What do you think?
Rate this book
BBC's Brian Cox (with Andrew Cohen) #1
Wonders of the Solar System
In Wonders of the Solar System – the book of the acclaimed BBC TV series – Professor Brian Cox will take us on a journey of discovery where alien worlds from your imagination become places we can see, feel and visit.
The Wonders of the Solar System – from the giant ice fountains of Enceladus to the liquid methane seas of Titan and from storms twice the size of the Earth to the tortured moon of Io with its giant super-volcanoes – is the Solar System as you have never seen it before.
In this series, Professor Brian Cox will introduce us to the planets and moons beyond our world, finding the biggest, most bizarre, most powerful natural phenomena. Using the latest scientific imagery along with cutting edge CGI and some of the most spectacular and extreme locations on Earth, Brian will show us Wonders never thought possible.
Employing his trademark clear, authoritative, yet down-to-earth approach, Brian will explore how these previously unseen phenomena have dramatically expanded our horizons with new discoveries about the planets, their moons and how
they came to be the way they are.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Brian Cox
110 books2,200 followersNot to be confused with actor [Author: Brian Cox].
Brian Edward Cox, OBE (born 3 March 1968) is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow, PPARC Advanced Fellow and Professor at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. He is working on the R&D project of the FP420 experiment in an international collaboration to upgrade the ATLAS and the CMS experiment by installing additional, smaller detectors at a distance of 420 metres from the interaction points of the main experiments.
He is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the BBC, boosting the popularity of subjects such as astronomy; so is a science popularizer, and science communicator. He also had some fame in the 1990s as the keyboard player for the pop band D:Ream.
Brian Edward Cox, OBE (born 3 March 1968) is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow, PPARC Advanced Fellow and Professor at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. He is working on the R&D project of the FP420 experiment in an international collaboration to upgrade the ATLAS and the CMS experiment by installing additional, smaller detectors at a distance of 420 metres from the interaction points of the main experiments.
He is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the BBC, boosting the popularity of subjects such as astronomy; so is a science popularizer, and science communicator. He also had some fame in the 1990s as the keyboard player for the pop band D:Ream.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
May 1, 2012
The BBC series with the same name has become a little bit of a phenomenon, and rightly so. This companion book is filled with the same ingredients that made the TV series so popular - in-depth, exciting information, wonderful graphics and a lyrical, almost poetic language that is used to describe some of the most fantastic discoveries of mankind. It's entertaining, interesting and important - I wish this book was mandatory for all teenagers, because it balances known fact with a sense of excitement and brings a much-needed perspective of adventure to a subject that for some reason has lost traction with young people today. Science is one the most important undertakings there is, and with the TV series and this book Brian Cox has proved that he has the ability to reawaken the fascination and interest that it rightly deserves. Wonderful!
March 23, 2011
Brian Cox gives a visually stunning whistlestop tour of the solar system. The writing is engaging, if somewhat hyperbolic at times, and reflects the passion that the author holds for his subject area and the related sciences. Unfortunately the first edition has a number of typos that could confuse the casual reader, I hope that these are corrected in future editions.
June 17, 2019
Well written, well presented throughout, very interesting, very educational, so much information within the book, it is the type of book that never gets dull. No editorial errors, No negatives at all, was very impressed with the book, which relates to the TV show. The book is just a sensational gathering of the wonder of the solar system, cannot fault the book, the book cover is attractive. Excellent!!!!! for anybody interested in space, the universe etc, this book will be perfect for you. One of the best I have ever read regarding the Solar System.
March 29, 2017
I really enjoyed this tour of the most interesting spots in the Solar System. This book is apparently the tie-in for some BBC television show that I'd never seen, but it stands very well on it's own merits. Cox's passion for his subject is infectious and I enjoyed the way he compared and contrasted the extreme environments to be found on the planets and moons around us to places on Earth itself. Also, this book contains a number of fantastic photos of our Solar System that I hadn't seen before.
One complaint: I bought the Kindle version of this book and read most of it on my iPad. The text seems to have been shoved from the printed version violently into the Kindle format without any thought at all. Things are very messed up.
One complaint: I bought the Kindle version of this book and read most of it on my iPad. The text seems to have been shoved from the printed version violently into the Kindle format without any thought at all. Things are very messed up.
January 6, 2020
Professor Brian Cox, is not only an accomplished scientist, but a person gifted with a way of words. He is a gifted writer as well. This book about the wonders of the solar system is nothing but a poetic tribute to the vastness of our universe and the beauty within it. I have always loved space science and solar system and books like these are just love! If you are an astro-geek this book is a must-read for you.
Professor Brian Cox adds fuel to your interest about the universe. Being a book about space and all that, one must think that this book will be boring and include highly complex concepts but it is the exact opposite. A perfect companion to the BBC documentary, Prof Cox beautifully explains each and every concepts from planets to the solar and lunar eclipse with vivid detail, but in a way that everyone understands it. I saw the documentary when I was very young, about 12 years old and there was not a concept I could not grasp
well as Einstein said: if you truly understand something, you should be able to explain it to a 6-year-old. Prof Cox is extremely good at his work
His documentary is stellar and his book reaches the stars!
Professor Brian Cox adds fuel to your interest about the universe. Being a book about space and all that, one must think that this book will be boring and include highly complex concepts but it is the exact opposite. A perfect companion to the BBC documentary, Prof Cox beautifully explains each and every concepts from planets to the solar and lunar eclipse with vivid detail, but in a way that everyone understands it. I saw the documentary when I was very young, about 12 years old and there was not a concept I could not grasp
well as Einstein said: if you truly understand something, you should be able to explain it to a 6-year-old. Prof Cox is extremely good at his work
His documentary is stellar and his book reaches the stars!
February 11, 2026
Slightly dated in places (published in 2010, so fair enough), but still such an enjoyable and genuinely awe-inspiring read. I’ve always loved Brian Cox, and had the absolute pleasure of seeing his new show live a few weeks ago which encouraged me to pick this up. I feel as if he just has the art of explaining massive, complicated ideas in an accessible and genuinely meaningful way down to a T.
The mix of clear explanations and stunning imagery in this book worked so well together and although it’s slightly on the longer side and took me a while to get through, it was entirely worth it. But I think what stuck and landed with me the most was the ending. After covering and exploring all of the extremity and majesty of the solar system - the true greatest wonder is the only place we (presently) know of, not only in the solar system but the universe, that can support intelligent life - Earth.
4.5 rounded down to 4*
The mix of clear explanations and stunning imagery in this book worked so well together and although it’s slightly on the longer side and took me a while to get through, it was entirely worth it. But I think what stuck and landed with me the most was the ending. After covering and exploring all of the extremity and majesty of the solar system - the true greatest wonder is the only place we (presently) know of, not only in the solar system but the universe, that can support intelligent life - Earth.
4.5 rounded down to 4*
July 21, 2026
Thought provoking and curious, these books always fill me with dozens of questions. Brian Cox has a great talent of promoting curiosity and explains things in exciting ways.
February 15, 2020
As someone who knows very little about astronomy/space, I really appreciated this book. It wasn't hard to follow at all and I feel like I learned a lot from it.
I do regret buying the Kindle version though as it made some of the diagrams difficult to read, and the lack of color was relevant in many places.
I do regret buying the Kindle version though as it made some of the diagrams difficult to read, and the lack of color was relevant in many places.
May 20, 2017
Fascinante paseo por el sistema solar, desde su origen y su central de energía (el Sol), hasta la vida, pasando por los distintos planetas y sus satélites y las leyes físicas que los gobiernan. Explica lo que hace especial a la Tierra, los entornos similares a nuestro planeta y la responsabilidad que tenemos todos en protegerla. Ilustrado brillantemente.
October 23, 2023
Wonders of the Solar System by Professor Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen
“Wonders of the Solar System” is the awe-inspiring book about our Solar System. Professor Brian Cox takes the readers on a journey of discovery and he does so by traveling to unique locations on Earth that serves as a reference to the wonder being discussed. This companion piece 288-page book to his popular TV series Wonder includes the following four chapters: 1. Messengers, 2. Stardust, 3. Falling, and 4. Destiny.
Positives:
1. Great science writing. Brian Cox is a Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester and is first and foremost an excellent communicator of science and he does so with a sense of awe, charm and clarity.
2. A fascinating topic, a journey through our Solar System.
3. An excellent format, a wonderful compliment to the BBC series Wonder. The book captures the sense of awe that scientific discovery inspires. It is written for the masses so he keeps math to a bare minimum.
4. The book is full of photos and diagrams that enhance the enjoyment of it.
5. Many facts throughout the book. “Sixty-six years before Apollo 11’s half-a-million mile round trip to the Moon, Wright Flyer 1 reached an altitude of three metres (ten feet) on its maiden voyage.”
6. Fascinating stories of discovery. “Herschel waited until December to conduct this experiment, when the Sun would be directly overhead, then placed his tin under the shade of the umbrella in the midday Sun. Once the water had heated up to ambient temperature he removed the shade to allow the Sun to shine directly onto the water. In direct sunlight, the water temperature begins to rise and by timing how long it takes the Sun to raise the water temperature by one degree Celsius, Herschel could calculate exactly how much energy the Sun delivered into the can of water.”
7. Describes the importance of nuclear fusion. “NUCLEAR FUSION Naturally occurring in stars, this is the process by which several atomic nuclei fuse together to create one single heavier nucleus.”
8. He makes many references to probes (spacecrafts) and their goals. “In the autumn of 1977, a pair of identical 722-kilogramme (1,592-pound) spacecraft were launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Voyagers 1 and 2 were about to embark on a very special mission: to visit all four of the Solar System’s gas giants – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.”
9. Explains the story and the birth of the Solar System. : The story of the Solar System is the story of the emergence of order out of chaos, guided by the simplest law of physics: gravity.”
10. Many basic physics concepts explained. “Linear momentum has a counterpart called angular momentum. Instead of measuring the speed with which something flies in a straight line, angular momentum deals with the speed at which something spins.”
11. Highlights each planet. “The reason Saturn’s rings are so incredibly bright from Earth is because they are predominantly made of glacially pure water ice, sparkling as they reflect the faint sunlight; billions of pieces of frozen water, a billion kilometres away from Earth.”
12. Explores Earth’s atmosphere. “The more massive the planet, the greater the gravitational force binding the atoms in the atmosphere to the surface. Fortunately for us, the Earth has enough mass to keep a tight grip on the heavier gas molecules that make up our atmosphere.”
13. Explains the greenhouse effect. “On Earth, the greenhouse effect is essential to our survival. Without the concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere we have today, our planet would be on average thirty degrees Celsius colder; far too cold to support life as we know it.”
14. The impact of the moon described. “Our moon has a profound effect on the life of our planet, driving the ocean tides that are intimately linked to the cycles of Nature. It may even have been the case that tidal pools were the cradle for the origin of life on our planet.”
15. The fascinating volcanoes of Mars. “This colour mosiac taken by the Viking 1 Orbiter shows Olympus Mons, named after Mount Olympus – the mythical home of the Greek gods. It is the highest volcano on Mars, with a footprint the size of Arizona.”
16. Describes the planets formation. “The Solar System consists of three major types of planet: ice giant, gas giant and terrestrial. These are produced because the protoplanetary disc has different proportions of rock and ice depending on its distance from the Sun. Terrestrial planets develop closer to the Sun where the protoplanetary disc is mainly rock, whilst ice giants develop furthest away from the Sun where the protoplanetary disc is mainly ice.”
17. Examines the role that Jupiter plays in our Solar System. “Jupiter is by far the largest planet, so big you could fit the Earth inside it over 1,000 times, and it is of a completely different character to the inner rocky worlds. It’s one of the four gas giants that circle the Sun, and along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, it is made up of the same stuff as a star – hydrogen and helium, the most common elements in the Universe.”
18. Asteroids! “The telescope is designed with one purpose in mind – to hunt down killer asteroids. The threat is easy to state: if anything bigger than a kilometre in size hits the Earth, it would probably kill almost everyone on the planet.”
19. Discusses the search for extraterrestrial life. “The search for extraterrestrial life stretches back thousands of years and has played a central role in both Eastern and Western thought. The Greek philosopher Thales is believed to be the first Western philosopher to introduce the idea of life outside our planet.”
20. Moons with potential for life. “These formations on our planet that resemble so closely the Conamara region of Europa are caused by the movements of the ocean under the ice that make it bend and crack. This is highly suggestive that something similar may be happening on Europa, and therefore there must be liquid water, an ocean, under Europa’s icy shell.”
Negatives:
1. This book was published about ten years ago which is a lifetime in science so a lot has happened since then but it holds up quite well.
2. In physics the metric system is the international standard for measurement, which can frustrate the average American layperson trying to grasp distance.
3. No formal bibliography.
In summary, an excellent complimentary piece to the awe-inspiring BBC series Wonder. Professor Cox exudes the joy of a child when he shares his knowledge about the cosmos and does so with clarity and panache. This is science writing at its best, it inspires and it educates. I can’t recommend it enough!
Further recommendations: “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry”, “Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution” and “Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour” by Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Cosmos” Carl Sagan, “The Big Picture” Sean Carroll, “A Universe From Nothing” by Lawrence Krauss, “The Grand Design” by Stephen Hawking, “The Elegant Universe” by Brian Greene, and “Wonders of the Universe” by the same author.
“Wonders of the Solar System” is the awe-inspiring book about our Solar System. Professor Brian Cox takes the readers on a journey of discovery and he does so by traveling to unique locations on Earth that serves as a reference to the wonder being discussed. This companion piece 288-page book to his popular TV series Wonder includes the following four chapters: 1. Messengers, 2. Stardust, 3. Falling, and 4. Destiny.
Positives:
1. Great science writing. Brian Cox is a Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester and is first and foremost an excellent communicator of science and he does so with a sense of awe, charm and clarity.
2. A fascinating topic, a journey through our Solar System.
3. An excellent format, a wonderful compliment to the BBC series Wonder. The book captures the sense of awe that scientific discovery inspires. It is written for the masses so he keeps math to a bare minimum.
4. The book is full of photos and diagrams that enhance the enjoyment of it.
5. Many facts throughout the book. “Sixty-six years before Apollo 11’s half-a-million mile round trip to the Moon, Wright Flyer 1 reached an altitude of three metres (ten feet) on its maiden voyage.”
6. Fascinating stories of discovery. “Herschel waited until December to conduct this experiment, when the Sun would be directly overhead, then placed his tin under the shade of the umbrella in the midday Sun. Once the water had heated up to ambient temperature he removed the shade to allow the Sun to shine directly onto the water. In direct sunlight, the water temperature begins to rise and by timing how long it takes the Sun to raise the water temperature by one degree Celsius, Herschel could calculate exactly how much energy the Sun delivered into the can of water.”
7. Describes the importance of nuclear fusion. “NUCLEAR FUSION Naturally occurring in stars, this is the process by which several atomic nuclei fuse together to create one single heavier nucleus.”
8. He makes many references to probes (spacecrafts) and their goals. “In the autumn of 1977, a pair of identical 722-kilogramme (1,592-pound) spacecraft were launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Voyagers 1 and 2 were about to embark on a very special mission: to visit all four of the Solar System’s gas giants – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.”
9. Explains the story and the birth of the Solar System. : The story of the Solar System is the story of the emergence of order out of chaos, guided by the simplest law of physics: gravity.”
10. Many basic physics concepts explained. “Linear momentum has a counterpart called angular momentum. Instead of measuring the speed with which something flies in a straight line, angular momentum deals with the speed at which something spins.”
11. Highlights each planet. “The reason Saturn’s rings are so incredibly bright from Earth is because they are predominantly made of glacially pure water ice, sparkling as they reflect the faint sunlight; billions of pieces of frozen water, a billion kilometres away from Earth.”
12. Explores Earth’s atmosphere. “The more massive the planet, the greater the gravitational force binding the atoms in the atmosphere to the surface. Fortunately for us, the Earth has enough mass to keep a tight grip on the heavier gas molecules that make up our atmosphere.”
13. Explains the greenhouse effect. “On Earth, the greenhouse effect is essential to our survival. Without the concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere we have today, our planet would be on average thirty degrees Celsius colder; far too cold to support life as we know it.”
14. The impact of the moon described. “Our moon has a profound effect on the life of our planet, driving the ocean tides that are intimately linked to the cycles of Nature. It may even have been the case that tidal pools were the cradle for the origin of life on our planet.”
15. The fascinating volcanoes of Mars. “This colour mosiac taken by the Viking 1 Orbiter shows Olympus Mons, named after Mount Olympus – the mythical home of the Greek gods. It is the highest volcano on Mars, with a footprint the size of Arizona.”
16. Describes the planets formation. “The Solar System consists of three major types of planet: ice giant, gas giant and terrestrial. These are produced because the protoplanetary disc has different proportions of rock and ice depending on its distance from the Sun. Terrestrial planets develop closer to the Sun where the protoplanetary disc is mainly rock, whilst ice giants develop furthest away from the Sun where the protoplanetary disc is mainly ice.”
17. Examines the role that Jupiter plays in our Solar System. “Jupiter is by far the largest planet, so big you could fit the Earth inside it over 1,000 times, and it is of a completely different character to the inner rocky worlds. It’s one of the four gas giants that circle the Sun, and along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, it is made up of the same stuff as a star – hydrogen and helium, the most common elements in the Universe.”
18. Asteroids! “The telescope is designed with one purpose in mind – to hunt down killer asteroids. The threat is easy to state: if anything bigger than a kilometre in size hits the Earth, it would probably kill almost everyone on the planet.”
19. Discusses the search for extraterrestrial life. “The search for extraterrestrial life stretches back thousands of years and has played a central role in both Eastern and Western thought. The Greek philosopher Thales is believed to be the first Western philosopher to introduce the idea of life outside our planet.”
20. Moons with potential for life. “These formations on our planet that resemble so closely the Conamara region of Europa are caused by the movements of the ocean under the ice that make it bend and crack. This is highly suggestive that something similar may be happening on Europa, and therefore there must be liquid water, an ocean, under Europa’s icy shell.”
Negatives:
1. This book was published about ten years ago which is a lifetime in science so a lot has happened since then but it holds up quite well.
2. In physics the metric system is the international standard for measurement, which can frustrate the average American layperson trying to grasp distance.
3. No formal bibliography.
In summary, an excellent complimentary piece to the awe-inspiring BBC series Wonder. Professor Cox exudes the joy of a child when he shares his knowledge about the cosmos and does so with clarity and panache. This is science writing at its best, it inspires and it educates. I can’t recommend it enough!
Further recommendations: “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry”, “Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution” and “Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour” by Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Cosmos” Carl Sagan, “The Big Picture” Sean Carroll, “A Universe From Nothing” by Lawrence Krauss, “The Grand Design” by Stephen Hawking, “The Elegant Universe” by Brian Greene, and “Wonders of the Universe” by the same author.
January 10, 2016
I have the Dutch version of Wonders of the Solar System: ISBN 978 90 5956 404 6, published by Fonteine Uitgevers. (Couldn’t find this version on Goodreads ☺, so I used the English version).
First of all: Wait for the next Dutch publication of this book. I found some irritating unnecessary faults in the Dutch version of the book. Page 184 describes that the there must be a photograph of the PanSTARRS 1-Telescoop at Hawaii. The photograph however indicates the British Electric (RAF) Lightning XS 451, which is described in the chapter "The Thin Blue Line” on pages 116 and 117.
Page 195 describes that there must be a photograph of the Afar plains in Ethiopia. De photograph however indicates the meteorite, which entered the atmosphere at the 20 st November 2008 in West-Canada, which is described in the chapter "The first Defence Line” on pages 130 and 131.
I’ve contacted Fonteine Uitgevers several times and of course the fault was discovered the same day I send the email with my discovery. How convenient! I’ve got a promise from Fonteine that they will contact me when they known how this could happen. That was on the 5th of January 2012. Currently it is the 16th of September and the editor still has to send me an answer. My advice is that if you don’t want to wait for the next publication of this book, you buy the original in the English language.
The book itself: I really do like the way Brian Cox writes and explains our own solar system accompanied with very good illustrations and beautiful photographs. (As long as they are on the right pages!)
Brian Cox explains all the questions concerning our solar system in an easy way, understandable and at the same time Brian is not shy of using mathematics if necessary.
First of all: Wait for the next Dutch publication of this book. I found some irritating unnecessary faults in the Dutch version of the book. Page 184 describes that the there must be a photograph of the PanSTARRS 1-Telescoop at Hawaii. The photograph however indicates the British Electric (RAF) Lightning XS 451, which is described in the chapter "The Thin Blue Line” on pages 116 and 117.
Page 195 describes that there must be a photograph of the Afar plains in Ethiopia. De photograph however indicates the meteorite, which entered the atmosphere at the 20 st November 2008 in West-Canada, which is described in the chapter "The first Defence Line” on pages 130 and 131.
I’ve contacted Fonteine Uitgevers several times and of course the fault was discovered the same day I send the email with my discovery. How convenient! I’ve got a promise from Fonteine that they will contact me when they known how this could happen. That was on the 5th of January 2012. Currently it is the 16th of September and the editor still has to send me an answer. My advice is that if you don’t want to wait for the next publication of this book, you buy the original in the English language.
The book itself: I really do like the way Brian Cox writes and explains our own solar system accompanied with very good illustrations and beautiful photographs. (As long as they are on the right pages!)
Brian Cox explains all the questions concerning our solar system in an easy way, understandable and at the same time Brian is not shy of using mathematics if necessary.
November 14, 2022
I read Wonders of the Universe before this, so some of it is repeated between the two books. Given that it's about the solar system, I was surprised to find more of the book covered the science of various phenomenons in the solar system rather than going over the planets and such in detail. I felt a little lost in the organization of the book, the chapters being organized by topic rather than going in order from the sun outwards. So planets and their moons were mentioned in several places throughout the book depending on what was being talked about. Sunlight, energy, water, the laws of physics and chemistry, and weather are just some of the things discussed here. Each topic is given a two page spread with photos and/or diagrams so it's not as dense or dry as a textbook, but when I think of "wonders" I think more of the visuals than the actual science behind said visuals, so it was a lot more terminology and definition dense than I expected.
April 10, 2014
I have not seen the television series that goes along with this, but now I'd like to. I now want to read all of the other books in the series as well. This was highly readable and illuminating. Very good for casual observers like myself who like to know about things but have trouble wrapping their heads around the big concepts of what it means to life in an infinite universe.
December 2, 2012
Not bad, but the *numerous* pictures of the narcissistic main author detract a bit. I'm going to watch the DVD series.
May 6, 2021
spectacular in every way.
January 2, 2021
There are so many amazing facts in this book that blew my mind. The images are breathtaking and it teaches you so much about the solar system in a simple and coherent way, it even makes rivers interest and has as little maths as possible. My favourite page is 92 which shows how Saturn's rings would look if you stand on top of one!
Spoilers/big concepts explained in this book:
-Age of the universe is 13.7bn years
-Sunlight reaches Earth in 8 mins
-There are sunspots on the sun which are usually cooler as they are 3-4.5k Celsius
-William Herschel 1938 measured sun's energy and found it was 400 million million million million watts (million times the power of the USA every year- radiated in one second).
-When the solar wind (heat from the sun exploding plunging into planets, stopped by Earth's thick atmosphere) gets past the magnetic field and travels towards the Earth, it runs into the atmosphere. As the protons and electrons from the solar wind hit the particles in the Earth's atmosphere, they release energy – and this is what causes the northern lights.
- When dust surrounds a planet, the warmth of the sun is reflected back into space, this causes a planet's temperature to fall dramatically as no heat is getting through which causes a nuclear winter. This can cause the extinction of many species, and is what happened on Mars (mini-nuclear winter). In 2000 a Russian president warned people that a nuclear war can cause a nuclear winter which is more devastating to all life on Earth.
- The Apollo 11 mission to the Moon captured 2 astronauts carrying heavy scientific equipment easily on the Moon. Due to the presence of gravity on Earth the same equipment would be too heavy to carry on Earth by one person.
- We are an ordinary star among 200 billion other stars in the galaxy. Our Sun rules everything in our Solar System and can make or break worlds, but this is a place we can never hope to visit. Mars year is 687 earth days long, whereas, Jupiter (the largest planet) takes 12 earth days to orbit the Sun However, Saturn's year lasts approx. 30 years., Uranus 84 years, Neptune is so slow as its so far- it was discovered in 1846 and didn't complete a single orbit till 2011 meaning its year lasts 165 earth years. Cassini discovered the gaps in Saturn's rings; now called the Cassini division. Each one of Saturn's ring is made up of hundreds of ringlets and each ringlet is made of a billion separate pieces, they are hung up in Saturn's gravity meaning they independently orbit the the planet in a extremely thin layer! The rings are very bright and can be seen on Earth as they are made up of pure water ice, sparkling as they reflect the faint sunlight - billions of pieces of frozen water! Some pieces are 1 cm, some are as big as an iceberg and house or 1km across (wide), but most are smaller pieces. The rings shine so brightly as they are constantly changing, as the ice rings orbit Saturn they crash into another, that collect into giant clusters that break apart or form together endlessly. As they collide they create new ice that catch the sunlight, due to this constant recycling they are able to maintain their brightness and shinyness. Their constant renewal allows us to see them, as the solar system is a dirty place with a lot of dust so if they were static, they would have been dimmed by the dust.
- Eclipses on other planets are frequent occurrences, such as, on Jupiter which had 3 at the same time in 2004 captured by the Hubble Telescope. It can be perfectly timed on Earth, but other planets show a delay if you wanted to see them there as it takes time for light to travel between planets. Mars has 100's of eclipses each year, but it is never a c as the size of its Moon does not appear the same as the Sun in the sky. This is the same situation with every other planet in our Solar System as the Moons are always the wrong size or distance from the sun to create a TSE, but we live in the perfect time and place to see this. However, as our moon drifts away from us each year by 4cm, this will eventually stop as it will not be the same size or distance to create a TSE.
- Sedna is a dwarf planet discovered in 2004, it has a average surface temperature of -240 degrees as it is further than Neptune and barely receives any of the Suns warmth. Sedna's year is 12,000 earth days, as the further away from the Sun a planet is, the slower it's orbit, and therefore the longer its year. On this planet, the sun is seen as a tiny dot, similar to the stars we see on Earth.
-Sun's 10 billion year story has a twist, when the fuel on the Sun runs out, this will cause the nuclear fusion in the Sun's core to end altering gravity, which will lead to the Sun failing to support it's own weight, and eventually collapse. This collapse will heat the Sun up until the plasma outside the core become home enough for fusion to restart, but this time it is on a bigger scale. This increase in heat due to fusion around the core will cause the Sun to become a 2k times brighter, and this will make it swell up. Then the Sun will drift off its main sequence. The Sun will then become a red giant as the outer layers will get bigger, causing the surface temperature to decrease, and the Sun's colour will become red - Scientific explanation: *A red giant is a star that has exhausted the supply of hydrogen in its core and has begun thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen in a shell surrounding the core. They have radii tens to hundreds of times larger than that of the Sun. However, their outer envelope is lower in temperature, giving them a reddish-orange hue*. In this stage, Mercury and Venus will be engulfed by the expanding star which is estimated to grow 200 times its size now. The Sun will eventually reach the Earth's orbit, so we will become as close to the Sun as Mercury now is (written in 2020), so our planets conditions will match Mercury's eventually. However, the Red Giant stage won't last long (may last up to a few thousand to 1 billion years)
- the star will shed its outer layers, revealing its cooling core, also known as a White Dwarf. The gas and dust of the dying Sun will drift off into space, forming a huge dark cloud which will form another star by allowing particles in a disk of gas and dust to collide and stick together through the strength of gravity.
- Enceladus, Saturn's sixth biggest moon is a tiny ice moon that has surprisingly survived when it should have been dead long ago, due to this it is labelled as a mystery/brightest moon. The founder of the planet Uranus and that moon died at 84 years old, a year on the planet is equivalent to 84 years on Earth, nice coincidence. Enceladus is smaller than the length of the UK in its diameter (inside circle measurement). The moon is the most reflective object in the Solar System!.
It was debated that there may be a source of liquid water under the surface, small lakes or an ocean that creates the volcanoes of ice. Enceladus should have a frozen core as it does not retain heat from the Sun as it is a billion km away, so it is getting its heat from elsewhere, this may be from its strange orbit around Saturn. Its orbit is not a circle, and instead is an elliptical orbit - same as the orbit of Mercury. This means that the moon moves closer and then further away from Saturn during its orbits. This orbit means that the gravitational force on the moon changes every turn, thi flexes the moon changing it's shape and therefore creating friction deep within the planet causing heat. It is heated enough to make a small underground ocean of water which when meeting space vaporises and explodes out of the surface - a true wonder of the Solar System. It is thought to be erupting constantly and when exploding creates tiny ice crystals, some of which fall back on the moons surface, giving it the reflective icy shine. These ice foundations also create one of Saturn's rings! - the whole E ring of Saturn is made up of pieces of Enceladus, however, other moons also help shape Saturn's rings through their gravitational force.
- 3.6 billion years ago Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all plunged outwards into the Solar System altering their gravitational force on other objects in the Solar System, in a violently unstable era which triggered the Late Heavy Bombardment material left over from planet formation slammed into Earth. From about 4.5 to 3.8 billion years ago, failed planets and smaller asteroids slammed into larger worlds, scarring their surface. This era created many of the craters (hole appearances on planets) we see on planets and moons.
- Comets (cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun. When frozen, they are the size of a small town) absorb the Sun's heat which displays a tail behind them, they also evaporate a lot of water into space. A large amount of water in the Earths oceans was provided by the impact of water-rich comets and other objects during the Late Heavy Bombardment, without this water, life on Earth may have never evolved! - the water rich world we know of today may have been created by the orbiting gas giants Jupiter and Saturn!
- Earth's atmosphere breaks down meteorites, but the book concludes that civilisation is the true wonder of the Solar System!
Spoilers/big concepts explained in this book:
-Age of the universe is 13.7bn years
-Sunlight reaches Earth in 8 mins
-There are sunspots on the sun which are usually cooler as they are 3-4.5k Celsius
-William Herschel 1938 measured sun's energy and found it was 400 million million million million watts (million times the power of the USA every year- radiated in one second).
-When the solar wind (heat from the sun exploding plunging into planets, stopped by Earth's thick atmosphere) gets past the magnetic field and travels towards the Earth, it runs into the atmosphere. As the protons and electrons from the solar wind hit the particles in the Earth's atmosphere, they release energy – and this is what causes the northern lights.
- When dust surrounds a planet, the warmth of the sun is reflected back into space, this causes a planet's temperature to fall dramatically as no heat is getting through which causes a nuclear winter. This can cause the extinction of many species, and is what happened on Mars (mini-nuclear winter). In 2000 a Russian president warned people that a nuclear war can cause a nuclear winter which is more devastating to all life on Earth.
- The Apollo 11 mission to the Moon captured 2 astronauts carrying heavy scientific equipment easily on the Moon. Due to the presence of gravity on Earth the same equipment would be too heavy to carry on Earth by one person.
- We are an ordinary star among 200 billion other stars in the galaxy. Our Sun rules everything in our Solar System and can make or break worlds, but this is a place we can never hope to visit. Mars year is 687 earth days long, whereas, Jupiter (the largest planet) takes 12 earth days to orbit the Sun However, Saturn's year lasts approx. 30 years., Uranus 84 years, Neptune is so slow as its so far- it was discovered in 1846 and didn't complete a single orbit till 2011 meaning its year lasts 165 earth years. Cassini discovered the gaps in Saturn's rings; now called the Cassini division. Each one of Saturn's ring is made up of hundreds of ringlets and each ringlet is made of a billion separate pieces, they are hung up in Saturn's gravity meaning they independently orbit the the planet in a extremely thin layer! The rings are very bright and can be seen on Earth as they are made up of pure water ice, sparkling as they reflect the faint sunlight - billions of pieces of frozen water! Some pieces are 1 cm, some are as big as an iceberg and house or 1km across (wide), but most are smaller pieces. The rings shine so brightly as they are constantly changing, as the ice rings orbit Saturn they crash into another, that collect into giant clusters that break apart or form together endlessly. As they collide they create new ice that catch the sunlight, due to this constant recycling they are able to maintain their brightness and shinyness. Their constant renewal allows us to see them, as the solar system is a dirty place with a lot of dust so if they were static, they would have been dimmed by the dust.
- Eclipses on other planets are frequent occurrences, such as, on Jupiter which had 3 at the same time in 2004 captured by the Hubble Telescope. It can be perfectly timed on Earth, but other planets show a delay if you wanted to see them there as it takes time for light to travel between planets. Mars has 100's of eclipses each year, but it is never a c as the size of its Moon does not appear the same as the Sun in the sky. This is the same situation with every other planet in our Solar System as the Moons are always the wrong size or distance from the sun to create a TSE, but we live in the perfect time and place to see this. However, as our moon drifts away from us each year by 4cm, this will eventually stop as it will not be the same size or distance to create a TSE.
- Sedna is a dwarf planet discovered in 2004, it has a average surface temperature of -240 degrees as it is further than Neptune and barely receives any of the Suns warmth. Sedna's year is 12,000 earth days, as the further away from the Sun a planet is, the slower it's orbit, and therefore the longer its year. On this planet, the sun is seen as a tiny dot, similar to the stars we see on Earth.
-Sun's 10 billion year story has a twist, when the fuel on the Sun runs out, this will cause the nuclear fusion in the Sun's core to end altering gravity, which will lead to the Sun failing to support it's own weight, and eventually collapse. This collapse will heat the Sun up until the plasma outside the core become home enough for fusion to restart, but this time it is on a bigger scale. This increase in heat due to fusion around the core will cause the Sun to become a 2k times brighter, and this will make it swell up. Then the Sun will drift off its main sequence. The Sun will then become a red giant as the outer layers will get bigger, causing the surface temperature to decrease, and the Sun's colour will become red - Scientific explanation: *A red giant is a star that has exhausted the supply of hydrogen in its core and has begun thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen in a shell surrounding the core. They have radii tens to hundreds of times larger than that of the Sun. However, their outer envelope is lower in temperature, giving them a reddish-orange hue*. In this stage, Mercury and Venus will be engulfed by the expanding star which is estimated to grow 200 times its size now. The Sun will eventually reach the Earth's orbit, so we will become as close to the Sun as Mercury now is (written in 2020), so our planets conditions will match Mercury's eventually. However, the Red Giant stage won't last long (may last up to a few thousand to 1 billion years)
- the star will shed its outer layers, revealing its cooling core, also known as a White Dwarf. The gas and dust of the dying Sun will drift off into space, forming a huge dark cloud which will form another star by allowing particles in a disk of gas and dust to collide and stick together through the strength of gravity.
- Enceladus, Saturn's sixth biggest moon is a tiny ice moon that has surprisingly survived when it should have been dead long ago, due to this it is labelled as a mystery/brightest moon. The founder of the planet Uranus and that moon died at 84 years old, a year on the planet is equivalent to 84 years on Earth, nice coincidence. Enceladus is smaller than the length of the UK in its diameter (inside circle measurement). The moon is the most reflective object in the Solar System!.
It was debated that there may be a source of liquid water under the surface, small lakes or an ocean that creates the volcanoes of ice. Enceladus should have a frozen core as it does not retain heat from the Sun as it is a billion km away, so it is getting its heat from elsewhere, this may be from its strange orbit around Saturn. Its orbit is not a circle, and instead is an elliptical orbit - same as the orbit of Mercury. This means that the moon moves closer and then further away from Saturn during its orbits. This orbit means that the gravitational force on the moon changes every turn, thi flexes the moon changing it's shape and therefore creating friction deep within the planet causing heat. It is heated enough to make a small underground ocean of water which when meeting space vaporises and explodes out of the surface - a true wonder of the Solar System. It is thought to be erupting constantly and when exploding creates tiny ice crystals, some of which fall back on the moons surface, giving it the reflective icy shine. These ice foundations also create one of Saturn's rings! - the whole E ring of Saturn is made up of pieces of Enceladus, however, other moons also help shape Saturn's rings through their gravitational force.
- 3.6 billion years ago Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all plunged outwards into the Solar System altering their gravitational force on other objects in the Solar System, in a violently unstable era which triggered the Late Heavy Bombardment material left over from planet formation slammed into Earth. From about 4.5 to 3.8 billion years ago, failed planets and smaller asteroids slammed into larger worlds, scarring their surface. This era created many of the craters (hole appearances on planets) we see on planets and moons.
- Comets (cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun. When frozen, they are the size of a small town) absorb the Sun's heat which displays a tail behind them, they also evaporate a lot of water into space. A large amount of water in the Earths oceans was provided by the impact of water-rich comets and other objects during the Late Heavy Bombardment, without this water, life on Earth may have never evolved! - the water rich world we know of today may have been created by the orbiting gas giants Jupiter and Saturn!
- Earth's atmosphere breaks down meteorites, but the book concludes that civilisation is the true wonder of the Solar System!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 6, 2026
TLDR
Enjoyable book that is informative, beautiful, and quick to read. I found the constant photos of Brian Cox to be confusing but I suppose that's what happens when you get a book that's an extension of a TV series.
Overview
Speed of Reading
[ ] Zoom!
[♦] Comfortable
[ ] Slog
Thought Provocations (AKA Need-To-Stop-Moments)
[ ] Constant contemplations
[ ] Pondering Pauses
[♦] No thoughts, book empty
Relevance to Proposed Topic
[♦] To the point
[ ] Wanders here and there
[ ] We lost the plot, Bob
Validity of Knowledge (to the best of my ability)
[♦] On point
[ ] It looks questionable to me.
[ ] Misinformation cheesecake
Writing Style
[ ] Brevity Champion
[♦] Comfortable companion
[ ] Prose
[ ] Technical mumbling
Unchallenged/sneaky -isms?
[♦] Refreshingly few
[ ] Yeahhhhh…
[ ] How did this get published
Noteworthy Quote(s)
Final Thoughts
Taking complex ideas and making them simple but still educational is no small feat. Brian Cox has done it again. My only critique is that one page contradicts the prior page on a somewhat minor point, but maybe that's just me lacking understanding.
Enjoyable book that is informative, beautiful, and quick to read. I found the constant photos of Brian Cox to be confusing but I suppose that's what happens when you get a book that's an extension of a TV series.
Overview
Speed of Reading
[ ] Zoom!
[♦] Comfortable
[ ] Slog
Thought Provocations (AKA Need-To-Stop-Moments)
[ ] Constant contemplations
[ ] Pondering Pauses
[♦] No thoughts, book empty
Relevance to Proposed Topic
[♦] To the point
[ ] Wanders here and there
[ ] We lost the plot, Bob
Validity of Knowledge (to the best of my ability)
[♦] On point
[ ] It looks questionable to me.
[ ] Misinformation cheesecake
Writing Style
[ ] Brevity Champion
[♦] Comfortable companion
[ ] Prose
[ ] Technical mumbling
Unchallenged/sneaky -isms?
[♦] Refreshingly few
[ ] Yeahhhhh…
[ ] How did this get published
Noteworthy Quote(s)
"This tendency, perhaps innate in humans, to accept the word of authority in earthly and heavenly matters, has been one of the great obstacles to progress throughout history." p 74
"[I]t's either death or whisky. That's my kind of pond!" p 90
"The greenhouse effect has become a well-known contemporary phrase, one that is now synonymous with global warning; but in fact the idea originally came from the notebooks of Fourier in the nineteenth century. He was the first scientist to suggest that gases in the Earth's atmosphere might cause the planet to eat up. In doing so, Fourier paved the way not only towards an understanding of our climate, but also the extreme effects of the greenhouse effect on our sister planet Venus." p 134
"The Great Rift Valley is our birthplace - we are all related to someone who lived in the place we now call Ethiopia. In a remarkable piece of research based on the human genome project, it has been shown that human genetic diversity declines steadily with distance from Addis Ababa, Ethopia's capital city." p 194
Final Thoughts
Taking complex ideas and making them simple but still educational is no small feat. Brian Cox has done it again. My only critique is that one page contradicts the prior page on a somewhat minor point, but maybe that's just me lacking understanding.
December 19, 2019
I’m familiar with Cox from his many appearances in Symphony of Science videos (a YouTube series in which clips from scientists are remixed with music on various themes, like “An Ode to the Brain”, or “The Poetry of Reality”), but have never read any of his work. This volume is the book version of a televised series, I believe, rather like Cosmos or Civilisation’s book versions. Although most books on the Solar System take a predictable approach (The Sun > the planets in sequence > outer reaches including the Oort cloud and such), Cox’s tack does away with that. He begins with the Sun and connects the formation of the early solar system to the present behavior of Jupiter and Saturn and their many moons. Next, Cox shifts to planetary science, examining common processes and features of Earth and other planets. One subsection of this is very similar to Cosmos’ episode “Heaven and Hell” as Cox compares Mars, Venus, and Earth and the role of climate on each of their history. The last section involves life on Earth. Because this is adapted from a television series, photography features heavily, and Cox often uses pictures to compare features on Earth with those found on other planets. The television show must have been exciting to watch, because some of the photographs include Cox’s flight in a jet, taking him nearly out of the atmosphere, and visiting various desolate places on Earth that invite comparison to Mercury, Titan, etc. This is definitely an enjoyable volume.
February 10, 2026
In this book, Brian Cox discusses some concepts from theoretical physics, particle physics, planetary science, and astronomy, and he simplifies these concepts so that laypersons will be able to comprehend these concepts.
This book is not intended to be solely an academic text. Professor Cox wrote this book so that people who have no academic or professional backgrounds in theoretical physics, particle physics, astronomy, or planetary science will appreciate his explanations of the current research regarding the concepts that he discusses in this book that Professor Cox and his colleagues are currently undertaking in various countries throughout the world.
If you are interested in theoretical physics, particle physics, astronomy or planetary science, you will thoroughly enjoy reading Professor Cox' "Wonders of the Solar System."
This book is not intended to be solely an academic text. Professor Cox wrote this book so that people who have no academic or professional backgrounds in theoretical physics, particle physics, astronomy, or planetary science will appreciate his explanations of the current research regarding the concepts that he discusses in this book that Professor Cox and his colleagues are currently undertaking in various countries throughout the world.
If you are interested in theoretical physics, particle physics, astronomy or planetary science, you will thoroughly enjoy reading Professor Cox' "Wonders of the Solar System."
July 21, 2025
¡Fantabuloso, maralibroso! 🤩
Si te gusta aprender sobre el universo, este libro es altamente recomendable. El científico y divulgador británico Brian Cox es sinónimo de calidad, gran capacidad comunicativa y de conocimientos.
En esta ocasión nos lleva de la mano para explorar las maravillas del sistema solar. No es un catálogo de planetas, ni mucho menos. Es un paseo increíble por nuestro vecindario cósmico más próximo que te atrapa y te sorprende con lo que vas descubriendo. Pero también aprendes sobre lugares increíbles de la Tierra y la relación que tienen con otros astros de nuestro sistema solar.
De esos libros que has disfrutado tanto que cuando lo terminas sientes una combinación de satisfacción y tristeza.
Si te gusta aprender sobre el universo, este libro es altamente recomendable. El científico y divulgador británico Brian Cox es sinónimo de calidad, gran capacidad comunicativa y de conocimientos.
En esta ocasión nos lleva de la mano para explorar las maravillas del sistema solar. No es un catálogo de planetas, ni mucho menos. Es un paseo increíble por nuestro vecindario cósmico más próximo que te atrapa y te sorprende con lo que vas descubriendo. Pero también aprendes sobre lugares increíbles de la Tierra y la relación que tienen con otros astros de nuestro sistema solar.
De esos libros que has disfrutado tanto que cuando lo terminas sientes una combinación de satisfacción y tristeza.
November 30, 2018
Layout spoiled it totally
The basic content was awesome, without doubt worth 5 stars, BUT there were so many layout issues that it became impossible to read. In the end couldn't get to the list of cross references fast enough. The only way to find a cross reference was to do a search for it manually. WTH. We have had WYSIWYG text editors for decades now. All in all very disappointing.
The basic content was awesome, without doubt worth 5 stars, BUT there were so many layout issues that it became impossible to read. In the end couldn't get to the list of cross references fast enough. The only way to find a cross reference was to do a search for it manually. WTH. We have had WYSIWYG text editors for decades now. All in all very disappointing.
November 1, 2021
Humbling!
It doesn't matter who or what we are, it doesn't matter who or what we THINK we are...
We are ALL "just" humans, who for the briefest moment in history are borrowing this very special, beautiful, complex and fragile place we call home, Planet Earth 🌍
There are very important lessons to be learned from these pages!
It doesn't matter who or what we are, it doesn't matter who or what we THINK we are...
We are ALL "just" humans, who for the briefest moment in history are borrowing this very special, beautiful, complex and fragile place we call home, Planet Earth 🌍
There are very important lessons to be learned from these pages!
May 20, 2018
This is such a lush book, its so informative and its shown in such a great way, I can hardly not love it. Its obviously had a lot of time invested in it and the diagrams and photos really help it to be less of an information block and it becomes super interesting and easy to learn from.
August 15, 2018
This was an excellent book on the Solar System and the Universe in general. Again Cox and Cohen provide excellent facts about our little patch of the Milky Way in a way that can be read by anyone. The mathematic formulae are plainly shown and the reader is encouraged to test the formulas themselves. Fascinating reading.
February 19, 2021
The book to accompany the TV series of the same name. Nicely presented large format book with some wonderful photographs included. Ok doesn't go into great depth but it hard to cover life, the universe and everything in under 300 pages.
February 19, 2021
I was watching the NASA perseverance rover landing and thinking about this book. Because Dr Brian talked about this in his book. It was one of the wonderful books I have ever read. I believe everyone will enjoy it. Happy reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 28, 2022
for some reason astronomy is a branch of science I just can't get and I tried many times. This book is no different. I am sure Brian Cox is a great author its just the wrong type of book for me. All the data looks .... fascinating....ish so I am sure he's doing a great job!
October 16, 2017
Very informative. Very good diagrams and explanations of the fascinating events which occur throughout the solar system.
October 18, 2018
An overview of our current knowledge of the Solar System conveyed with text and beautiful photos. It made me want to see the BBC series it is based on.
June 24, 2020
Simple metaphors for complex, yet important science.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews