder (0/0 people found this helpful)

I started to read this book because I wanted to have a brief summary of what is known about the planets in our own solar system and because I had enjoyed "Longitude" by the same author. Sobel succeeds in her task by taking a well-worked subject and finding a new angle with which to approach it. In this book she has each chapter based around a planet but selects a different entry point to the topic each time, through for example an imagined letter from one of the characters involved at the times of discovery or through poetry or ancient myths. This approach is fresh and lively but at the same time is a vehicle by which to introduce just enough facts about each planet to be informative. For those who want a more detailed presentation of astronomy this book is not the one; in fact I could imagine it irritating some readers as it flirts with the mystical awe of the solar system as well as presenting the scientific knowledge available. However, if you want an interesting mix of fact, historical context and a glimpse of wonder in an engaging style then "The Planets" provides a perfect read.

The Planets - A Pulpit's View (1/2 people found this helpful)

As someone who'd thoroughly enjoyed 'Longitude' I'd greatly anticipated reading Dava Sobel's take on our extended home. Not that new scientific revelations had been expected, no, but simply a well-written and entertaining new slant on what countless Horizon programmes and suchlike had already amply illustrated in recent years.

Just scanning the table of contents had me frown. Just a little. Chapter two, 'Genesis' - mmh... Could it be? Yes, it could! Before you can say Creationism, we meet the "architect", his subtle but all-pervading presence insidiously slipped in between romantic hogwash about the formation of our early solar system. 'Let there be light...', 'The Book of Genesis tells...', and perhaps most gallingly, when the chapter draws to a confused close on the subject of solar eclipses and marvels at the matching relative size of moon and sun, '...is this startling manifestation of the Sun's hidden splendour part of a divine design?'

Never before have I tossed a book in disgust. I have now. Expecting an if not scientific then at least factual account based on current understanding, what we get is a book that could easily be thrust in your face by those persistent, motormouthed disciples after ringing your doorbell on Saturday afternoons. Sadly, these days one cannot be sure if this abomination of science is Dava Sobel's own doing, or indeed was foisted on her by money-grabbing US editors, along with the generally bloated style of writing that milks the more romantic aspects of our solar system until the udders hurt. Given the currently raging US-based controversy re. the His Dark Materials movie, the latter seems more likely.

Conclusions: don't bother reading this book, unless sickly sweet writing and the notion that our world was created in a handful of days don't offend you.

A gem (0/2 people found this helpful)

How I wish I was Dava Sobel. When someone manages your thoughts with such clarity, it's spooky and hypnotic. How boring is it to read a drone about planets? Not here - Dava just drips out an image and it lands on your mind "plop". In a matter-of-fact explanation of the moon eclipsing the sun, she writes: "At totality, when the Moon is a pool of soot hiding the bright solar sphere....". I could tell you better lines but this morning, I loved that one. I'm on my third reading of her book but I mainly just read Lunacy (her chapter on the moon) over and over again - it has me floating. Dava stimulates such emotion around the wonderment of creation; it almost feels like a religion.

Journey through the solar system (5/5 people found this helpful)

This charming guide to the solar system explains the planets in everyday language while drawing on history, myth, science fiction, art, literature and the latest scientific advances. It discusses the ongoing discoveries in our planetary system, dealing with every body from the sun to Pluto. The writing style is accessible and highly engaging.

The chapter Genesis deals with the sun and the formation of the solar system, Mythology is devoted to Mercury and astronomers like Tycho Brahe, Copernicus and Kepler, and Beauty is reserved for Venus, where the poetry of amongst others, Blake, Wordsworth, Oliver Wendell Holmes and CS Lewis is quoted. Earth gets its turn in Geography (On Becoming a Planet), and the Moon in the chapter Lunacy.

Jupiter and the Galileo spacecraft are investigated in Astrology, whilst Music Of The Spheres is about Saturn and the music of the planets as represented by Holst in his Opus 32 and Kepler's book Harmonice Mundi in which he interpreted their motions as music. Uranus and Neptune are discussed in the chapter Discovery, and Pluto in UFO where the controversy on whether Pluto really is a planet is explored.

The concluding chapter Planeteers discusses the Cassini spacecraft and the Huygens probe which landed on Saturn's moon Titan in January 2005. The author concludes with the observation that the planets have always been stalwarts of human culture and the inspiration for much of mankind's higher-minded endeavor. The book concludes with a glossary, notes by chapter and a bibliography. There are black and white illustrations, photographs and maps throughout the text.

The PS section at the end contains an interview with the author by Travis Elborough, Sobel's favorite books and writers, Other books by Sobel and books she recommends, and an essay about the New Horizons spacecraft launched on 19th January 2006 on its 10 year journey to Pluto.

Dava Sobel

Reader Reviews:

Out of this world (0/0 people found this helpful)

Fact, Context and Wonder (0/0 people found this helpful)

The Planets - A Pulpit's View (1/2 people found this helpful)

A gem (0/2 people found this helpful)

Journey through the solar system (5/5 people found this helpful)

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