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A Space Traveller's Guide To The Solar System, A
Here the astronomer and broadcaster Mark Thompson describes what a journey through the solar system might be like, from the preparations for take-off on Earth to arrival at the edge of interstellar space many years later. On the way he discusses what we know about the origins of the planets and their moons, describes physical features that would be visible and reflects on the challenges of navigation, weightlessness and living in a confined spaceship.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 12, 2015
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Mark Thompson
313 books36 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
February 13, 2022
Quick fun theoretical trip around the Solar System, lots of facts I'll probably forget but the journey itself was a blast.
March 19, 2017
I had difficulty with this book, the idea of being aboard a trip that would take you around our solar system seemed like a good premise to write a book about, but while this book tried to make it work , it failed to make this adventure of a lifetime sound fun at all, I'm thankful of all the introduction of the science needed behind such an enterprise , but at some points the terms became too technical and that made a whole chapter seem boring . The author suffers from a lack of direction, he doesn't know who is his audience, there are aspects that could be written for young adults but then there are terms that only adults or an older audience would catch. The language is dry at most points and this book suffered heavily from a lack of images , (not even one ) . While the science behind this book is irrefutable, the reach of this book is dubious. Not an easy read and not an entertaining one given the premise .
February 8, 2017
I don't know about you, but I always open a book with the intention to like it (there might have been a slight exception with The Da Vinci Code, but that's the exception that proves only literary incompetence tied to astonishing success will break my general bibliphilic disposition). And I really wanted to like this one: I've read a couple of other, similarly themed but historical books, such as Ian Mortimer's The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century, and really enjoyed them, so I was hoping for something similar from Mark Thompson. What's more, while I read widely about astronomy, planetary and stellar, when I was younger, I've not looked at it much recently, so I expected there to be a huge range of exciting new findings from all the space probes that have visited the solar system's planets and satellites over the last 10-15 years. And there probably is - but I'm afraid, my eyes glazed over and my attention wondered.
This book is dull. Dull, dull, dull. At best, I'd call the prose workmanlike and clear. As a positive, I now understand the mechanics of using the gravity slingshot to accelerate a spaceship to the outer reaches of the solar system much better. But the rest of it is all so dreary.
Look, here's a telling example. Venus, we've found out, rather than being the planet of love is as near hell as you can get this side of death: crushing surface pressure, hot enough to melt lead, sulphuric acid clouds: anyone on the surface would be crushed, cooked and corroded in seconds.
But if that wasn't enough, there is now evidence that the entire planetary surface, every half billion years or so, dissolves into a molten magma lake. This is because Venus has no volcanoes, so there is no mechanism for the heat at the planetary core to escape, so it builds up and builds up and builds up until, in a truly apocalyptic scene, the whole surface of the planet melts, allowing the pent up heat of 500 million years to escape. Then, slowly, it cools and solidifies, and the whole cycle repeats.
So, something pretty juicy for a science writer to get his words into, you'd think? Think again. Here's Mark Thompson's description of Venerean apocalypse:
There, you see? Thompson takes the most cataclysmic event imaginable and turns it into a bloody Bob the Builder episode (for those who don't have toddlers and thus are unaware, Bob is clean and green, and committed to the three 'Rs': Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).
But if dullness was the only objection, I'd give the book three stars: it's at least reasonably clear; good, stolid sciencey stuff. But why, oh why, oh why do science writers, who would be appalled (justifiably) if someone accused them of mixing their neutrons with their neutrinos, not feel the same obligation to check their historical facts as they do about checking their scientific facts? Thompson, in the laziest way imaginable, rehashes the old, old Galileo Affair story as a conflict between obscurantist Churchmen, wedded to outdated and unobservable models of the universe, and brave, bold Galileo, speaking truth to power come hell or house imprisonment. I mean, this version of events went out fifty years ago: even Wikipedia has caught up with what actual historians think about what happened. For a proper review of the myths and realities of the Galileo Affair, see this article, https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-mos..., by historian Tim O'Neill (and lest I be accused of special pleading, note that O'Neill is an atheist and a sceptic).
The consistency with which science writers regurgitate these old lies makes me wonder, in my more paranoid moments, whether there really is a hidden agenda. But no. It's far more likely to be the lazy assumptions of unexamined prejudice - something as prevalent among scientists and science writers as any other section of the population. So, for this egregious lapse, I'm knocking an extra star off: two out of five stars for A Space Traveller's Guide to the Solar System. Try reading some of Patrick Moore's books about the solar system instead - at least he can write.
This book is dull. Dull, dull, dull. At best, I'd call the prose workmanlike and clear. As a positive, I now understand the mechanics of using the gravity slingshot to accelerate a spaceship to the outer reaches of the solar system much better. But the rest of it is all so dreary.
Look, here's a telling example. Venus, we've found out, rather than being the planet of love is as near hell as you can get this side of death: crushing surface pressure, hot enough to melt lead, sulphuric acid clouds: anyone on the surface would be crushed, cooked and corroded in seconds.
But if that wasn't enough, there is now evidence that the entire planetary surface, every half billion years or so, dissolves into a molten magma lake. This is because Venus has no volcanoes, so there is no mechanism for the heat at the planetary core to escape, so it builds up and builds up and builds up until, in a truly apocalyptic scene, the whole surface of the planet melts, allowing the pent up heat of 500 million years to escape. Then, slowly, it cools and solidifies, and the whole cycle repeats.
So, something pretty juicy for a science writer to get his words into, you'd think? Think again. Here's Mark Thompson's description of Venerean apocalypse:
Like all the rocky objects in the Solar System, Venus displays thousands of craters, and the majority of them are still in excellent condition. This suggests that there has been minimal erosion of surface detail. More interestingly, it implies that the surface underwent some kind of global restructuring event around 600 million years ago...In a global event that lasted perhaps up to 100 million years, the entire crust weakened and yielded to the mantle, in effect recycling itself.
There, you see? Thompson takes the most cataclysmic event imaginable and turns it into a bloody Bob the Builder episode (for those who don't have toddlers and thus are unaware, Bob is clean and green, and committed to the three 'Rs': Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).
But if dullness was the only objection, I'd give the book three stars: it's at least reasonably clear; good, stolid sciencey stuff. But why, oh why, oh why do science writers, who would be appalled (justifiably) if someone accused them of mixing their neutrons with their neutrinos, not feel the same obligation to check their historical facts as they do about checking their scientific facts? Thompson, in the laziest way imaginable, rehashes the old, old Galileo Affair story as a conflict between obscurantist Churchmen, wedded to outdated and unobservable models of the universe, and brave, bold Galileo, speaking truth to power come hell or house imprisonment. I mean, this version of events went out fifty years ago: even Wikipedia has caught up with what actual historians think about what happened. For a proper review of the myths and realities of the Galileo Affair, see this article, https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-mos..., by historian Tim O'Neill (and lest I be accused of special pleading, note that O'Neill is an atheist and a sceptic).
The consistency with which science writers regurgitate these old lies makes me wonder, in my more paranoid moments, whether there really is a hidden agenda. But no. It's far more likely to be the lazy assumptions of unexamined prejudice - something as prevalent among scientists and science writers as any other section of the population. So, for this egregious lapse, I'm knocking an extra star off: two out of five stars for A Space Traveller's Guide to the Solar System. Try reading some of Patrick Moore's books about the solar system instead - at least he can write.
March 27, 2019
It's a travel guide for the Solar System! No, really, this reads exactly like that. Geared for readers without a strong science background, the amount of information packed in here is impressive. From size to atmospheres to salient physical features, Thompson presents each of the major bodies in the Sol system in a highly readable and approachable way, while neither dumbing down nor over-jargon-izing (Is that a word?). And neither does he recycle all the stuff most of us already know, instead covering a great many otherwise obscure facts that I certainly don't remember being covered in either elementary or high school.
What it's not, is a ready reference. You won't find illustrations or tables or whatnot. For that, you'll have to look elsewhere.
What it's not, is a ready reference. You won't find illustrations or tables or whatnot. For that, you'll have to look elsewhere.
January 20, 2017
I got this book from goodreads first reads. It was really great at painting word pictures but it desperately needs picture pictures for it to keep my limited space knowledge afloat. It was witty in parts (like with the song titles in the intro) but very dull in other parts. I really wasn't sure of what audience it was aiming for - it seemed a bit patronizing for adults but too advanced for younger kids perhaps. Some life-in-space asides really caught me off guard ... like the bit on space sex or the crack about horoscopes. Probably my biggest beef with the whole book - and this will be lame for some - was the font....it did some stylistic thing with some of the 'i's at no pattern I could discern that made it jarring and more difficult to read.
November 22, 2020
While the use of a fictional spaceship as a narrative means to survey the astronomical bodies in our Solar System (or elsewhere) is a solid (yet cliche) approach, the book really falls short on getting all its facts straight. Whether this is sloppy writing or sloppy editing, I may never know, the end result is the same and it makes it very hard to recommend to anyone. Just a few mistakes I found at the very tail end of the book (the ones freshest in my mind):
1. The author on page 220 suggest using nuclear pulse propulsion a ship could reach a star 20 lightyears distant in just... six years! The obvious fact that a ship wouldn't be able to travel *faster* than the speed of light alludes to some mathematical errors in the stated calculations, and indeed, the stated speed (using the above propulsion) is only 1/300th as fast as the speed of light. Using some back of the envelope calculations this results in a journey that is six *thousand* years, not... six.
2. A handful of pages later on 230 the author states that objects around the Kuiper Cliff would be in a resonance with Neptune where these objectives orbit twice for every one orbit of Neptune, this should instead be the reverse, the more distant object would obviously be the slower of the two and would have the longer orbital period.
3. And the most unforgivable of these three examples I found in the closing section of the book is that the author (I believe around page 237 or thereabouts), suggests that comets only ever have at most one tail which points directly away from the Sun. While it is true that comets have a gas tail that points directly away from the Sun, as the author correctly states, he fails to mention the dust tail or (the usually non-visible) antitail, both of which are formed of dust, the former smaller dust and the latter larger dust. The size of the dust is the determinant of how strongly they are effected by solar radiation and thus determines there orientation relative to the comet (neither is effected as much as the gas tail).
Perhaps none of these issues seem that bad in and of themselves, but the issue for me stands that the author (or editor) let some mistakes slip into the book that even a layman like myself could pick up on. This is a problem because it puts into the question the integrity of every thing that I read that I couldn't personally verify based on my own knowledge, at which point, why bother reading the book at all? I know it sounds a bit melodramatic, and I realize that most of what I read probably *is* correct, so if reading this review so far you don't see what's the big deal, then at least take it from me that you should take the things you read in this book with a pinch of salt.
1. The author on page 220 suggest using nuclear pulse propulsion a ship could reach a star 20 lightyears distant in just... six years! The obvious fact that a ship wouldn't be able to travel *faster* than the speed of light alludes to some mathematical errors in the stated calculations, and indeed, the stated speed (using the above propulsion) is only 1/300th as fast as the speed of light. Using some back of the envelope calculations this results in a journey that is six *thousand* years, not... six.
2. A handful of pages later on 230 the author states that objects around the Kuiper Cliff would be in a resonance with Neptune where these objectives orbit twice for every one orbit of Neptune, this should instead be the reverse, the more distant object would obviously be the slower of the two and would have the longer orbital period.
3. And the most unforgivable of these three examples I found in the closing section of the book is that the author (I believe around page 237 or thereabouts), suggests that comets only ever have at most one tail which points directly away from the Sun. While it is true that comets have a gas tail that points directly away from the Sun, as the author correctly states, he fails to mention the dust tail or (the usually non-visible) antitail, both of which are formed of dust, the former smaller dust and the latter larger dust. The size of the dust is the determinant of how strongly they are effected by solar radiation and thus determines there orientation relative to the comet (neither is effected as much as the gas tail).
Perhaps none of these issues seem that bad in and of themselves, but the issue for me stands that the author (or editor) let some mistakes slip into the book that even a layman like myself could pick up on. This is a problem because it puts into the question the integrity of every thing that I read that I couldn't personally verify based on my own knowledge, at which point, why bother reading the book at all? I know it sounds a bit melodramatic, and I realize that most of what I read probably *is* correct, so if reading this review so far you don't see what's the big deal, then at least take it from me that you should take the things you read in this book with a pinch of salt.
March 29, 2018
A Space Traveler’s Guide to The Solar System is pretty much what it sounds like. Using his imagination, Mark Thompson takes us on a tour of the solar system, attempting to confront the problems we would face on such a trip. Now it isn’t to say that Thompson completely ignores reality but some of the technology he mentions doesn’t seem to be feasible. I suppose in the future the chances of such a journey would be more believable, but when it comes right down to it, Space travel isn’t really possible with our current level of technology.
So Thompson starts with the Sun, our own local star, and goes outward from there. So he discusses the problems one would have with going to Mercury, Venus, Mars and other places in our Solar System. For instance, if you were to go to Venus, you wouldn’t get a very pleasant welcome, though it would be quite warm. Other planets in the Solar System have their own issues with habitation, but you might already know about those problems. Take Jupiter for instance. As a Gas Giant, you would be hard-pressed to find a surface to land on. It isn’t as simple as that though, even though Jupiter is gaseous it isn’t like you can fly through it.
So that’s pretty much the entirety of the book. It talks about the different things you would see in the Solar System and how you would go and deal with the loneliness and boredom of space travel. It does include a lot of facts that I hadn’t heard before about our local space area. The book was quite interesting, but it went from possibility to impossibility at the drop of a hat and I didn’t know what to think about that.
So Thompson starts with the Sun, our own local star, and goes outward from there. So he discusses the problems one would have with going to Mercury, Venus, Mars and other places in our Solar System. For instance, if you were to go to Venus, you wouldn’t get a very pleasant welcome, though it would be quite warm. Other planets in the Solar System have their own issues with habitation, but you might already know about those problems. Take Jupiter for instance. As a Gas Giant, you would be hard-pressed to find a surface to land on. It isn’t as simple as that though, even though Jupiter is gaseous it isn’t like you can fly through it.
So that’s pretty much the entirety of the book. It talks about the different things you would see in the Solar System and how you would go and deal with the loneliness and boredom of space travel. It does include a lot of facts that I hadn’t heard before about our local space area. The book was quite interesting, but it went from possibility to impossibility at the drop of a hat and I didn’t know what to think about that.
February 4, 2017
This thin but dense novel about the solar system is the equivalent of The Magic School Bus for adults.
There’s definitely some DRY material here - although that’s purely subjective, as engine and propulsion systems go over my head - but mostly we are approaching the Solar System from the perspective of watching it from the window of an actual ship, which was a fun thought exercise.
I came away from this knowing more about the Oort Cloud, the moons of the gas giants, and the Kuiper Belt. Even though some of the facts were repetitive, I have yet to finish any book about astronomy without renewed appreciation of the vastness of the universe, and how small our part in it really is. It was a lot of information to absorb, but I’m glad to have had the chance to. 3 stars.
There’s definitely some DRY material here - although that’s purely subjective, as engine and propulsion systems go over my head - but mostly we are approaching the Solar System from the perspective of watching it from the window of an actual ship, which was a fun thought exercise.
I came away from this knowing more about the Oort Cloud, the moons of the gas giants, and the Kuiper Belt. Even though some of the facts were repetitive, I have yet to finish any book about astronomy without renewed appreciation of the vastness of the universe, and how small our part in it really is. It was a lot of information to absorb, but I’m glad to have had the chance to. 3 stars.
March 26, 2024
This was a fascinating book. Written as if it were a travel guide for someone actually making this journey, the book talks about what astronauts have to go through in 0 gravity, what those types of conditions do to the human body, and what it might be like, assuming you're on a spacecraft with simulated gravity on board. The book starts out traveling to the sun, and from there, you visit all the other planets, as well as the asteroid belt on the other side of Jupiter. After Neptune, you visit deep space and the outer edge of the solar system, then you go into interstellar space. This book talks about all the planets, how they evolved, their surfaces and atmospheres, their moons and what it would potentially be like for a human on the surface of the planets. It was fascinating.
May 20, 2017
Very informative book, but it often read too much like a textbook, which becomes hard to stay engaged with for any period of time. I've read other non-fiction that managed to convey the same level of technical information but in a much more narrative format. The writing format and grammatical style was at times disappointing and unsophisticated. Overall, I learned some interesting things but didn't find myself very engaged and struggled to find desire to read this, despite being very interested in the subject. On the plus side, it did incorporate very recent discoveries nicely and felt very up-to-date.
July 21, 2017
I'm giving this book 4 stars because it was full of science, full of descriptions, full of details, and the imagery of the solar system was illustrated without the author drawing one single line. That is impressive. He did an excellent job taking the reader on a journey of our solar system in a way that is the literary version of the Cosmos mini-series. There was a slight story element, but not so much that it pulled the reader away from the science of astronomy and space exploration. If the title is a subject that is of interest to you, this book is a really good overview of our corner of the galaxy.
May 6, 2017
I was kind of hoping this would be a bit more introductory, but there were times at which a chapter would fall to just technical terms and scientific concepts. It's been years since I had any chance to study any of this so I did find myself wading through it at times.
I did like the framework, and some of the details and information he put in but the tedium of some of the harder, technical stuff was a bit dragging. I can't be too hard on it, as I did learn somethings though. I think with more introduction on the topic I would have been more at ease.
I did like the framework, and some of the details and information he put in but the tedium of some of the harder, technical stuff was a bit dragging. I can't be too hard on it, as I did learn somethings though. I think with more introduction on the topic I would have been more at ease.
January 15, 2018
A fun book which imagines the reader getting on a spaceship for a tour of the solar system. More scientific and less philosophical than Dava Sobel's THE PLANETS, but a nice complement to it, as well as to ARTEMIS, which I'd just read. Especially since the "tour" begins with a visit to the moon.
My eyes did glaze over during some of the technical bits, and I would have loved some illustrations of things I didn't get, but it was still very worthwhile. My 16YO son is reading it now.
My eyes did glaze over during some of the technical bits, and I would have loved some illustrations of things I didn't get, but it was still very worthwhile. My 16YO son is reading it now.
March 12, 2023
When I was younger, I had a book about venturing around the solar system and seeing the planets.
This one is similar, but reads like a mixture of adventure and textbook. Unfortunately, not in a good way.
The ‘adventurous’ bits are a slog and the author is clearly more adept at the science and physics portions. Which drone on like a college textbook.
This one is similar, but reads like a mixture of adventure and textbook. Unfortunately, not in a good way.
The ‘adventurous’ bits are a slog and the author is clearly more adept at the science and physics portions. Which drone on like a college textbook.
February 15, 2025
1.5 stars - Honestly, I just found this boring. I didn't go in with high hopes, but after finding this book at a charity shop, I thought it had an interesting premise. Instead, I thought it tried to provide too many scientific facts and figures that I'll never remember, but it made the journey feel dull overall. It made 272 pages feel like over 1000.
February 1, 2021
The storyline of a trip around the solsr system propels the reader through the theories and facts needed for space exploration. Although the necessity of careful crew selection is discussed, dramatic exploration is sacrificed in favor of an exploration of science.
December 14, 2016
Reading non-fiction now and again is cool! This book, while filled with amazing and facts, is also really interesting, tangible, and relevant.
May 4, 2017
Very essential.
September 24, 2017
This book is jam-packed with information about the solar system: interplanetary space, the planets themselves, the moons, the sun, etc.
April 7, 2018
Solid 3-stars. Reads denser than it should. It's not quite 300 page book & looks like it should be a quick, fun read. It has some interesting moments and good, solid information, though.
November 18, 2019
A little dense, but the phrase "cosmic pizza" made it all worth it.
March 16, 2022
Just read for some SOS facts. Very technical.
January 16, 2023
I wish there would have been a little less information. Honestly it was a bit dry and way more factual than I was looking for. I did enjoy the description of the planets, atmosphere and moons.
June 13, 2023
A lively look across the solar system
December 8, 2024
A few illustrations would have helped. How can you describe our solar system without ANY diagrams, maps or illustrations?
March 17, 2017
I had high hopes for this book. After all, it was about traveling through the Solar System! There were parts that were interesting to me, but overall it felt like the author wrote a rather technical book about the Solar System, and then later decided to go back and make it more appealing to a wider audience by adding in the bits about the reader actually traveling to each of these spots. I also think some of the technical terms could have been explained better (or if not explained better, then omitted entirely). I found myself wondering about a couple of things, while other things I knew about but probably still should have been explained for others who didn't happen to know about them. If you are already extremely interested in the Solar System and are looking for a book to increase your technical knowledge of the Sun and planets (and a few other features), you may enjoy this book. If you are just looking for an interesting book about space travel and have an average interest in the Solar System, this book may not meet your expectations.
March 10, 2017
I learned a few things and gained some new perspectives on our solar system, but the process seemed almost as interminable as the fictionalized multi - year interplanetary journey which serves as the supporting framework upon which this dry catalog of space facts is strung together.
February 20, 2017
I only got about half-way through this book before I had to return it to the library. I enjoyed it but my progress was slow as it is quite technical and dense. It's sort of like reading Cosmos, but more technical and without Neil DeGrasse-Tyson to lead you through it. Still, a worthwhile read and I may get it out again in the future to finish.
February 5, 2017
In part, the journey is told in second person, to make it feel as if you’re the one travelling through space. It kind of has the effect of making it feel like a kid’s book in a way, although the science will go over most youngster’s heads. Some of the physics passed me by to be honest, especially the parts about gravitational effects of planets. The chemistry and geology side was more at my level of understanding.
I learned what will happen when the sun reaches the end of its life and which planets, or moons, hold the most hope for future settlements should the worst happen. I found reading about the weather on other planets fascinating, and the reasons why they are so different from Earth. The book is divided up by location, starting with how to plan your journey and get into space and then visiting each planet one by one, describing its environment and behaviours in detail, plus small snippets of relevant historical information.
The sections dealing with space travel and life on board a space ship were very down-to-earth. This may burst the bubble of anyone hoping for Star Trek style ships in the future, but it also highlights how much we have achieved in such an alien environment. It is a miracle we have made it into space at all. There’s even a tiny bit about sex in space!
I would definitely recommend this book to go on your research list if you’re writing space based fiction or creating other worlds that you want to appear feasible or hostile. There’s a tendency to create duplicates of earth, when the likelihood of other planets being like ours is so slim. This book really brought that home. Let’s hope we’re not hit by a giant asteroid any time soon…
Review copy provided by publisher.
I learned what will happen when the sun reaches the end of its life and which planets, or moons, hold the most hope for future settlements should the worst happen. I found reading about the weather on other planets fascinating, and the reasons why they are so different from Earth. The book is divided up by location, starting with how to plan your journey and get into space and then visiting each planet one by one, describing its environment and behaviours in detail, plus small snippets of relevant historical information.
The sections dealing with space travel and life on board a space ship were very down-to-earth. This may burst the bubble of anyone hoping for Star Trek style ships in the future, but it also highlights how much we have achieved in such an alien environment. It is a miracle we have made it into space at all. There’s even a tiny bit about sex in space!
I would definitely recommend this book to go on your research list if you’re writing space based fiction or creating other worlds that you want to appear feasible or hostile. There’s a tendency to create duplicates of earth, when the likelihood of other planets being like ours is so slim. This book really brought that home. Let’s hope we’re not hit by a giant asteroid any time soon…
Review copy provided by publisher.
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