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The Solar System: Exploring the Sun, Planets and their Moons
Featuring 200 spectacular and unusual images, The Solar System is an exhilarating exploration of the mysteries of our local planetary space.
With images selected by acknowledged expert Robert Harvey, The Solar System begins by examining the Sun, the center of the solar system, and proceeds outwards to the planets that are furthest from the Sun—Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. The book also includes chapters on asteroids, comets, and smaller planets. Readers will gain expert insight into Venus, the hottest planet, with surface temperatures of up to 752°F; Mars, known as the “Red Planet” because of the large quantities of iron oxide (rust) in its soil; Ceres, the solar system's largest asteroid and also a dwarf planet, with a diameter of just under 621 miles; and giant Saturn, whose core is surrounded by a layer of metallic hydrogen and is encircled in a gaseous outer atmosphere.
With images selected by acknowledged expert Robert Harvey, The Solar System begins by examining the Sun, the center of the solar system, and proceeds outwards to the planets that are furthest from the Sun—Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. The book also includes chapters on asteroids, comets, and smaller planets. Readers will gain expert insight into Venus, the hottest planet, with surface temperatures of up to 752°F; Mars, known as the “Red Planet” because of the large quantities of iron oxide (rust) in its soil; Ceres, the solar system's largest asteroid and also a dwarf planet, with a diameter of just under 621 miles; and giant Saturn, whose core is surrounded by a layer of metallic hydrogen and is encircled in a gaseous outer atmosphere.
- GenresNonfiction
224 pages, Hardcover
Published October 14, 2022
2 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 20, 2022
Read this review and more on my blog, uncovered-books.
I received a free copy of The Solar System from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
Looking up at the stars allows you to see many stars, planets, moons, astroids and comets. But what we can see with the naked eye is but a small fraction of what is out there, and we are able to see out closest neighbours in more detail with a little help. The Solar System is a coffee table book that collects stunning images from various masses in our small part of the galaxy and shows them to us with descriptions around how these images came to be and what mission that they were collected from.
8 main chapters that focus on seperate parts of our solar system. We start with The Sun, the start making our way outwards with chapters on Mercury & Venus; Earth & Moon; Mars, Jupiter and its Moons; Saturn and its Moons; Uranus & Neptune, Dwarf Planets, Astroids & Comets. Each chapter has numerous photographs of the chapters object, and each image comes with some form of description around it. Not only that, explained is how these objects came to be and still exist (in an easy to understand way, no need for a physics degree here). Each mission that the photos were captured from are indexed at the end of the book if you are interested in a certain mission and want to look into it or its photographs more.
I cannot received this book enough. The Solar System has managed to select but a few of the numerous images of these celestial bodies that exist and I am sure glad that they are all easy to access here in this book.
I received a free copy of The Solar System from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.
Looking up at the stars allows you to see many stars, planets, moons, astroids and comets. But what we can see with the naked eye is but a small fraction of what is out there, and we are able to see out closest neighbours in more detail with a little help. The Solar System is a coffee table book that collects stunning images from various masses in our small part of the galaxy and shows them to us with descriptions around how these images came to be and what mission that they were collected from.
8 main chapters that focus on seperate parts of our solar system. We start with The Sun, the start making our way outwards with chapters on Mercury & Venus; Earth & Moon; Mars, Jupiter and its Moons; Saturn and its Moons; Uranus & Neptune, Dwarf Planets, Astroids & Comets. Each chapter has numerous photographs of the chapters object, and each image comes with some form of description around it. Not only that, explained is how these objects came to be and still exist (in an easy to understand way, no need for a physics degree here). Each mission that the photos were captured from are indexed at the end of the book if you are interested in a certain mission and want to look into it or its photographs more.
I cannot received this book enough. The Solar System has managed to select but a few of the numerous images of these celestial bodies that exist and I am sure glad that they are all easy to access here in this book.
October 19, 2022
Stunning and fascinating! This visual exploration of our solar system uses large, gorgeously rendered images to show the true wonder and scale of our universe. Some of these photos are familiar, but there were quite a few I hadn't seen before and really enjoyed studying. The accompanying text is just enough to explain the context of the images and key facts without being overlong or getting dry. Anyone interested in outer space, space exploration, or photography would love this book, but I can't imagine anyone with a curious mind or an appreciation for our vast, amazing universe who wouldn't be absolutely enthralled!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!
January 10, 2025
Genuinely fascinating with beautiful photographs. Highly recommended. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this.
September 15, 2022
The Solar System by Robert Harvey is a beautiful book that also gives a great deal of information.
I have really come to love these coffee table books that use extensive captions rather than larger bodies of text with images cited in the text. Both types of books have their purpose, but for me, a book that I will have sitting out to entice people to flip through works better with large captions with each illustration.
Growing up in the 60s, I was like so many of my peers, imagining space travel and trying to learn what I could about space. While some of the fascination has been tempered over the years, it is still amazing to look at these pictures and see how much we have learned since those days. Even with several good astronomy and astrophysics courses under my belt, I still look at books like this with awe.
Remember those mobiles we did in elementary school with the planets around the sun? I think the teachers were mostly concerned with relative distances and relative sizes. Well, there are a couple of pages here that really struck me. One shows the planets mostly side-by-side to illustrate their relative sizes. Impressive, especially comparing Jupiter to Earth or Mercury. But turn the page and the planets are lined up against the sun to show relative sizes and even Jupiter is dwarfed. Talk about realizing just how small we are in the big picture!
I also got sidetracked with composite x-ray and ultraviolet images of the sun. They are both beautiful and teach us so much about this particular star, and by extension others. I went online and looked at even more such images. Well worth the time if you're so inclined.
Highly recommended as a coffee table book but also as a book to perhaps pique a young person's interest in astronomy and science in general.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
I have really come to love these coffee table books that use extensive captions rather than larger bodies of text with images cited in the text. Both types of books have their purpose, but for me, a book that I will have sitting out to entice people to flip through works better with large captions with each illustration.
Growing up in the 60s, I was like so many of my peers, imagining space travel and trying to learn what I could about space. While some of the fascination has been tempered over the years, it is still amazing to look at these pictures and see how much we have learned since those days. Even with several good astronomy and astrophysics courses under my belt, I still look at books like this with awe.
Remember those mobiles we did in elementary school with the planets around the sun? I think the teachers were mostly concerned with relative distances and relative sizes. Well, there are a couple of pages here that really struck me. One shows the planets mostly side-by-side to illustrate their relative sizes. Impressive, especially comparing Jupiter to Earth or Mercury. But turn the page and the planets are lined up against the sun to show relative sizes and even Jupiter is dwarfed. Talk about realizing just how small we are in the big picture!
I also got sidetracked with composite x-ray and ultraviolet images of the sun. They are both beautiful and teach us so much about this particular star, and by extension others. I went online and looked at even more such images. Well worth the time if you're so inclined.
Highly recommended as a coffee table book but also as a book to perhaps pique a young person's interest in astronomy and science in general.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
November 21, 2022
The Solar System: Exploring the Sun, Planets and their Moons by Robert Harvey is a nonfiction book featuring more than 200 intriguing images taken by space probes travelling billions of kilometers from Earth, The Solar System is an exhilarating exploration of the mysteries of our local planetary space. Within the span of a human lifetime, our spacecraft have visited all eight planets of the Solar System, together with several dwarf planets, asteroids and comets. We have mapped the surface of Mercury and Venus in exquisite detail, landed rovers on Mars, placed orbiters around Jupiter and Saturn, and parachuted to the surface of Titan. Our emissaries have visited icy worlds five billion kilometers from home and continued onwards to reach interstellar space. The pictures and science returned by these intrepid travelers have transformed our understanding of the Solar System in which we live.
The Solar System: Exploring the Sun, Planets and their Moons is an accessible and visually stunning look at our solar system, what we have learned, and our place in it. I thought the text was well written and pairs well with each of the chosen images. The images are absolutely stunning and the star of this book. I like that there were some artist renditions as well, which were also of great quality. I thought the text was understandable and added context to the images making them more impactful. without getting too technical or overwhelming. I think middle grade and older readers could get just as much out of the book (particularly if they are interested in the subject matter). This is a lovely coffee table book that will stand up to rereading and flipping through when the mood strikes.
The Solar System: Exploring the Sun, Planets and their Moons is an accessible and visually stunning look at our solar system, what we have learned, and our place in it. I thought the text was well written and pairs well with each of the chosen images. The images are absolutely stunning and the star of this book. I like that there were some artist renditions as well, which were also of great quality. I thought the text was understandable and added context to the images making them more impactful. without getting too technical or overwhelming. I think middle grade and older readers could get just as much out of the book (particularly if they are interested in the subject matter). This is a lovely coffee table book that will stand up to rereading and flipping through when the mood strikes.
November 17, 2022
Want the glory of seeing the solar system in full-on close-up? But also want more information about the planets than you could shake a stick at? Either way this serves – and I only saw it digitally. A lovely, inch-thick 10"x12" photographic experience, we really do manage to see and learn a heck of a lot about the solar system and at the same time our exploration of it. Pretty much all the planetary probe missions are mentioned, and the captions really pack so much in that they can barely be called that, so full-on and informative that they are. If erudite coffee table volumes really are a thing, this is up there, and if you scoff at a pretty picture book when you think it cannot convey learning and proper science, then more fool you my friend. I have no reason to champion Amber Books beyond the fact I see a spread of their titles for review purposes, and because they're generally bloody decent. This goes beyond that, to become one of the more informative (yet utterly pictorial throughout) space books I have ever seen. Roll on the sequel, covering all the rest of the universe, for this stuff is there to be lapped up. What a browse.
September 15, 2022
A hauntingly beautiful and informative modern guide to the solar system.
I enjoyed every page, picture, and paragraph in this book. Although it is easy to look up scientific information, and we have many opportunities to see pictures of planets, asteroids, and objects in the solar system these days, the author of "The Solar System" did an excellent job of summarizing the key information into easy to appreciate prose accompanied by stunning pictures of all of the planets, important dwarf planets, and fascinating moons, etc that populate the solar system.
It is easy to forget that the Earth and Moon are also first class members of the solar system, and thus the detailed chapter on the Earth was meaningful, well written, and the pictures certainly beautiful.
This is truly the kind of book that I love to page through while idly wishing we could actually tour the solar system rather than letting our robotic companions have all the fun...
I thank the author and publisher for kindly providing a temporary electronic review copy of this work.
I enjoyed every page, picture, and paragraph in this book. Although it is easy to look up scientific information, and we have many opportunities to see pictures of planets, asteroids, and objects in the solar system these days, the author of "The Solar System" did an excellent job of summarizing the key information into easy to appreciate prose accompanied by stunning pictures of all of the planets, important dwarf planets, and fascinating moons, etc that populate the solar system.
It is easy to forget that the Earth and Moon are also first class members of the solar system, and thus the detailed chapter on the Earth was meaningful, well written, and the pictures certainly beautiful.
This is truly the kind of book that I love to page through while idly wishing we could actually tour the solar system rather than letting our robotic companions have all the fun...
I thank the author and publisher for kindly providing a temporary electronic review copy of this work.
October 5, 2022
Space absolutely fascinates to me. I actually had a bit of a crisis when I failed at scuba and realized that I would never be an astronaut (not that there was any hope of that). It's mind boggling to realize that we know more about other planets than we do about the ocean on our own. This book covers the sun, the planets, and a handful of dwarf planets and other heavenly bodies. It has over 200 full-color photographs and good sized captions that provide great information about the images describing the geographic features and composition of each part of the solar system. The book was written in a way that his approachable and doesn't make the subject matter too overwhelming. This would make a wonderful coffee table book.
September 22, 2022
This book is all about the images, which I found completely stunning. I am even further amazed when I thought about how these images were captured, by probes traversing the solar system. An added bonus was the crisp, clear writing that accompanied the images. I went through the book twice; once to learn and once to just admire the images. I think this is a great coffee table book and I also think it would make a spectacular gift. Thank you to Netgalley and Amber Books for the advance reader copy.
September 29, 2022
I’ve always loved astronomy, so I was immediately drawn to this book. This is another gorgeous book from Amber Books. The photos are astonishingly beautiful. They were taken by space probes, orbiters, and rovers. The chapters are divided by planets and other objects in the solar system.
The photos are accompanied by interesting captions filled with the latest scientific data. It would make a great coffee table book or gift for an astronomy lover. It comes out October 14. Thank you to Amber Books and Netgalley for my copy.
The photos are accompanied by interesting captions filled with the latest scientific data. It would make a great coffee table book or gift for an astronomy lover. It comes out October 14. Thank you to Amber Books and Netgalley for my copy.
October 30, 2022
Thank you to Netagalley and the publisher for giving me this eARC to review.
This is a beautiful book and it has a plethora of different information. I would gladly show this off on a coffee table as well as recommending it to people to read. This is must have for people who are interested in the solar system.
This is a beautiful book and it has a plethora of different information. I would gladly show this off on a coffee table as well as recommending it to people to read. This is must have for people who are interested in the solar system.
September 27, 2022
Ebook/Non-fiction:. A beautiful book with beautiful pictures. The pictures aren't just beautiful, but amazing. Definitely for any space buff. Pluto still isn't a planet, but included in the book. Those pictures are super awesome.
October 5, 2022
Informative and full of gorgeous images. A great coffee table book.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews