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Fundamental Planetary Science: Physics, Chemistry and Habitability
A quantitative introduction to the Solar System and planetary systems science for advanced undergraduate students, this engaging new textbook explains the wide variety of physical, chemical, and geological processes that govern the motions and properties of planets. The authors provide an overview of our current knowledge and discuss some of the unanswered questions at the forefront of research in planetary science and astrobiology today. They combine knowledge of the Solar System and the properties of extrasolar planets with astrophysical observations of ongoing star and planet formation, offering a comprehensive model for understanding the origin of planetary systems. The book concludes with an introduction to the fundamental properties of living organisms and the relationship that life has to its host planet. With more than 200 exercises to help students learn how to apply the concepts covered, this textbook is ideal for a one-semester or two-quarter course for undergraduate students.
595 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 29, 2016
The text is expertly written and it is insightful (if, boring at times). But there are a number of huge short-comings in this book.
The first and foremost one is that the images in the book are all done in black and white (there are a few color plates, but the number of those is negligible compared to the total number of images). This cannot be excused. A 21st-century textbook on astronomy/planetary science cannot get away with black-and-white illustrations. Color printing is not even that expensive anymore. I know a number of textbooks with at least as much image content as in here that were done in color throughout and cost me less euros than this book. Why the publishers/authors opted for black and white is not understood, and it reduces the quality of the book significantly. (Especially, in one of the appendices, there are printed recent planetary images, mostly of Mars, and those images are useless in black-and-white imaging. I have a book on Mars that has most of the same images in color, and the black-and-white does not stand comparison). This is an inexcusable and a significant failure.
Another notable flaw is that the text uses Kelvin scale for temperatures and does not provide Celsius or Fahrenheit for comparison (or at least added in the appendices). Kelvin is the standard in astronomy texts and in astrophysics, but to use it exclusively for signifying temperatures on Earth and on other planets is taking it a bit too extreme. Reference Celsius/Fahrenheit temperatures should have been provided.
Then, there is a weird error about the periodic table of elements that has been added in an appendix. Namely, the periodic table starts from sodium (Na) onwards and doesn't include the elements before it. How this came about, I have no idea.
The authors also sometimes use Gyr and Myr denotations instead of more common-sense 'billion years' and 'million years'. Which is not that big of a deal, but I would have expected some basic standards of notations to have been maintained.
The text itself is solid and knowledgeable, and worth a read. The chapters on magnetic fields, extrasolar planets, planet formation, and life especially stand out and were all excellently written.
The first and foremost one is that the images in the book are all done in black and white (there are a few color plates, but the number of those is negligible compared to the total number of images). This cannot be excused. A 21st-century textbook on astronomy/planetary science cannot get away with black-and-white illustrations. Color printing is not even that expensive anymore. I know a number of textbooks with at least as much image content as in here that were done in color throughout and cost me less euros than this book. Why the publishers/authors opted for black and white is not understood, and it reduces the quality of the book significantly. (Especially, in one of the appendices, there are printed recent planetary images, mostly of Mars, and those images are useless in black-and-white imaging. I have a book on Mars that has most of the same images in color, and the black-and-white does not stand comparison). This is an inexcusable and a significant failure.
Another notable flaw is that the text uses Kelvin scale for temperatures and does not provide Celsius or Fahrenheit for comparison (or at least added in the appendices). Kelvin is the standard in astronomy texts and in astrophysics, but to use it exclusively for signifying temperatures on Earth and on other planets is taking it a bit too extreme. Reference Celsius/Fahrenheit temperatures should have been provided.
Then, there is a weird error about the periodic table of elements that has been added in an appendix. Namely, the periodic table starts from sodium (Na) onwards and doesn't include the elements before it. How this came about, I have no idea.
The authors also sometimes use Gyr and Myr denotations instead of more common-sense 'billion years' and 'million years'. Which is not that big of a deal, but I would have expected some basic standards of notations to have been maintained.
The text itself is solid and knowledgeable, and worth a read. The chapters on magnetic fields, extrasolar planets, planet formation, and life especially stand out and were all excellently written.
January 5, 2016
The text itself was decent. It was clear, but presented in an uninteresting manner. I didn't think it possible to make this subject boring, but the book does it. The practice problems were absolutely horrible! They are unclear, oftentimes pointless, and have little basis in the chapters and text. This could be a decent textbook, but professors, please pull you question from somewhere else!
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