The Planets

With her bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter , Dava Sobel introduced readers to her rare gift for weaving complex scientific concepts into a compelling narrative. Now Sobel brings her full talents to bear on what is perhaps her most ambitious topic to date-the planets of our solar system. Sobel explores the origins and oddities of the planets through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history. Written in her characteristically graceful prose, The Planets is a stunningly original celebration of our solar system and offers a distinctive view of our place in the universe. • A New York Times extended bestseller • A Featured Alternate of the Book-of-the-Month Club, History Book Club, Scientific American Book Club, and Natural Science Book Club • Includes 11 full-color illustrations by artist Lynette R. Cook BACKCOVER: "[ The Planets ] lets us fall in love with the heavens all over again." - The New York Times Book Review "Playful . . . lyrical . . . a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we're being educated as we're being entertained." - Newsweek " [Sobel] has outdone her extraordinary talent for keeping readers enthralled. . . . Longitude and Galileo's Daughter were exciting enough, but The Planets has a charm of its own . . . . A splendid and enticing book." - San Francisco Chronicle "A sublime journey. [Sobel's] writing . . . is as bright as the sun and its thinking as star-studded as the cosmos." - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An incantatory serenade to the Solar System. Grade A-" - Entertainment Weekly "Like Sobel's [ Longitude and Galileo's Daughter ] . . . [ The Planets ] combines masterful storytelling with clear, engaging explanations of the essential scientific facts." - Physics World Dava Sobel's The Glass Universe will be available from Viking in December 2016 With her bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter , Dava Sobel introduced readers to her rare gift for weaving complex scientific concepts into a compelling narrative. Now Sobel brings her full talents to bear on what is perhaps her most ambitious topic to date-the planets of our solar system. Sobel explores the origins and oddities of the planets through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history. Written in her characteristically graceful prose, The Planets is a stunningly original celebration of our solar system and offers a distinctive view of our place in the universe. * A New York Times extended bestseller * A Featured Alternate of the Book-of-the-Month Club, History Book Club, Scientific American Book Club, and Natural Science Book Club * Includes 11 full-color illustrations by artist Lynette R. Cook "[ The Planets ] lets us fall in love with the heavens all over again." - The New York Times Book Review "Playful . . . lyrical . . . a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we're being educated as we're being entertained." - Newsweek " [Sobel] has outdone her extraordinary talent for keeping readers enthralled. . . . Longitude and Galileo's Daughter were exciting enough, but The Planets has a charm of its own . . . . A splendid and enticing book." - San Francisco Chronicle "A sublime journey. [Sobel's] writing . . . is as bright as the sun and its thinking as star-studded as the cosmos." - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An incantatory serenade to the Solar System. Grade A-" - Entertainment Weekly "Like Sobel's [ Longitude and Galileo's Daughter ] . . . [ The Planets ] combines masterful storytelling with clear, engaging explanations of the essential scientific facts." - Physics World With her bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter , Dava Sobel introduced readers to her rare gift for weaving complex scientific concepts into a compelling narrative. Now Sobel brings her full talents to bear on what is perhaps her most ambitious topic to date-the planets of our solar system. Sobel explores the origins and oddities of the planets through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history. Written in her characteristically graceful prose, The Planets is a stunningly original celebration of our solar system and offers a distinctive view of our place in the universe. * A New York Times extended bestseller * A Featured Alternate of the Book-of-the-Month Club, History Book Club, Scientific American Book Club, and Natural Science Book Club * Includes 11 full-color illustrations by artist Lynette R. Cook BACKCOVER: "[ The Planets ] lets us fall... ϡ쯦랠 The sun's family of planets become a familiar place in this personal account of the lives of other worlds. With her gift for weaving difficult scientific concepts into a compelling story, Sobel explores the planets' origins and oddities through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history.--From publisher description. Explores the creation and evolution of the solar system's planets through a lens of popular culture, drawing on sources from astrology, science fiction, the fine arts, and other genres to chronicle planetary history in an accessible format. Model worlds (Overview) Genesis (The sun) Mythology (Mercury) Beauty (Venus) Geography (Earth) Lunacy (The moon) Sci-fi (Mars) Astrology (Jupiter) Music of the spheres (Saturn) Night air (Uranus and Neptune) UFO (Pluto) Planeteers (Coda).