The Planets
The Planets book cover

The Planets

Paperback – October 31, 2006

by
Price
$18.85
Format
Paperback
Pages
276
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0142001165
Dimensions
7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
Weight
9.6 ounces

Description

“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 "[ The Planets ] lets us fall in love with the heavens all over again." x97 The New York Times Book Review "Playful . . . lyrical . . . a guided tour so imaginative that we forget wex92re being educated as wex92re being entertained." x97 Newsweek " [Sobel] has outdone her extraordinary talent for keeping readers enthralled. . . . Longitude and Galileox92s Daughter were exciting enough, but The Planets has a charm of its own . . . . A splendid and enticing book." x97 San Francisco Chronicle "A sublime journey. [Sobelx92s] writing . . . is as bright as the sun and its thinking as star-studded as the cosmos." x97 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An incantatory serenade to the Solar System. Grade A-" x97 Entertainment Weekly "Like Sobelx92s [ Longitude and Galileox92s Daughter ] . . . [ The Planets ] combines masterful storytelling with clear, engaging explanations of the essential scientific facts." x97 Physics World Dava Sobel is an award-winning former science writer for The New York Times . The author of the bestselling Longitude , Galileo’s Daughter , and The Glass Universe , Sobel’s work has also appeared in Audubon , Discover , Life , and The New Yorker . Read more

Features & Highlights

  • 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

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(87)
★★★★
25%
(72)
★★★
15%
(43)
★★
7%
(20)
★
23%
(67)

Most Helpful Reviews

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An Uncomfortable Mix of Astrology, Poetry and Science

I have not read any of the author's other books, so I was not forewarned as to what to expect. Only half this book contains any science. The remainder is filled with distracting references to astrology and many poetic verses loosely refering to the planets. The story of planetary discovery include such important information as the discoverer's zodiac sign and how that effected their missions.

Other annoyances include her insistence on refering to Mercury as "he", Venus as "she", etc. Her disturbing fascination with her friend's eating moon dirt is hard to account for as well. One particular low point was during the chapter on Jupiter in which she gives the horoscope for the Voyager spacecraft, indicating that had NASA consulted this, they might have foreseen its problems.

In fairness, there is a bit of good science found in here, and very current as well. Although there are some clever literary devices used in the book, they are not typical for a book on science (for example, the chapter on Mars nararated by the Martian rock found in Antartica). If this book were edited down to its science, it would be about half its size.

If you are looking for something avant garde with a stream of consciousness approach to science, then you may enjoy this book. If, however, you are interested in reading an accurate understanding of the solar system, I cannot recommend it.
18 people found this helpful
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Stunningly disappointing account of the Solar System

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.
18 people found this helpful
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A Different Angle

When I began approaching this review I was going to start by saying "The Planets" is not a scientific book. That take wasn't going to be a criticism, simply an observation. There are no data presented in charts and tables, not one photo or illustration - nothing really quantified. And yet Sobel succeeds in a profile of the planets by weaving what they are into a cultural tale. After all, the majority of humans who ever lived had no real idea what those wandering lights were. Sobel juxtaposes planetary knowledge gained robotically in the last half century - knowledge that can seem
almost pedestrian to us - with the long-ago myths and god-like status given to planets as an explanation for them was sought.

I once interviewed people for a print publication. As any good interviewer knows, the point is not to simply ask a list of questions and check them off. The key is to begin a conversation with the subject. This process takes longer, as what will be the interview must be found in the taped conversation, and as background information about the subject is fitted around his or her words. So, really, this is what Sobel did - she interviewed the solar system.

Although I agree Sobel can be verbose at times, other reviewers have criticized the book's lack of explicit presentation. I think they miss the point. I am not a lay person regarding the subject, but I enjoyed learning about the historically cultural aspects of our neighbors. As one example, Sobel's description of tidal action contains no coefficients, and yet it is an elegant and accessible depiction. This book can be a good starting point for the lay person.
13 people found this helpful
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Not For Me

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
8 people found this helpful
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worthless pseudo-science

sorry,but this has too much poetry and not enough science. Many better books out there.
Try going to atomic rockets or Rocketpunk Manifesto or Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy for online resources.

Books:
Planetary Astronomy: From Ancient Times to the Third Millennium by Ronald A. Schorn

Be A Stargazer - A Guide To Astronomy for You and Your Family by The Astronomy Experts

Lunar and Planetary Webcam User's Guide (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series)

The Universe: Our Solar System (DVD)

This authors understanding of "The Planets" could be chiseled on the head of a pin with a rail road spike. Typical pseudo intellectual posturing.
6 people found this helpful
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A Must Read for Astronomy enthusiasts.

I met Dava Sobel at an astronomy conference. What a wonderful woman! I have her other two books, Galileo's Daughter and Longitude. Longitude is a MUST READ. This book is also great.
5 people found this helpful
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Nice resource.

My daughter enjoyed this as part of an Astronomy study.
4 people found this helpful
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What a great read.

What a great read. Love all Dava Sobel's work. Historical, detailed, and informative.
4 people found this helpful
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Dull and Impenetrable

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.
4 people found this helpful
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Terrible

This book is an awful, tiresome concoction of flowery language from an author who obviously has no real scientific understanding. Only on page 5, with the reader already frustrated by the imagined childhood, the author states that with Jupiter modelled as a basketball, "I should have mounted everything in a giant carton from a washing machine or refrigerator, the better to approximate the Solar System's grandiose dimensions". Really! The chapter ends with the amazing tosh "Gods of old, and demons, too, they were once - they still are - the sources of an inspiring light, the wanderers of night, the far horizon of the landscape of home" Plenty there to make you cry.
3 people found this helpful

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