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Title: Venus Revealed: A New Look Below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet by David Harry Grinspoon ISBN: 0-201-32839-9 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: May, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.56 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An important book that's fun to read
Comment: Anyone that wonders why humans should continue to invest in space exploration--especially important at this time of tragedy with the Columbia mission--will find many answers in this excellent book. Grinspoon is one of those rare writers that enthralls us with the mystery and wonder of science, while at the same time not shying away from, or diminishing the complexities of scientific discovery. He describes with clarity why studies of other planets are important endeavors in their own right, as well as for our continued understanding of our own planet Earth.
All readers will gain an appreciation from Grinspoon for scientific discovery: how it builds with improving data from insights that at first seem remote and uncertain into solid foundations for better understanding of issues such as global warming on earth. Volcanology, plate tectonics, acid rain, and planetary climatology are all discussed in detail, as well as the more esoteric phenomena of planet formation and extra-terrestrial life. While the later topics might be argued as to their importance with regard to current problems on our planet, Grinspoon makes excellent connections for studies of the former issues on Venus, and their impact to our knowledge of our own home planet. Anything that significantly improves our understanding of global warming, plate tectonics (earthquakes), etc., is worth a significant and continuing investment. Venus Revealed is great book in many respects: lack of a bibliography is the only fault worth mentioning. (And I, for one, loved the often hilarious footnotes!) Highly recommended.
Rating: 4
Summary: A good work of comparative planetology
Comment: Besides a excellent historical and scientifical synthesis of the Venusian system, this book does a good job at comparing the three main terrestrial planets, from the astronomical, physical, geological, atmospheric, etc. point of views. This is very refreshing because Venus is often overlooked in most books, that usually focus more on the binary comparison of Mars vs the Earth, and, in many ways, Terra is actually closer to Venus than Mars.
The text itself is clear, accurate and very entertaining to read (especially the footnotes!). Everything is based on scientific facts, except the last chapter, that digresses a little too much from the main subject, but it's ok.
Rating: 5
Summary: A greeaat read!
Comment: I really enjoyed this overview of our sister planet! Despite his background as a planetologist and university professor, Grinspoon writes for the layman with a freshness and spirit that is rare in non-fiction astronomy books. He first takes us through an extensive history of our discoveries and past theories on Venus, then reveals the major findings of the Magellan mission which laid bare the planet's high-level topography. Towards the end Grinspoon presents a couple bold suggestions as food for thought, e.g. the possibility that life currently exists on Venus and also ideas for terraforming the planet!
I especially enjoyed the virtual tour of Venus as well as the descriptions of what it would be like to spend a day and night on Venus, assuming you could survive the extreme heat and crushing pressure. Did you know that it never gets totally dark on the ground, because even at night the rocks are so hot that they glow red??!
The footnotes didn't bother me too much; in fact, I rather appreciated Grinspoon's sense of humor and chuckled at a few of them. One thing that did annoy me was Grinspoon's repeated pessimistic assertions that we humans are wreaking havoc on Earth through global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, pollution, blah blah. The fact is, it's kind of ludicrous to suggest that the Earth's overall "health" is being affected at all by us. There is no proof of this whatsoever. We may be making things worse for ourselves in the long run, but the Earth is so massive that there's really nothing we can do to hurt it.
Anyway, I've read a few books on the planets and this is the best so far! Just the right blend of science and non-technical discussion to appeal to the layman and the amateur astronomer both.
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Title: Lonely Planets : The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life by David Grinspoon ISBN: 0060185406 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Atlas of Venus by Peter Cattermole, Patrick Moore ISBN: 0521496527 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 28 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: The Smithsonian Book of Mars (Smithsonian Library of the Solar System) by Joseph M. Boyce ISBN: 1588340740 Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $37.95 |
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Title: Lifting Titan's Veil : Exploring the Giant Moon of Saturn by Ralph Lorenz, Jacqueline Mitton ISBN: 0521793483 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 15 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: A Traveler's Guide to Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet by William K. Hartmann ISBN: 0761126066 Publisher: Workman Publishing Company Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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