Both my wife and I have enjoyed this book immensely. The prose although factual and scientific has a very poetic style.

Much of Sobel's new book is on an unlikely topic--classical observational astronomy and astrometrics--which, especially for a subject like astronomy that has so many fascinating and even mind-boggling aspects, is not exactly its most interesting area. Most of this is covered in the few chapters in an introductory college astronomy text, and then the author moves on to more interesting things like astrophysics and cosmology, which are a lot more fun. But Sobel pulls off another coup by making this potentially dull, dry subject as interesting as in her previous works. The book covers the entire history from its ancient origins to modern times. If Sobel can do something this good on planetary astronomy, one wonders what she could do with something truly fascinating like modern cosmology. But here she has produced another gem from what for most science writers would be pretty low-grade ore.

After having thoroughly enjoyed Sobel's books "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter", I was delighted to find her book "The Planets" and looked forward to an interesting and informative read. Interesting hardly describes my impression, and I will admit now that I never actually finished the book. I was struck immediately by her very poetic style for writing this book, a sharp contrast to the other books, but I thought perhaps I could get used to it. Unfortunately she started to loose me with heavy references to the Biblical "Genesis," in comparison to real science, when describing the origins of the solar system. It started to sound too much like "Intelligent Design" to be within my comfort zone. She totally lost me when discussing solar eclipses, with her speculation about the "uncanny coincidence of size and distance" of the moon
as being perhaps "part of a divine design" rather than accident. At that moment, I closed the book and placed it in my give-away box.

. . . synonomous with "planets" and rather descriptive of Dava Sobel's little book of the same name, The Planets.

The book is organized as a set of independent short essays, one for each planet plus the Sun and Moon. Describing the planets as "an assortment of magic beans or precious gems," Sobel addresses these essays to cultural themes, not solar system science. The result is quite a departure from the compelling and coherent historical narratives of Sobel's recent best-sellers (Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time and Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love).

I recommend that you read the The Planets one chapter at a time, with plenty of breathing room. Each is a pleasant, New Yorker-style diversion. But as a book, the messages become jumbled and even contradictory. For instance, by the time you've absorbed the cultural ideosycracies of the other eight planets it's something of a shock in the essay titled "UFO" to hear Sobel side with the petty killjoys of the IAU who want to strip Pluto of its planethood.

I was hoping to love "The Planets," as I'm a big fan of Sobels's pocket-sized masterpiece, "Longitude." But I couldn't get past the first few chapters of this inscrutable tribute to our solar system. Whereas I was expecting accessible and fun anecdotal history, there's just too much raw science for my artistic pea-brain to deal with. And unfortunately, Sobel hasn't found a way to present it in a clear, reader-friendly manner. Personally, I'd rather hear more about the planets' influence on different cultures and less about their chemical properties. (Granted Sobel IS a science writer, so perhaps the fault was in my expectations.) Obviously Sobel's done her research, and has a true passion for her subject, but she hasn't found a successful way of instilling in her readers -- at least not this one -- that sense of planetary wonder that she felt as a young child. I wanted to get excited about both the planets and "The Planets," but instead was reminded why science class could be such a bore.

If John Lennon were alive today to read Dava Sobel's "The Planets", I've no doubt he would be pleased to call it "a magical mystery tour".

I've always enjoyed reading popular science but, frankly, some of it is turgid, dry-as-dust commentary that is far more soporific than informative. By contrast, Sobel's "The Planets", a whirlwind tour of some of the most fascinating features of our very own solar system, waxes lyrical, indeed, almost poetic at times with the compelling beauty of its prose.

Each chapter, written from a unique imaginative perspective, takes what might otherwise be difficult scientific concepts and weaves them into a narrative that will draw in even the most science-phobic reader with an irresistible urgency and fascination. Sci-Fi, for example, the chapter that lucidly tells us the story of Mars, uses the extraordinarily clever device of narration from the point of view of a Martian meteorite, a piece of Martian rock blasted loose from Mars' surface by an asteroid impact that found its way to earth, landing in an Antarctic icefield over sixteen million years ago.

I don't think I could improve on Newsweek's comment ... "a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we're being educated while we're being entertained."

"The Planets" is highly recommended and adds to a growing body of work that includes the equally entertaining "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter".

I loved this book. Dava Sobels weaves science and prose to descibe the Solar System in a unique and beautiful way. My favorite is the way she decribes the history of the planet Mars from the perspecitve of the famous Mars rock thought to contain evidence of past life. I could not put this book down.

I am a HUGE fan of Dava Sobel's other books, including Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love,; and Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. These books, Galileo's Daughter and Longitude, were engaging, insightful, eye-opening, and superbly edited historical dramas.

So, when I spied The Planets at an airport bookstore, I literally grabbed it off the book shelf, went to the cashier and paid for it, and prepared myself for another treat... the perfect air travel book, I was thinking.

Six months and at least four trips later, I finally finished it. There were probably 50 books in between.

The Planets is not a bad book in any sense. Obviously, I had different expectations. In The Planets, each chapter was a stand-alone overview of a personal account of the planets (and sun) in the solar system. Sobel experimented with different approaches to these worlds... her dreams, a letter from a family member of a discoverer, the perspective of a rock (now this one I liked... the "rock" was a chip off the old Mar's block, literally... a meteorite on Earth that originated from Mars). However, this style of writing made it easy to pick up, put down, forget about it for awhile, pick it up again, and so on. When I started Galileo's Daughter and Longitude, I was irritated every time I had to take a break in my reading.

I did learn more about our nearest rocky and gaseous neighbors. However, the "factoids per column inch" measurement was less than it could be, as was the excitement factor.

I think Dava Sobel could have done better with this topic. Nevertheless, I look forward to the next installment in her literary career.

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, ther 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.

This is Dava Sobel's paean to the solar system. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it is not up to the very high standard set by her previous masterpiece, Longitude. Her prose is lovely, but if you want a scientific discussion of planetary science, this is not the book for you. To be sure, there is a lot of interesting information here, but in my opinion not enough to justify reading this book if you are interested in the science of the solar system. The book covers each planet (along with the sun and moon) from interesting perspectives. For instance, Mars is discussed from the perspective of a rock found in Antarctica, which is believed to have been ejected from Mars. The stories of Uranus and Neptune are told in the form of a fictitious letter from Caroline Hershel (sister and assistant to Sir William Hershel the discoverer of Uranus). This approach is too clever by half and while I found it interesting, I found it to be ultimately very distracting. I guess I wanted more science and less clever prose. This book could have also benefited from some illustrations and photographs. There is but one diagram - that of Huygens showing how the rings of Saturn appear to change from the perspective of a viewer on earth over the course of its 29.5 year orbit around the sun.

You may like this book, in spite of the above-mentioned shortcomings. It is a short read and you will like it if you like very good writing sprinkled with many interesting facts about the solar system. I just expected much more, hence only three stars.

This book is not for me.

I can't get past the pompous style. It reads like W C Fields except that it's not funny.

Try this totally representative sentence from the chapter on Venus:

"These collisions eject copious debris, yet all the rubble hugs close around the crater margins in neat festoons, as though contained there by the heavy air."

Festoons? Is this a joke? I can't help reading it in a W C Fields voice.

For the chapter on Uranus and Neptune the author "assumed Maria Mitchell wrote of her 1847 find to ... Caroline Herschel.(1750 - 1848)." I can hardly tell the difference between the 19th century style and the rest of the book.

The chapter on Mars written from the point of view of a Martian rock doesn't work for me.

- - -

I like the book "Understanding the Planetary Myths" by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma ISBN 0-572-03032-0

When I first picked up this book I was awed by its beautiful presentation. The quality of the printing is outstanding, with a coordinated slip cover and bindings, and some really wonderful illustrations. Sadly, the contents did not live up to expectation. The more I read, the more I got the feeling that this book contains all the leftovers from her two previous books, Galileo's Daughter and Longitude, that didn't fit in but which she was loathe to discard. It's a neat little conjuring trick, but it hasn't really come off. It leaves the reader with a sense of dissatisfaction, because it lacks coherence. It's all form and no substance.

This book is not a continuous narrative and need not be read in a linear method. Dava Sobel's "The Planets" is a collection of essays inspired by our solar system. I usually balk at reading essay books and I wasn't particularly enthused with this book.

The Good:
"The Planets" is as sophisticated as a mainstream science book can get, rife with references to poetry, literature, history, and religion. It discusses the planets in context of mythology, popular culture, and mainstream literature.

The Bad:
Sobel seems more concerned with eloquent and flowery language than with a concrete purpose and resulting conclusion. Also, Pluto is no longer a planet!

The Conclusion:
This 'page-turner' is a great read if you're at all fascinated by the planets and the cosmos.

I will begin this review with a quote of Carl Sagan from his book THE COSMIC CONNECTION. "In all the history of mankind, there will be only one generation that will be first to explore the Solar System, one generation for which, in childhood, the planets are distant and indistinct discs moving through the night sky, and for which, in old age, the planets are places, diverse new worlds in the course of exploration". Dava Sobel includes this quote early in this book, and it is very appropriate for the book she wrote here. Sobel writes eloquently of our discoveries about the other planets of the Solar System, from ancient times to modern day exploration by spacecraft. She writes in a very readable style, and I can say this is a 'page turner', very entertaining and informative, even if you think you already know a lot. The price is right, too.

Initially I was thrilled by 'The Planets' I thought Ms Sobel's style of writing interesting and demonstrative of her love of the subject matter. However the constant biblical references at first surprised and then grated and although the book does have a few awe-inspiring, soundbite-esque facts I felt that it failed to show the real magnificence of the solar system and the physics behind of it.

Not having read Dava Sobel's other books, I can't comment on her skill as a writer, but this book is a disappointment. More concerned with flowery language than getting the facts straight, I read the first half of the book, then began flipping through the rest, finding myself increasingly irritated by the writing style and 'fluffy' thinking. The constant biblical references were extremely tiresome for a book supposedly dealing with facts.
Spend your money on any book by Carl Sagan, and avoid this one.

She is an amazing writer with such a superb flow! Easy to read and understand. I would highly recommend this book!

Dava Sobel has written some excellent books about science. This is not one of them. I got this as a quick review of the science of Planetology; it is a very strangly written account of the history of Planetology. Ms Sobel adopts an oddly florid style throughout which makes it very difficult to understand. In two cases she uses a first person voice; once as the the meteor which is believed to be from Mars and once as the sister of William Herschel. In both cases it is so strange that it is difficult to follow. In the narrative about Jupiter she spends as much time going on about astrology as astronomy. I have no idea if Ms Sobel is serious about Astrology (I hope not) but as an experienced science writer she should be aware that it has no legitimate place here.

There are other, less confusing accounts of the planets. Buy them and avoid this.

Ms. Sobel has written an excellent primer for those of us interested in the Solar System but who are not scientifically inclined. Her book starts with a breif history of the solar system and then takes the history, mythology, and current knowledge about each planet in turn all the way out to the planetoids of the Kuiper Belt.

Her writing style is not too technical and is easy enough for even your average Jr. High student to understand. She puts everything in layman's terms so you do not need to be Stephen Hawking to enjoy the book.

My only regret is that there are no pictures.

This is a topic I know a great deal on. I have attended lectures by the great Stephen Hawking and astronomer Frank Drake. As well as SETI researcher, Professor Dan Werthimer. And I have met 4 of the 12 Astronauts who walked on the moon. As for Dava Sobel, once New York times science reporter, was awarded the Public Service Award for fostering awareness of science and technology among broad segments of the general publics understanding of science.

Despite her many accomplishments, The Planets, doesn't really offer any new insight, and in fact, seems to be a regurgitation of information from some of the earlier scientists mentioned. Though in her own words, she wrote 'it' as a guide to the planets for intelligent adults who were ignorant of this subject matter. And that is exactly what it is, a collection of popular theories on astrology, mythology and science fiction. To me, I felt this book was more of a funding campaign, rather than a reporting on the latest research and findings.

Nevertheless, Dava finds a true center in science and offers a wealth of impressive facts which she separates from the non-scientific. Such as, the planets, moons and comets account for only 0.1% of the mass in our solar system. Earth and its crust, set above a broiling fluid of magma beneath, accounts for just 0.5% of our planet's mass and part of its iron-nickel core has already cooled to a solid ball. Seismologists can hear it rotating independently inside the molten outer core.

She does offer a wealth of information on exoplanets--planets orbiting the stars outside the solar system. Still, nothing new. The number of exoplanets in our Milky Way could far exceed the 100 billion stars within it, offering many possibilities for a rich source of extraterrestrial life, and maybe intelligence. Dava did miss confirmation of the discovery of the 10th planet in our solar system, however. 'Though I rate it a 3, it is a well-thought out book that offers a great deal of facts on the solar system and should be taken seriously. There is just not enough, in terms of being original, to warrant a higher score.

Reminiscent of essays written by bored school children, The Planets by Sobel is lacking in enthusiasm and excitement for its subject matter. The boring regurgitation of fact bogs down what might otherwise be an novel approach to astronomy integrating myth and science. I highly recommend this book to those who have trouble sleeping at night, otherwise find an author who brings the wonders of the planets to life.

This book, so much more than any I've read in a while, seems more like an extended term paper than a book. With the success of her book, Galileo's Daughter (which I will also review), someone wanted her to produce something fast. The book is fine and the anecdotes are interesting, but the book should really be marketed as 'Young Adult'.

More than anything, what makes it look like a term paper (that had a minimum page size, but not words) are the large margins, the font size of the print, the line spacing and the number of blank pages and drawings, which all seem to be added so as to make it look like an actual book. This could better be printed as a pamphlet, and given out at your friendly neighborhood Planetarium.

I have two problems with this audio book.

1. I don't care for the woman who read the book aloud. Her voice is a bit too bold and over-emphatic. Everything is read with a sort of shakespearian flair that gets old quick.

2. The book gets lost in florid prose and romanticism. The author seems to wax poetic at every opportunity, and leaves too little room for scientific fact and thoughtful consideration on those facts.

If you want a great science audio book, get "a short history of nearly everything" by Bill Bryson. It's a much better book that covers, well, just about everything in the world of science.

This was a nice, short survey of the planets. For all of the reviewers who complained that it was not scientific enough, get over yourselves. This book was meant for the common reader not rocket scientists. If the bad reviewers couldn't figure that out when they picked up the book, then they are not as smart as they think they are. Yes, Sobel does a few weird literary devices to get the information across, but I prefer that to a science writer that is so dry you can't stand to read the book. Sobel's energy does seem to peter out toward the end of the book, it seems like she tried harder in the beginning, then just wanted to get the book finished - hence the lower rating. The book is a very easy and entertaining read - I recommend it.

This book is light on details and heavy on stylistic flourishes and bizarre anecdotes. I had expected a modern survey of the history of planetary discovery by an acclaimed science writer. Instead I got astrological chart readings for deep space probes, lengthy anecdotes on the author's jealousy of her weird friend who literally ate moon dust and whole chapters narrated by asteroids. The early chapters contain frequent references to the planets in mythology, poetry, and the bible. This could possibly have been synthesized into a theme of man's spiritual and artistic relation to the planets and used as a counter point to the scientific coverage. Alas, after the first few chapters her non-scientific references become just a bunch of bizarre and unrelated anecdotes. As to the scientific content, the coverage contains nothing new to anyone who's watched a recent TV documentary on the solar system. While in many cases the known facts on the planets are limited, there is more depth to our knowledge than is presented here and certainly some pretty interesting theories and speculations that could have been explored.

From her youth onwards the author was intrigued by the planets and in this rather slim book she describes each planet: its properties, its moons and (of the planets that are far away) the history of its discovery. This is quite nice and it is good to get all the information sorted out in short, very readable chapters, but my main objection is that the author every now and then loses herself in romanticisms: especially the chapter on Venus (the morning and evening "star") is full of lyrical poems. On the other hand there are chapters that only have a rather dry list of facts about the planets to which they are devoted. This makes the book al in all not very coherent, but not unpleasant to read. I think that people with a decent knowledge of this astronomy will not get a lot of new information out of this book.

This is the rare book that transcends genre and defies an easy description. It is more a collection of essays taking each Planetary body as their subject than an overview of the topic from either a scientific or historic viewpoint. Readers looking for an analytical summary will be disappointed; however, as a purely enjoyable read this book excels. Think of Planets more as a guided tour of the solar system--one that provides a unique perspective. Each chapter consists of an engaging lecture ranging among various topics in a fashion that remains interesting from start to finish. The mark of an excellent general science book shouldn't be the depth of the treatment but, rather, the degree to which reading the work inspires one to seek further information. Truly gifted authors make their work look effortless and Planets is a fine example of the highest standards of the craft.

Really basic information, which most people will already know. I was disappointed. Appropriate for high schoolers and middle schoolers.

Really basic information, which most people will already know. I was disappointed. Appropriate for high schoolers and middle schoolers.

I must confess prior ignorance of Sobel's vaunted lyrical writing style, since this is the first work by her of which I have partaken. (Note: I am reviewing the unabridged audio book, read by Lorna Raver. While the narrator does a splendid job, the source material is seriously lacking.)

This is typical of her writing: "Scattered its atoms to the Jovian winds ... well-inside the eighth house, the mansion of death" (about the Galileo probe plunging towards Jupiter). Huh? This is not only silly, but inaccurate as Jupiter is gas (liquid) giant and the probe would not have atomized in the atmosphere as she writes so prettily.

Sobel's "The Planets" is an adorably poetic and peripatetic jaunt through the solar system, never dwelling for long on any meaningful topic, but altogether willing to spend 10 minutes (or 10 pages) on silliness such as relating Martian history in the first 'person' of a meteorite.

Sprinkled with little factoids that are seldom placed in greater context, this (audio) book left me uncertain about its real purpose and audience. Many persons with an interest in astronomy will want more protein, more information, a more disciplined approach ... something that they can learn from. This is entertainment, not education. Of particular annoyance is Sobel's use of footnotes and references, almost fraudulent in their frequent appearance, as they would seem to bring a weighty seriousness, a scholarly credibility, to this most un-academic work.

Another laudatory reviewer misdirected attention from its deficiences by contrasting it to "a hard science textbook, filled with charts and numbers and scientific formulae". Well, Cosmos by Carl Sagan had few charts and numbers and scientific formulae, was intended for a wide audience, yet was highly engaging and wonderfully informative.

Sobel's work is intended for the "Don't Know Much About Astromony" crowd who don't want to know much and prefer a cutely told tale -- sprinkled with pretty words -- to anything that would make them think too hard. If that is what you seek, then this book is for you. If you have more than a passing interest in astronomy and our solar system, look elsewhere. Actually, why not visit your local library and look for "Astronomy - Earth, Sky and Planets" by Prof. James B. Kaler, and issued by the The Modern Scholar (TMS), the educational products label of Recorded Books. It's only 2 hours longer than Sobel's science fluff, you will learn a great deal more, and it will not cost you anything (apart from a trip to the library).

I must confess prior ignorance of Sobel's vaunted lyrical writing style, since this is the first work by her of which I have partaken. (Note: I am reviewing the unabridged audio book, read by Lorna Raver. While the narrator does a splendid job, the source material is seriously lacking.)

This is typical of her writing: "Scattered its atoms to the Jovian winds ... well-inside the eighth house, the mansion of death" (about the Galileo probe plunging towards Jupiter). Huh? This is not only silly, but inaccurate as Jupiter is gas (liquid) giant and the probe would not have atomized in the atmosphere as she writes so prettily.

Sobel's "The Planets" is an adorably poetic and peripatetic jaunt through the solar system, never dwelling for long on any meaningful topic, but altogether willing to spend 10 minutes (or 10 pages) on silliness such as relating Martian history in the first 'person' of a meteorite.

Sprinkled with little factoids that are seldom placed in greater context, this (audio) book left me uncertain about its real purpose and audience. Many persons with an interest in astronomy will want more protein, more information, a more disciplined approach ... something that they can learn from. This is entertainment, not education. Of particular annoyance is Sobel's use of footnotes and references, almost fraudulent in their frequent appearance, as they would seem to bring a weighty seriousness, a scholarly credibility, to this most un-academic work.

Another laudatory reviewer misdirected attention from its deficiences by contrasting it to "a hard science textbook, filled with charts and numbers and scientific formulae". Well, Cosmos by Carl Sagan had few charts and numbers and scientific formulae, was intended for a wide audience, yet was highly engaging and wonderfully informative.

Sobel's work is intended for the "Don't Know Much About Astromony" crowd who don't want to know much and prefer a cutely told tale -- sprinkled with pretty words -- to anything that would make them think too hard. If that is what you seek, then this book is for you. If you have more than a passing interest in astronomy and our solar system, look elsewhere. Actually, why not visit your local library and look for "Astronomy - Earth, Sky and Planets" by Prof. James B. Kaler, and issued by the The Modern Scholar (TMS), the educational products label of Recorded Books. It's only 2 hours longer than Sobel's science fluff, you will learn a great deal more, and it will not cost you anything (apart from a trip to the library).

There is nothing inherently wrong with the premise of this book. It is not intended as a scientific journal elaborating on the most detailed of newly arrived astronomical data. It is informative in a pleasant, albeit, pedestrian way. It is a quick stroll across our solar system, skipping from planet to moon, to comet, to asteroid - like skipping a stone across the surface of a broad deep pool of knowledge. I learned many new things and had my memory jogged on items that had sifted through my memory.

It was worth while getting up to speed on the latest discoveries of Viking, Voyager, Galileo, Cassini and other of our space probes. It was also interesting to read a little background of famous astronomers who dedicated their lives to gazing at the heavens.

Nevertheless, this book lacks the passionate detail of Sobel's other works. Both "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter impelled the reader into the historic drama that she was presenting. There is no particular hero in this descriptive book and that may well a problem. It is more a high school reader chockablock full of facts and information. There is no detail, no in-depth analysis, no personality, no drama here. It is, perhaps, too dispassionate a subject for her keen writing skills.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the premise of this book. It is not intended as a scientific journal elaborating on the most detailed of newly arrived astronomical data. It is informative in a pleasant, albeit, pedestrian way. It is a quick stroll across our solar system, skipping from planet to moon, to comet, to asteroid - like skipping a stone across the surface of a broad deep pool of knowledge. I learned many new things and had my memory jogged on items that had sifted through my memory.

It was worth while getting up to speed on the latest discoveries of Viking, Voyager, Galileo, Cassini and other of our space probes. It was also interesting to read a little background of famous astronomers who dedicated their lives to gazing at the heavens.

Nevertheless, this book lacks the passionate detail of Sobel's other works. Both "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter impelled the reader into the historic drama that she was presenting. There is no particular hero in this descriptive book and that may well a problem. It is more a high school reader chockablock full of facts and information. There is no detail, no in-depth analysis, no personality, no drama here. It is, perhaps, too dispassionate a subject for her keen writing skills.

I picked this book for a long road trip for two reasons -- it was recorded unabridged and it was about space, which has been an interest since before I can remember.

No, it's not a hard science textbook, filled with charts and numbers and scientific formulae. It was never intending to be. Instead, it's a delightful tour of our expanding horizons, using a combination of current information, interesting detours and poetically-phrased musings, accentuated by Lorna Raver's smooth, paced reading.

Even when the data become outdated (which it's already starting to, with the current eye on Trans-Neptunian Objects) and some of the assumptions can be smiled at, Dava's writing and Lorna's voice will remain excellent driving companions. I'm on my second listen, to and from work, and it's as imagination-sparking as before.

I picked this book for a long road trip for two reasons -- it was recorded unabridged and it was about space, which has been an interest since before I can remember.

No, it's not a hard science textbook, filled with charts and numbers and scientific formulae. It was never intending to be. Instead, it's a delightful tour of our expanding horizons, using a combination of current information, interesting detours and poetically-phrased musings, accentuated by Lorna Raver's smooth, paced reading.

Even when the data become outdated (which it's already starting to, with the current eye on Trans-Neptunian Objects) and some of the assumptions can be smiled at, Dava's writing and Lorna's voice will remain excellent driving companions. I'm on my second listen, to and from work, and it's as imagination-sparking as before.

this is the book for you. I suppose this is "artistic" in some circles. I picked up the title because I love astronomy. I have taken several courses and I was expecting something different. It has it place, just not on my shelf. I found the book to be moderately interesting. This is not a astronomy book or a hard science book.

this is the book for you. I suppose this is "artistic" in some circles. I picked up the title because I love astronomy. I have taken several courses and I was expecting something different. It has it place, just not on my shelf. I found the book to be moderately interesting. This is not a astronomy book or a hard science book.

I think the author spent 15 minutes on the internet to research this book. There is nothing in here that a 6'th grader doesn't know.
But besides there being no content to this book the worst thing is the style used by the author to write it. If some thing could be said in one sentence she uses 100. The prose is painfull to read. After reading half of this book I threw in in the garbage where it belongs. Don't waste your money on this book.

I think the author spent 15 minutes on the internet to research this book. There is nothing in here that a 6'th grader doesn't know.
But besides there being no content to this book the worst thing is the style used by the author to write it. If some thing could be said in one sentence she uses 100. The prose is painfull to read. After reading half of this book I threw in in the garbage where it belongs. Don't waste your money on this book.

I read this book looking to find insight into the most up-to-date info on the solar system, hoping to learn more beyond my layperson knowledge. Instead of a generalized grand tour or a data-rich analysis, I made my way through a highly stylized, poetic ode to the celestial bodies, with a smattering of mythology, popular culture, and some scientific history.

I have to admit that the book was well-done, extremely well-written, and it's obvious that Sobel knows her stuff. But I just wasn't that interested. I enjoyed some of the facts she did provide, but I waited in vain for more. I wanted to spend more time with each world, and to read a summary of all the best opinions about the planets.

All in all, I would recommend this book if you want a literary take on the subject. On the other hand, if you're more like me, I would avoid it.

I read this book looking to find insight into the most up-to-date info on the solar system, hoping to learn more beyond my layperson knowledge. Instead of a generalized grand tour or a data-rich analysis, I made my way through a highly stylized, poetic ode to the celestial bodies, with a smattering of mythology, popular culture, and some scientific history.

I have to admit that the book was well-done, extremely well-written, and it's obvious that Sobel knows her stuff. But I just wasn't that interested. I enjoyed some of the facts she did provide, but I waited in vain for more. I wanted to spend more time with each world, and to read a summary of all the best opinions about the planets.

All in all, I would recommend this book if you want a literary take on the subject. On the other hand, if you're more like me, I would avoid it.

The really beautiful thing about this book is that it defies categorization, but nevertheless entertains as it demystifies and educates.

Being one who would like to think of himself as an amateur astronomer, but isn't (having never even looked through a telescope), Sobel nevertheless has given me a chance to understand far more than I ever thought I would have the time or inclination to regarding our solar system.

This isn't a book for someone who seeks to understand advanced scientific concepts, but it is a book for liberal arts majors who want to understand how planets got their names, how they may have become planets, why some of them have rings around them, how moons were formed, and what else may lie just beyond our viewing range.

Fascinating.

The really beautiful thing about this book is that it defies categorization, but nevertheless entertains as it demystifies and educates.

Being one who would like to think of himself as an amateur astronomer, but isn't (having never even looked through a telescope), Sobel nevertheless has given me a chance to understand far more than I ever thought I would have the time or inclination to regarding our solar system.

This isn't a book for someone who seeks to understand advanced scientific concepts, but it is a book for liberal arts majors who want to understand how planets got their names, how they may have become planets, why some of them have rings around them, how moons were formed, and what else may lie just beyond our viewing range.

Fascinating.

If you loved Dava Sobel's little gem "Longitude," and her fascinating "Galileo's Daughter," you just might hate this one. How is it like the first two books? It has a circular hole in the dust cover. Peek-a-boo! How clever. If you want to be charmed silly, this is the book for you.

Sobel is great when she has a good story to work with, a compelling but unsung character struggling within a historical context. So it seems odd that she should have choosen for her subject The Planets, about which so much has already been written, and about which so much new is being discovered almost daily.

Lacking such a strong basis, this undiluted dose of inflated vocabulary and highly polished phrases is hard to swallow. The author clearly loves to build pretty sentences, and cannot refrain from adding just one more adverb or adjective if a sentence might bear the weight, like yet another ornament on the Christmas tree.

Vocabulary: One example. A silly girl's boyfriend gives her some moon dust, which she then (unaccountably) swallows. How much? A gram, a bit, a pinch? "[He] risked his job and the national security to give her a quantum of Moon dust." A what? Does moon dust come in quanta? A quick trip to the dictionary revealed that as early as 1619, "quantum" meant simply "a sum or amount."

Sentences: It's hard to choose an example, so I'll just go with this one. Having found that a certain young astronomer had come from Kansas to work at Arizona's Lowell Observatory, she tells us "Clyde Tombaugh, perhaps the most upstanding, hardworking, unimpeachably decent young man ever to leave the wheatfields of Kansas for the astronomical high ground of Arizona, traded his life's savings for a one-way train ticket to Flagstaff." For all we know he might also have been the tallest shortest fattest thinnest gravest silliest such person -- the ONLY such person. Would a two-way bus ticket purchased with borrowed money have been evidence of the impeachabily of his decency? And what has all this got to do with discovering Pluto?

Style: Let's spice up the text by trying on some different stylistic tricks. The entire chapter on Mars is presented as a first-person account by a meteorite, a very well-informed one, it seems. Unforgivably, the chapter on Uranus and Neptune begins with a letter from Caroline Herschel, one of a family of famous astronomers, to another woman astronomer not so famous, comprising nineteen pages, most of them footnoted. Only in the book's back-matter (under the quaint heading "Details") does Sobel confess that the letter is the product of her own fertile mind.

As Ron L. Butler predicted in his October 17, 2005 review here, I was given this book by a well-intentioned friend who knew of my interest in astronomy. She had enjoyed the two earlier books as much as I had.

My one-word review of "The Planets" -- disappointing.

If you loved Dava Sobel's little gem "Longitude," and her fascinating "Galileo's Daughter," you just might hate this one. How is it like the first two books? It has a circular hole in the dust cover. Peek-a-boo! How clever. If you want to be charmed silly, this is the book for you.

Sobel is great when she has a good story to work with, a compelling but unsung character struggling within a historical context. So it seems odd that she should have choosen for her subject The Planets, about which so much has already been written, and about which so much new is being discovered almost daily.

Lacking such a strong basis, this undiluted dose of inflated vocabulary and highly polished phrases is hard to swallow. The author clearly loves to build pretty sentences, and cannot refrain from adding just one more adverb or adjective if a sentence might bear the weight, like yet another ornament on the Christmas tree.

Vocabulary: One example. A silly girl's boyfriend gives her some moon dust, which she then (unaccountably) swallows. How much? A gram, a bit, a pinch? "[He] risked his job and the national security to give her a quantum of Moon dust." A what? Does moon dust come in quanta? A quick trip to the dictionary revealed that as early as 1619, "quantum" meant simply "a sum or amount."

Sentences: It's hard to choose an example, so I'll just go with this one. Having found that a certain young astronomer had come from Kansas to work at Arizona's Lowell Observatory, she tells us "Clyde Tombaugh, perhaps the most upstanding, hardworking, unimpeachably decent young man ever to leave the wheatfields of Kansas for the astronomical high ground of Arizona, traded his life's savings for a one-way train ticket to Flagstaff." For all we know he might also have been the tallest shortest fattest thinnest gravest silliest such person -- the ONLY such person. Would a two-way bus ticket purchased with borrowed money have been evidence of the impeachabily of his decency? And what has all this got to do with discovering Pluto?

Style: Let's spice up the text by trying on some different stylistic tricks. The entire chapter on Mars is presented as a first-person account by a meteorite, a very well-informed one, it seems. Unforgivably, the chapter on Uranus and Neptune begins with a letter from Caroline Herschel, one of a family of famous astronomers, to another woman astronomer not so famous, comprising nineteen pages, most of them footnoted. Only in the book's back-matter (under the quaint heading "Details") does Sobel confess that the letter is the product of her own fertile mind.

As Ron L. Butler predicted in his October 17, 2005 review here, I was given this book by a well-intentioned friend who knew of my interest in astronomy. She had enjoyed the two earlier books as much as I had.

My one-word review of "The Planets" -- disappointing.

If you are well versed in the cosmos, you will find nothing new in Dava Sobel's book. It will be the icing on your cake of knowledge. And what luscious icing it is! If your knowledge of the planets consists of basic high school science, you will be amazed and enthralled with the beauty and mystery that is our solar system. This book is beautifully well written, easy to understand, lyrical, poetic,....I could go on and on. And, from one who has been known to buy books for their covers in the hopes that the inside would be as intrigueing as the outside, in this case I was not disappointed. The cover is a work of art; so follows the text. You'll look at the night sky with a new appreciation and sense of wonder after reading this gem.

If you are well versed in the cosmos, you will find nothing new in Dava Sobel's book. It will be the icing on your cake of knowledge. And what luscious icing it is! If your knowledge of the planets consists of basic high school science, you will be amazed and enthralled with the beauty and mystery that is our solar system. This book is beautifully well written, easy to understand, lyrical, poetic,....I could go on and on. And, from one who has been known to buy books for their covers in the hopes that the inside would be as intrigueing as the outside, in this case I was not disappointed. The cover is a work of art; so follows the text. You'll look at the night sky with a new appreciation and sense of wonder after reading this gem.

Sobel's lyrical tome is a cosmic journey in space and language, through our solar system. It a clockwork of colours, vibrations, gravity and light that sparkles like the glitter of a night sky. There's enough science here as well, atleast for those who'd take a course of 'Astronomy for Poets' in college.

Sobel infuses science, history, personalities.. from Astronomers Royal to backyard tinkerers.. mathematical postulators, methodical plotters to astrological gurus.. lunatics and werewolves.

But it is her gift for expressing the opposing forces of the heavens that gives the book its impetus. There are syzygys perigeees, perhilions.. 12 names for the moons including, Rose, Flower and Thunder.. Sturgeon and Bear.. Harvest and Hunter..

There is heat in vulcanic eruptions, of burning daylight that melts iron on Mercury to the unimanginable cold at next to absolute zero on Pluto, where the Sun is little more than speck in the dark sky. There are hydraulic and cataclysmic forces which have carved out the geographies of planets and moons. Each has its own character, which Sobel resolves in unique meditations. It makes for a fascinating spectrum of nature's laws

Coronae and tesserae crown and seat mythic figures. The book reads like a poem, Sobel has produced a vesper to the mystery of space, and to our lives in it.

Dava Sobel has produced another beautifully written and engaging study, this time of her biggest subject yet: the Solar System. As with Longitude, Sobel is able to take what many people perceive to be a somewhat dry scientific subject and give it life. She begins with the Sun and works her way steadily outward to Pluto, which may or may not be the ninth planet, on the way painting elegant and engaging studies of each planet, summarizing what is known and what is still mysterious about each. Some may find her rhapsodies, particularly the story of Mars, told in first person by a meteorite, somewhat off-putting, but those who enjoy fine prose and solid learning will enjoy every word.

By turns lyrical and technical, this little gem of a book is an elegant introduction to the wonders of our solar system. Ms Sobel artfully weaves threads like myth, music, and beauty into the fabric of chapters on the sun, the moon, and the nine planets (the twin planets Uranus and Neptune are covered together in one chapter). Tucked away here and there are many fascinating little nuggets. I was amused to learn that each of the Voyager spacecraft carries a record with Chuck Berry music for the enlightenment of any extraterrestrials they may encounter on their journeys. And what a remarkable coincidence it is that Sir William Herschel, discoverer of Uranus, lived to the age of 83.7 years, exactly the period of time it takes for the planet he discovered to orbit the sun once!

On the final page, Ms Sobel states her hope that her book "has helped someone befriend the planets, recognizing in them the stalwarts of centuries of popular culture and the inspiration for much high-minded human endeavor." She has certainly succeeded in doing that for me.