William Grimes
The Planets has a little something for everyone. Myth, poetry, science fiction, geology, mineralogy, cosmology and even etymology find their way into Ms. Sobel's almost fablelike narratives, which, if you remove a few technical terms, could make splendid bedtime read-aloud material. Each planet has a personality, a face and a rich inner life.
— The New York Times
James Trefil
With one glaring exception, each of these essays is a little gem, telling an interesting story without overwhelming the reader with facts. And each essay is full of what I think of as the "Sobel touch," mingling odd historical coincidences with up-to-the-minute NASA readout of data.
— The Washington Post
Marcia Bartusiak
For newcomers to planetary astronomy, The Planets offers a nimble summary of the latest findings on each planet's features and geology. For those who avidly followed the journeys of the Mariners, Voyagers and Vikings through interplanetary space, it lets us fall in love with the heavens all over again.
— THe New York Times Sunday Book Review
Kirkus Reviews
A brief tour of the solar system, with liberal dollops of scientific history. Sobel's previous books (Galileo's Daughter, 1999, etc.) have tended to focus on a key person associated with an important discovery. Here, each planet provides the anchor for a chapter on astronomy and planet history. Sobel opens by discussing her youthful participation in science fairs as a kid (she built a model solar system) and her visits to planetariums before turning focus on the solar family-beginning with an account of the origin of the sun. She then works outward, planet by planet. Airless Mercury is so close to the sun that its motion could be explained only by Einstein's theories. Venus's thick atmosphere is full of acidic greenhouse gases that raise its temperature to the melting point of lead. The section on Earth includes a history of geography, from Ptolemy through Columbus and Magellan to the seeming certainty of GPS systems, while the section on the Moon covers topics including Moon rocks, which "set a new standard for dryness," and the effect of lunar gravity on ocean tides. The portion on Mars is narrated from the point of view of a Martian meteorite found in Antarctica ("Of the twenty-eight Martian meteorites definitively identified to date, I am by far the most ancient," it explains.) Sobel continues with coverage on gigantic Jupiter, ringed Saturn, the team of Uranus and Neptune and finally distant Pluto, perhaps about to be demoted from full planetary status to membership in a group of comet-like objects. Along the way, Sobel offers amusing observations on astrology. Thoroughly readable: not a dry recitation of facts-though the facts are there-but a lively exploration of the historical andcultural meaning of the planets.
From the Publisher
Playful . . . lyrical . . . a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we’re being educated as we’re being entertained.” —Newsweek
“[Sobel] has outdone her extraordinary talent for keeping readers enthralled. . . . Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter were exciting enough, but The Planets has a charm of its own . . . . A splendid and enticing book.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“A sublime journey. [Sobel’s] writing . . . is as bright as the sun and its thinking as star-studded as the cosmos.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“An incantatory serenade to the Solar System. Grade A-” —Entertainment Weekly
“Like Sobel’s [Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter] . . . [The Planets] combines masterful storytelling with clear, engaging explanations of the essential scientific facts.” —Physics World
