What do you think?
Rate this book
How to Read the Solar System
What exactly is the solar system? We've all learned the basics at school but do we really understand what we are seeing in the night sky? Expert astronomers Chris North and Paul Abel, provide a fascinating guided tour of our Solar System and explain its many wonders.They look at all the major players, including our more familiar cosmic neighbors—the Sun, the planets and their moons—as well as the occasional visitors to our planet—asteroids, meteors and comets—in addition to distant stars and what might lie beyond our Solar System, including the mysterious Earth Mark II? North and Abel recount the history of how our Solar System came to be, and the myths that once shaped astronomy. Through their cogent explanations of the latest scientific discoveries, they reveal how any amateur astronomer can view and interpret the Solar System and enrich their understanding of our universe.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2015
13 people are currently reading
459 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 8, 2021
"How To Read The Solar System" is a comprehensive beginner's guide to astronomy. The two authors are hosts of a television program that I haven't heard of, but that may be because it is a British Show. How can I tell? Well, some of the spelling is British, and the book mentions the BBC. The book also has a Foreward by Dr. Brian May, whom you may recognize from Queen.
The book opens with a short history of Astronomy. It discusses ancient discoveries and how they came about. For example, how do we know distances between celestial bodies without a tape measure? The book explains parallax and how Trigonometry helps us all.
After getting the preliminary information out of the way, we move on to each item of interest in our Solar System, starting with the Sun and moving outward. The book does not count Pluto among the planets, since it is from 2014. There is tons of information on each celestial body in our Solar System.
The book is fascinating. As I mentioned, the book tells you how we know all of these things. In the present day, it is mostly through satellites, but all of those instruments have a basis in Spectroscopy and Optics, and so on.
The book opens with a short history of Astronomy. It discusses ancient discoveries and how they came about. For example, how do we know distances between celestial bodies without a tape measure? The book explains parallax and how Trigonometry helps us all.
After getting the preliminary information out of the way, we move on to each item of interest in our Solar System, starting with the Sun and moving outward. The book does not count Pluto among the planets, since it is from 2014. There is tons of information on each celestial body in our Solar System.
The book is fascinating. As I mentioned, the book tells you how we know all of these things. In the present day, it is mostly through satellites, but all of those instruments have a basis in Spectroscopy and Optics, and so on.
January 19, 2015
**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my review on GoodReads.**
Anyone whose interest in the solar system has been recently re-sparked by Cosmos with Neil DeGrasse Tyson will enjoy reading this book. The pictures are nice--some hand-drawn illustrations and some actual photographs from the archives of CalTech, NASA, etc.
How to Read the Solar System: A Guide to the Stars and Planets is well-written. I particularly savored the authors' style; Abel and North have a way of presenting information that could be boring in other contexts. "No one person can lay claim to the invention of the telescope. You might as well as who invented a stew." (p 83). The book touches on pretty much everything related to our solar system, from a brief "what is" and a trip through history with some "ancient stargazers" all through the planets themselves, the Sun, dwarf planets, a comets. As the reader, you can read all and be fascinated or go back and read particular sections, as they're demarcated well and read well on their own.
Avery well-organized book, especially with the sub-chapters devoted to each area (ie "Observing Uranus and Neptune" in the Uranus and Neptune Chapter, touching on how best to view them).
I enjoyed the glossary and the index as well. I can see using those for quick reference later when I'm looking for something specific in the book, not just reading it cover-to-cover as I did this time. This book will reside not in my library with the other books but rather with my telescope, as I foresee using it as a handy reference while star-gazing (or at least trying to).
Anyone whose interest in the solar system has been recently re-sparked by Cosmos with Neil DeGrasse Tyson will enjoy reading this book. The pictures are nice--some hand-drawn illustrations and some actual photographs from the archives of CalTech, NASA, etc.
How to Read the Solar System: A Guide to the Stars and Planets is well-written. I particularly savored the authors' style; Abel and North have a way of presenting information that could be boring in other contexts. "No one person can lay claim to the invention of the telescope. You might as well as who invented a stew." (p 83). The book touches on pretty much everything related to our solar system, from a brief "what is" and a trip through history with some "ancient stargazers" all through the planets themselves, the Sun, dwarf planets, a comets. As the reader, you can read all and be fascinated or go back and read particular sections, as they're demarcated well and read well on their own.
Avery well-organized book, especially with the sub-chapters devoted to each area (ie "Observing Uranus and Neptune" in the Uranus and Neptune Chapter, touching on how best to view them).
I enjoyed the glossary and the index as well. I can see using those for quick reference later when I'm looking for something specific in the book, not just reading it cover-to-cover as I did this time. This book will reside not in my library with the other books but rather with my telescope, as I foresee using it as a handy reference while star-gazing (or at least trying to).
March 18, 2016
While I'm glad I managed to finish this book, because it offers me insight into the Solar System that I certainly didn't have, I have to say this book is a bit dry. How to Read the Solar System is not a bad book; in fact, it's far from being "bad." It gave me the opportunity to learn something new about each of the planets--like how Io, one of Jupiter's dozens of moon, has volcanic activity; or how sound waves travel faster through plasma, which gives scientists the opportunity to measure the internal activity of the sun; or how a meteor showers are essentially the debris left behind by comets, like a dust storm that the Earth passes through during its orbit--and I enjoyed actually learning something new, if not quite as useful as I'd hoped.
Like I said, it's not a bad book. Just a little dry and dense and, dare I say it, pedantic. It's not something I would read twice, but it is a vast well of information that's sure to hold appeal for readers who greatly enjoy science, astronomy, and even mathematics. It's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're curious about the solar system and the exploration humankind has made of it. More importantly, it gets a point in my book for having an index, so I can look up the most intriguing bits of information.
Like I said, it's not a bad book. Just a little dry and dense and, dare I say it, pedantic. It's not something I would read twice, but it is a vast well of information that's sure to hold appeal for readers who greatly enjoy science, astronomy, and even mathematics. It's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're curious about the solar system and the exploration humankind has made of it. More importantly, it gets a point in my book for having an index, so I can look up the most intriguing bits of information.
February 20, 2015
A book part World Civilization, part Planetary Science, and all fascinating.
The content structure is a grand takes a tour of our galactic neighborhood, covering both the human history of observing our planetary neighbors and what we currently know about each planet.
And I really liked how the authors admitted we have only scratched the surface of our solar system, with still so much to learn.
Excellent introduction to our system’s planets for anyone curious to learn more about those particular twinkles in the sky.
October 5, 2017
I'm very fascinated by the Cosmos. I've watched many TV shows about the universe over the years, but this was my first book on the subject. It's a great fly though (pun intended) of our solar system. You learn about all the major bodies of the solar system including the history of their discovery, how they work, and missions to explore them. A great read accessible to any level of space enthusiast.
August 4, 2020
One of my favorite things in a science book is a section called "How do we know all this"? and this book has it. It explains how we know, and explains how you can know too, by focusing on observation and practical exercises. The language is punchy and readable, not obnoxious and trying too hard. Published in 2014 it needs just a bit of updating which is easily done by simply visiting nasa.gov. Nice illustrations (again, practical)
August 20, 2019
This is more of a history of major discoveries involving our solar system, and not a very comprehensive one. I wouldn't recommend it for adults (too simplified) nor for children (too dry).
December 20, 2019
Was a good read,each chapter is a planet or solar system being. very informative,cant go wrong with it. nothing too special but great for basic information.
June 6, 2022
Written so that even if you don't know anything about space you have a good chance of following along. I found it super interesting and well organized.
July 13, 2016
This is a well-written book (I received an advance reader copy) about our planet's neighborhood by two hosts of the BBC TV program The Sky at Night. There's a short history of astronomy (Eratosthenes calculated the Earth's circumference circa 200 BC!) and there's some info about space travel (probes are intentionally burned up so as not to infect alien worlds with Earth's bacteria!). An especially good choice for an amateur astronomer or fan of the TV show.
June 4, 2015
Full disclosure: I received this book free through a Goodreads giveaway
While at times I found it a bit slow or hard to get through I think the book is an excellent source of knowledge on the history of astronomical research in our solar system, how the solar system works (what we know at least), as well as where astronomy and cosmology are heading.
While at times I found it a bit slow or hard to get through I think the book is an excellent source of knowledge on the history of astronomical research in our solar system, how the solar system works (what we know at least), as well as where astronomy and cosmology are heading.
March 19, 2016
2.5 stars. Not quite what I was looking for, but interesting enough. This is a sparse introductory book, mostly focusing on how to view the planets with a telescope. I was hoping for more information on the planets themselves, but I will have to look elsewhere. The book is full of typos too. Annoying.
March 18, 2015
A straightforward discussion of everything we know about planets, moons, asteroids, comets, Oort cloud, Kuiper belt, rocky planets, gas giants and ice giants. A solid overview that clarified for me a few things about the outer planets.
February 7, 2015
Fairly basic and a bit dry.
November 5, 2016
This is a very approachable introduction to our Solar System.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews