Book Description
Our knowledge of Mars has grown enormously over the last decade as a result of the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and the two Mars Rover missions. This book is a systematic summary of what we have learnt about the geological evolution of Mars as a result of these missions. It describes the diverse Martian surface features and summarizes current ideas as to how, when, and under what conditions they formed, and explores how Earth and Mars differ and why the two planets evolved so differently. The author also discusses possible implications of the geologic history for the origin and survival of indigenous Martian life. Up-to-date and highly illustrated, this book will be a principal reference for researchers and graduate students in planetary science. The comprehensive list of references will also assist readers in pursuing further information on the subject. Colour images can be found at www.cambridge.org/9780521872010.
Customer Reviews:
20 Yrs Later, Still the Best Mars Reference.......2000-04-13
20 years after publication, "The Surface of Mars" is still the absolute best starting point for anyone interested in learning the basics about what Mars is like. Chapters describe the channels, craters, volcanoes, history, moons, etc. as best as these topics were understood at the end of the 1970s Viking missions. Even after Pathfinder and with Mars Global Surveyor, this is still the book I suggest people start with to learn about the Red Planet.
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Accretion Processes in Star Formation (Cambridge Astrophysics)
Lee Hartmann
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The Formation of Stars (Physics Textbook)
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Protostars and Planets V (University of Arizona Space Science Series)
ASIN: 0521435072 |
Book Description
Recent discoveries of extrasolar planets and new direct evidence for protoplanetary disks around young stars have had a major impact on our understanding of star and planet formation. This volume provides a thorough, up-to-date, and concise overview of the physical processes involved in the formation of stars and their surrounding disks. The book traces the story of star formation from the fragmentation of cold molecular gas clouds, through the formation of protostars and rotating dusty disks to the subsequent accretion of material onto the central star. Lee Hartmann integrates state-of-the-art theoretical models with recent observations, highlighting important problems that remain to be solved.
Book Description
Planetary Sciences presents a comprehensive coverage of this fascinating and expanding field at a level appropriate for graduate students and researchers in the physical sciences. The book explains the wide variety of physical, chemical and geological processes that govern the motions and properties of planets. Observations of the planets, moons, asteroids, comets and planetary rings in our Solar System, as well as extrasolar planets, are described, and the process of planetary formation is discussed.
Customer Reviews:
An outstanding textbook on planetary science.......2004-11-16
What's the best book to use as a text in a senior-year course on planetary science? This one gets my vote! It seems to cover everything.
After a nice introductory chapter comes the first test for this book: a 20-page chapter on dynamics with 5 pages of exercises. And this book does a great job. It explains Lagrangian points, orbital resonances, the chaotic nature of the orbit of Pluto, tides, the Yarkovski effect, and so on. And it just gets better after that, with more than 70 pages on planetary atmospheres (structure, composition, clouds, winds, photochemistry, escape). This is followed by hefty sections on planetary surfaces, planetary interiors, and planetary magnetospheres, each of which discuss the individual planets and satellites separately.
Next is a chapter on meteorites, along with radiometric dating. A chapter on asteroids: their orbits, size distribution, collisional evolution, surfaces, structures, and asteroid observing techniques. And a chapter on comets, including their origins and constraints on planetary system formation theories.
We return to dynamics for the ensuing chapter, on planetary rings: thicknesses, resonances, density waves, and shepherding. Following that is a chapter on planet formation, followed by a short concluding chapter on extrasolar planets.
The exercises are instructive and useful throughout. I learned a great deal of material from this book, even though it was nowhere near my first exposure to planetary science.
Great book.......2004-01-05
This is a superb book, if a little complex. You do need some mathematical and physics background to really follow all the topics. Well written, and having taken a class from Imke de Pater at Cal, a great representation of her work.
Book Description
After a journey of seven years and 2.2 billion miles, the spacecraft Cassini, with a probe named Huygens aboard, reached Saturn in July 2004, beginning a four-year tour to observe the remote planet, its rings, and its moons in depth. As a result of the spectacularly succesful Cassini-Huygens mission, photographs of astounding beauty have come streaming back to Earth, together with enough data to keep hundreds of scientists engrossed for decades. Reproduced here, in unprecedented detail and exquisite, high-quality format, are 150 of the best of those images, among them rings from the unlit side never visible from Earth and panoramas of the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
This breathtaking volume, including authoritative essays on the planetary system and the mission, reveals the planet, its ethereally beautiful rings, and its 40+ moons in ways never before seen or recorded.
“Astonishing, amazing, and personal.”
— Dr. David Livingston
Host, The Space Show
Customer Reviews:
Saturn.......2007-06-08
For anyone who is interested in astronomy, especially when it relates to the planets in our solar system, this is a must have. The book beautifully describes and illustrates this elegant planet, providing detailed photos of it's body, rings and moons. I purchased this as a gift for my boyfriend and he absolutely LOVES it!
Very beautiful book.......2007-01-09
This book presents some very beautiful views of the Saturnian system as captured by the Casinni Spacecraft. It also provides some inciteful essays detailing the design, construction and operation of the spacecraft as well as the physics of the planet itself, its atmosphere and fascinating ring system and moons.
Breathtaking Visualizations of the Lord of the Rings.......2007-01-07
Lovett's Saturn book is a tribute to the Cassini mission science team in images. The visualizations tell so much about the new knowledge now being acquired from the spacecraft in orbit of the planet. While the book is short on scientific detail, it is not designed to be a scientific treatise. It will take years to digest what is now being witnessed. The many Saturnian moons hold so much new knowledge yet to be understood. The images only begin to tell the story but each is worth seeing while the experts struggle to explain their meaning. I HIGHLY recommend this book to the astronomer and the lay person alike. It is well worth every penny to share in the spellbinding images contained on nearly every page with a brief text description. This is a display of The Lord of the Rings!
An Entirely Subjective Review.......2007-01-06
My disclaimers up front. First, I have worked for JPL for close to 20 years; half of my career (including currently and during the entire period these photos were taken) has been spent supporting Cassini directly or indirectly. So there is no way I can even pretend to have an objective perspective. Second, this is my personal review and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cal Tech, JPL or NASA.
I love this book. It is so exciting as one small cog working on a mission to see the fruits of my labor being so prominently and publicly displayed. I put out semi-regular "astropics" newsletters to a group of family, friends, and now friends of friends who similarly love astronomy and JPL's missions. If I were to compile my favorite pics out of the years that I have been doing this, many of my favorites would be ones included in this book. I highly recommend this book to any lover of astronomy, old and new to learn the latest that is being revealed by this wonderful mission.
Chuck Kirby
Cassini Spacecraft Systems Engineer
Wonderful Book, Breathtaking Photos.......2006-12-27
Saturn, A New View
This book is perfect for the armchair scientist. I can't add much to the other reviews here, but will certainly add to the chorus of praise. This book is excellent. It is well-written, well-executed, and well-organized. Needless to say, it's the pictures that make the book so special. I get goosebumps thinking about the fact that there is actually a man-made spaceship orbiting Saturn RIGHT NOW. It's hard to describe the feeling. It's even cooler, of course, that we have a probe sitting on Titan!!!!!
Anyway, if you did nothing but bought the book for the pictures, it would be worth it. It's sort of designed as a "coffee-table book", but this one is actually worth reading and returning to. Thank you Lovett, Horvath, and Cuzzi! But mostly thank you Cassini and Hugyens for your fantastic, dangerous journey to Saturn [hey - if you can't anthropomorphize Cassini and Voyager and objects like that, what's the point of reading about science? :-) ].
My Rating System for Amazon.com
---------------------------------
5 Stars -- The best of the best. Made a real impact on me and/or represents a classic of the genre. Would read it again and recommend it without reservation.
4 Stars -- Very good. Loved it, recommend it to all. Some issues and/or doesn't rise to the level of "classic of the genre".
3 Stars -- Okay. Wouldn't read it again, but enjoyed it. Usually some major flaws or just very pedestrian.
2 Stars -- Not good. Don't recommend it. Some redeeming qualities. May be desired by some.
1 Star -- No redeeming qualities. Will never touch again. Warn people away.
Average customer rating:
- A beautiful, illustrated book for everybody interested in meteorites
- Meteorite right!
- Great meteorite reference
- STUPENDOUS
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The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Meteorites
O. Richard Norton
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Rocks from Space: Meteorites and Meteorite Hunters (Astronomy) (Astronomy)
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Catalogue of Meteorites
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Meteorites: A Petrologic, Chemical and Isotopic Synthesis (Cambridge Planetary Science)
ASIN: 0521621437 |
Book Description
In recent years, meteorites have caught the imagination of scientist and collector alike. An army of people are now actively searching for them in the hot and cold deserts of Earth. Fascinating extraterrestrial rocks in meteorites are our only contact with materials from beyond the Earth-Moon system. Using well known petrologic techniques, O. Richard Norton reveals in vivid color their extraordinary external and internal structures and taking readers to the atomic level, describes the environment within the solar nebula that existed before the planets accreted. Extensively illustrated, this volume is a valuable guide to assist searchers in the field in recognizing the many classes of meteorites and it is a superb reference source for students, teachers and scientists who wish to probe deeper these amazing rocks from space. O. Richard Norton is a contributing editor for Meteorite magazine and the author of The Planetarium and Atmospherium and Rocks from Space (Mountain Press, 1998). For the last 40 years, he has taught astronomy and space sciences at various US institutions.
Customer Reviews:
A beautiful, illustrated book for everybody interested in meteorites.......2007-05-29
This book was delivered in excellent condition, and has already proved itself very useful. It is most interesting, provides useful information, and helps to understand the evolution of our solar system using the asteroid pieces fallen on Earth.
Meteorite right!.......2006-10-29
A very up-to-date review and very comprehensive. Some parts are for the chemists in the crowd but all-in-all well worth having on your bookshelf.
Great meteorite reference.......2005-08-02
This is a fantastic reference to meteorites. Large, beautifully bound and with great colour images and illustrations. Norton certainly knows his subject and takes us on a cosmic jouney, from black rocks found in the desert to a time before the formation of the solar system. There is plenty of technical and scientific details to feed the mind of the most educated reader. He explains concepts like radio-isotope dating with a clarity lacking at many eductional institutions today. Highly recommended for all those with an interest in space or astronomy and the growing number of meteorite collectors out there. My only minor criticism is that the font used in the book could have been a little bolder and easier to read for my aging eyes. Norton deserves a 10/10 for this fine effort.
STUPENDOUS.......2003-05-17
THERE IS NOT MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THIS EXCEPTIONAL BOOK EXCEPT THIS IS AN EXCELLENT IN-DEPTH LOOK AT METEORITES WITH SUPERB COLOR PICTURES. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN METEORITES, ESPECIALLY COLLECTING THEM, YOUR LIBRARY SHOLD NOT BE WITHOUT THIS BOOK.
Book Description
teve Squyres is the face and voice of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. Squyres dreamed up the mission in 1987, saw it through from conception in 1995 to a successful landing in 2004, and serves as the principal scientist of its $400 million payload. He has gained a rare inside look at what it took for rovers Spirit and Opportunity to land on the red planet in January 2004-and knows firsthand their findings.
Customer Reviews:
FACT MORE INTERSTING THAN FICTION.......2007-09-16
The author captures how difficult it is to explore another planet--and to be one of the leaders of the team that imagined, built, launched and drove two robots around the surface of Mars. While the story is true, the book is anything but dull. Dr. Squyers' book reads like a novel and portrays the trials and tribulations of engineers trying to build and test a machine that can travel a million miles, get bounced on Mars, unhook itself, stand up, crawl onto the Mars surface, take photos, scratch the surface of and analyze rocks, and-- travel for more miles and months than anyone's wildest dreams. All this in search of evidence of water. Read the book to learn if they succeeded.
Hard to get past the initial part.......2007-09-03
I've been to Steve Squyres lecture with the same title. The lecture, and Steve Squyres, were inspiring. So I bought the book. I'm still trying to get past the initial phase where Steve Squyres describes the hurdles of getting the project up and running. The book is tedious, with a lot of details that don't add to clarity, rather confuse with acronyms that hide the goal and the mission. If Steve Squyres' goal was to educate the reader as to how complex a problem it is to send a rover to Mars, more politically than technically, then he has succeeded. I was hoping to see more vision and insipration and maybe I'll get it once I get past the initital phase of getting the project off the ground.
Absolute Must Read.......2007-06-07
Steven Squyres gives a detailed look into the world of NASA's space mission proposals, using his personal experiences. He explains how he completely messed up with the dimensions of his first proposal. Mr. Squyres has tendency to make others look bad and to make himself look good using 20/20 hindsight and probably omitting some credit to fellow scientists, especially when it comes to geology.
His account of the Rovers is something only he could do from his position as Principle Investigator. He points out the very important problems that the rovers encountered. I did not know that a heater on the opportunity's arm had malfunctioned and has been stuck on the whole time drawing a significant amount of the rover's energy and limiting what it can do in a sol (day) as a result.
His description of geology of the sites is amazing.
You have to read this book to understand what is happening in Mars research.
Quality Science Writing.......2007-05-05
I followed the Rovers from Finland via Webcasts, since the EU countries don't seem as interested in the success of the US space program, so there wasn't all that much material here on this project. However, I wasn't expecting a very well written book, since most of the Rover stuff on the web is either way too dumbed down or way too deep (and boring) geology discussions.
Steve Squyres managed to write a very interesting book which is interesting to me on many levels. First as an engineer and scientist, it was very interesting to follow the political as well as scientific background for this project. In my own line of work, as a telecom engineer, I'm also used to project deadlines, testing, failures, and murphy's law, but it seemed even more acute on this particular project.
Second, I always admire science writers who are able to weave in a story about the history and people involved in scientific works, not just a pure technical discussion, and I think he has done that quite well here.
The only criticism I have for this book, is to say that Dr. Squyres probably should have written/published this book a few years down the road rather than when he did so that he could have put a more in depth history/review of the Rover project and it's results. After all, the Rovers are still going strong and still producing science, whereas Steve seemed to be expecting failures due to power loss to end (at least for Spirit) back on Sol
<
< today. For example, this book has no inkling about the recent exploration by Opportunity of Victoria crater and the recent Mars Observer with the new visual evidence for water seeping down the side of a crater in comparative photos.
Latest ground news.......2007-01-17
This book is highly illustrative of our near cosmic neighbor, the photographs are excellent the written content is very well done, the authorship reflects those very closely connected with this particular space effort. It is well organized and highly entertaining for those interested in this topic. I highly recommend this publication.
Average customer rating:
- Surprisingly Up To Date for a 2003 Publication Date
- Well balanced!
- One-Stop Solar System Shopping
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The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System
Kenneth R. Lang
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Encyclopedia of the Solar System, Second Edition
ASIN: 0521813069 |
Book Description
The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System provides a comprehensive, funamental, and up-to-date description of the solar system. It is written in a concise, light and uniform style, without being unnecessarily weighted down with specialized materials or the variable writing of multiple authors. It is filled with vital facts and information for astronomers of all types and for anyone with a scientific interest in the Earth, our Moon, all the other planets and their satellites, and related topics such as asteroids, comets, meteorites and meteors. The language, style, ideas and profuse illustrations will attract the general reader as well as professionals. A thorough report for general readers, it includes much compact reference data. Metaphors, similes and analogies will be of immense help to the lay person or non-science student, and they add to the enjoyment of the material. Vignettes containing historical, literary and even artistic material make this book unusual and interesting, and enhance its scientific content. Kenneth Lang is professor of astronomy in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Tufts University. He is the author of several astrophysics books, including The Sun from Space (Springer Verlag, 2000), Astrophysical Formulae: Radiation, Gas Processes, and High Energy Physics (Springer Verlag, 1999), Sun, Earth and Sky (Copernicus Books, 1997), Astrophysical Data: Planets and Stars (Springer Verlag, 1993), and Wanderers in Space: Exploration and Discovery in the Solar System (Cambridge, 1991),
Customer Reviews:
Surprisingly Up To Date for a 2003 Publication Date.......2007-01-11
Back when I went to college and took a class in astronomy (I think the world was still considered to be flat) we studied all that known at the time about the sun and the planets. The amount of knowledge that we have learned about the solar system since that time makes this book seem to be almost a book on a different subject.
Now the planets have been photographed from spacecraft, and several from landers. Here are pictures from Sojourner rover as it moves around Mars. Here are men walking around on the Moon. Poor Pluto has been lowered in status to a mere Kuiper-belt object (Surprising in a book written before the recent decisions).
All in all, beautiful photographs (157 in color, 159 in B&W), clear line drawings (114), and clearly written text. The book is suitable for use as a text in undergraduate courses, and will have appeal to interested individuals.
Well balanced!.......2004-11-02
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.
One-Stop Solar System Shopping.......2004-09-23
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~]
Average customer rating:
- Must Have Book to Understand Asteroid Impact Consequences
|
Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Manufacturer: Springer
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 3540327096 |
Book Description
In 1908 an atmospheric explosion in northern Siberia released energy equivalent to 15 Mton of TNT. Can a comparable or larger NEO affect us again? When the next NEO strikes Earth will it be large enough to destroy a city? Will the climate change significantly? Can archaeology and anthropology provide insights into the expected cultural responses with NEO interactions? Does society have a true grasp of the actual risks involved? Is the Great Depression a good model for the economic collapse that could follow a NEO catastrophe? This volume provides a necessary link between various disciplines and comet/asteroid impacts.
Customer Reviews:
Must Have Book to Understand Asteroid Impact Consequences.......2007-04-20
The Bobrowsky edited book is an excellent must-read book for anyone conducting serious intellectual inquiry into a potential asteroid impact with the Earth. The articles are a wonderful collection on a very serious topic. The reader gains multiple insights on the varied interdisciplinary issues related to asteroids. This is a fine contribution to the current state of knowledge. The book would make for an excellent university text in either astronomy or public policy agenda-setting and formulation. I highly recommend the investment in this book if you have serious interest in the history of asteroid/comet impacts as well as what humans may do to mitigate such a disaster in the future. I believe this book to be the best I have read on the topic of asteroids impacts. I am pleased to have added it to my personal library.
Book Description
Europa – The Ocean Moon tells the story of the Galileo spacecraft probe to Jupiter's moon, Europa. It provides a detailed description of the physical processes, including the dominating tidal forces that operate on Europa, and includes a comprehensive tour of Europa using images taken by Galileo's camera. The book reviews and evaluates the interpretative work carried out to date, providing a philosophical discussion of the scientific process of analyzing results and the pitfalls that accompany it. It also examines the astrobiological constraints on this possible biosphere, and implications for future research, exploration and planetary biological protection.
Europa – The Ocean Moon provides a unique understanding of the Galileo images of Europa, discusses the theory of tidal processes that govern its icy ridged and disrupted surface, and examines in detail the physical setting that might sustain extra-terrestrial life in Europa's ocean and icy crust.
Customer Reviews:
explains Galileo results.......2006-11-06
As one after the other of the planets seems so bereft of life, Europa holds a unique position. It has a frozen over ocean. Plus, in its orbit, there is the prospect of residual volcanism and tidal and magnetic effects providing a raw energy driver for life to have emerged and be sustained.
So the text gives the results of the Galileo probe. You get an appreciation for the difficulties surmounted. Every so often, NASA really does an amazing job. Fascinating observaitions, but these beg for more insight. Necessitates another probe, this time with even better technology for remote sensing. Given that Galileo was launched in the late 80s, think how much better computing resources we could now put into its successor!
The book certainly has more than just findings from Galileo. It also discusses our changing and improving understanding of how to model vastly different biospheres. But the text is clearly dominated by the real Galileo results. Not just speculation.
Portions of the book will be beyond the lay reader. But there's enough that is well written and accessible to everyone.
Average customer rating:
- Nice pictures
- A fascinating look at the Red Planet
- May I Kindly Say This Book Kicks Some Serious Butt?
- Very informative
- A great book and a wonderful resource
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A Traveler's Guide to Mars
William K. Hartmann
Manufacturer: Workman Publishing Company
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The Case for Mars
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The Real Mars
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Magnificent Mars
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Roving Mars : Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet
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Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization
ASIN: 0761126066 |
Amazon.com
A Traveler's Guide to Mars revitalizes the Red Planet, leaving readers with the urge to don a spacesuit and take a long trip. With the look and heft of a guide to someplace you might actually go, the book presents Mars as a place of canyons and volcanoes, mesas, and barren plains, not that dissimilar from parts of Earth. Author William K. Hartmann, who participated in the Mars Global Surveyor mission, uses all the photos and data collected by scientists in decades of research to give a thorough, yet not boring, overview of the planet. The most exciting stuff is about water--whether it ever flowed on Mars, where it went, why it's hard to find. Beyond that, there are the rocks, dust, and weather to talk about, and Mars has lots of all three. Sidebars, maps, and chronologies help keep the regions and geology of Mars organized. Hartmann never forgets he's writing for the lay reader, and his style is personable and clear. When answering claims of NASA cover-ups, ancient civilizations, and hidden structures on Mars, he calmly lays out the facts and pictures, urging readers to simply examine the evidence. Hartmann offers a tourist's-eye view of one of our most intriguing planetary neighbors and does more to polish NASA's tarnished image than a thousand press releases. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
In this extraordinary Baedeker—accessible, up-to-date, and prodigiously illustrated with photographs from Mariner 9, Viking, Pathfinder, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the ongoing mars Global Surveyor spacecraft—visitors will encounter:
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Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system, rising three times as high as Mount Everest and covering an area the size of Missouri
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Tharsis Planitia, the "high plains of Mars," with plains rising 29,000 feet—wide enough to cover Europe.
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Valles Marineris, an equatorial canyon so vast that America's Grand Canyon would be a mere tributary.
Plus: the "face" on Mars, the White Rock, the "Canals" of Xanthe—and the first possible evidence of an ancient Martian life-form.
Customer Reviews:
Nice pictures.......2007-08-31
In this book, we see Mars treated almost as if it was a tourist region. The author has divided Mars into areas of interest. He then discussed separately each area. Just like Earth, Mars has many different regions and scenery.
Although I am keen on space, somehow this book did little for me. After awhile I found it too much and lost interest in the details of each region. What I would have preferred on Mars is fewer notes and more pictures.
The other point is the book is full of interesting pictures unfortunately to appreciate them you need a large size book then this one.
Having said that if your interested in Mars geography though you will find this author knows his information, it is current and he explains his points well.
A fascinating look at the Red Planet.......2006-12-11
A Traveler's Guide to Mars is well written and quite fascinating for anyone with an interest in the planetary geology of Mars.
Hartmann breaks down the history of Mars into three geologic eras (Noachian, Hesperain, and Amazonian) based on the amount of cratering on the Martian surface. From there, he explores each one of these regions in detail.
From the majestic Mons Olympus volcano and 2500 mile long Valles Marineris Canyon to the probable glacial "melting mountains" of Promethei Terra and controversial ancient ocean shorelines of Vastitas Borealis , Hartmann provides the reader with a sweeping scope of Martian history, replete with stunning aerial photography and images, that is simply quite amazing. He even discusses the "microbial fossil" Martian meteorites as well as the notorious "Face on Mars" in the Cydonia highlands.
Take a trip to Mars ... you won't be disappointed
May I Kindly Say This Book Kicks Some Serious Butt?.......2005-11-08
This is a really cool book! I didn't know we had the so-called red planet (a better name is the butterscotch planet) mapped out to the extent that we do. I've always loved geography and to take a tour of the features of another world is thrilling. If you like astronomy, geography, or have an optimist's bent on human destiny being among the stars, read this great book!
Very informative.......2005-11-04
Have you ever wanted to go beyond the headlines concerning discoveries about Mars and get a thorough overview so that you can put things into perspective? This book is more than a collection of pretty pictures from a far away place. It gives a good introductory account of what we think we know about the planet, and why.
William Hartmann has been involved in uncovering knowledge about objects in the Solar system since the time that mankind first developed the ability to go beyond the Earth's atmosphere for an unobstructed view. He is in an authoritative position for attaching meaning to the images, and yet the explanations he gives are very much 'down to Earth', so to speak.
Data from space probes (starting with the Mariner series) have literally redrawn the map of the surface of Mars. The time varying dark regions were found to be not seas, or canals, or vegetation, but rather wind blown sand. New names were needed in 1972 to identify actual terrain features. The contrast between old and new can be see by comparing the two foldout maps inside the front cover.
Does Mars have a global magnetic field? No. But it used to! Metal particles in rocks older than 3,000,000 years ago are polarized. Particles in younger rocks are not polarized. The core of Mars was likely molten for the first 1,500,00 years and then cooled. Lack of a magnetic field has resulted in more Solar radiation reaching the surface, and may have played a role in carrying away the atmosphere.
Is there life on Mars? Was there life on Mars? That's still an open question. It's clear that there is evidence of large quantities of liquid water on the planet in its early years. That at least opens the possibility that Mars harbored life at that time. What we are finding today is that life survives in very hostile environments here on Earth, and microbes survived on a Moon probe visited years later by an Apollo crew, so who can say at this point?
Of all the places in the Solar system besides Earth, Mars is the one which has the most resources that would support manned exploration and colonization. There is still water on Mars, although in frozen form. The atmosphere contains CO2, from which oxygen can be extracted for propellant and for breathing. The presence of an atmosphere itself if of interest for aerobraking and radiation shielding. The fact of a day/night cycle very close to 24 hours is conducive to agriculture.
Robert Zubrin and others have been advocating for years that travel to Mars is worthwhile and affordable, and NASA now has a congressionally supported presidential mandate to proceed in that direction. The concept that one day a reader of William Hartmann's Traveler's Guide will in fact make the trip is no longer so far fetched.
This is a good read for anyone interested in Mars as a destination, or who would just like to know a bit more about that pink speck in the night sky. It also provides food for thought concerning climate change on our own planet. We didn't destroy the atmosphere on Mars, but maybe we can learn how to avoid Mars' fate here on Earth.
A great book and a wonderful resource.......2005-04-04
This fascinating book is the work of scientist, author and artist, William K. Hartmann. What this item is, really, is a travelogue about the planet Mars! Going interesting location by interesting location, the book takes the reader across the face of Mars, and through Martian history. Along the way, the reader is treated to *many* colorful pictures and maps.
This is a great book, probably the best one that I have seen on the planet Mars! I loved the way that the book is organized; somehow the author succeeds in taking his narrative location by location, and yet having it form a coherent and very informative explanation of what Mars is like now, and how it came to be that way. Also, the fact that it was published in 2003 means that it is entirely up-to-date, with information gathered by the Viking probes, the Hubble space telescope, and the Mars Global Surveyor.
Overall, I found this to be a great book and a wonderful resource. If you are interested in the planet Mars, then you really must get this book! I give it my highest recommendations.
Books:
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- There's No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System (Cat in the Hat's Lrning Libry)
- There's No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System (Cat in the Hat's Lrning Libry)
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- Walking Zero: Discovering Cosmic Space and Time Along the PRIME MERIDIAN
- A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900
- A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- Architect? A Candid Guide to the Profession
- Astronomy Today (5th Edition)
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