Vacation Guide to the Solar System: Science for the Savvy Space Traveler!

by Olivia Koski, Jana Grcevich

Overview

Packed with real science and fueled by imagination, a beautifully illustrated guide to traveling in our solar system

Imagine taking a hike along the windswept red plains of Mars to dig for signs of life, or touring one of Jupiter's sixty-four moons where you can photograph its swirling storms.  For a shorter trip on a tight budget, the Moon is quite majestic and very quiet if you can make it during the off-season.

Packed with full color illustrations and real-world science, Vacation Guide to the Solar System is the must-have planning guide for the curious space adventurer, covering all of the essentials for your next voyage, how to get there, and what to do when you arrive. Perfect for fans of Neil deGrasse Tyson's Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this tongue-in-cheek reference guide is an imaginative exploration into the “What if” of space travel, sharing fascinating facts about space, the planets in our solar system, and even some moons!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101993415
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	30 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Olivia Koski is Head of Operations at Guerilla Science. She was previously a senior producer at the Atavist Magazine, where she produced 30 interactive journalism stories, five of which were nominated for a National Magazine Award and one an Emmy. She has a masters in journalism from NYU, and her writing has appeared in Wired, Popular Mechanics, and Scientific American.

Jana Grcevich, PhD, has worked as an astronomer and science educator at the American Museum of Natural History and hosts shows at the Hayden Planetarium. She received her undergraduate degrees in astronomy, physics, and mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her doctorate in astronomy at Columbia University.  Her research interests include dwarf galaxies and interstellar gas, with a focus on radio observations and simulations of gas in dwarf galaxies.  She teaches astronomy to future high school Earth Science teachers as a part of the Master of Arts in Teaching program at AMNH.

Editorial Reviews

04/03/2017
With private space companies now offering brief trips to orbit the Earth and the moon, this colorful vacation guide provides a timely and non-technical look at what future space tourists should anticipate. Science exhibit designer Koski and science educator Grcevich open with a brief look at the preparation needed before undertaking space travel, especially since a voyage anywhere beyond the moon and the closest planets will require years, even decades. Many details here will be old news for space travel fans: shoes are unnecessary; Velcro and duct tape can fix nearly anything; and with lift costs around $10,000 per pound to escape Earth’s gravity, travelers must pack light and expect to wear their clothes as long as possible. Tourist excursions include visiting historic landing sites and the final resting places of old probes, or trying exotic sports such as terrasurfing on Venus, rock-climbing on Mars, skydiving through the colorful clouds of a gas giant, or skiing the pink snows of Pluto. Colorful poster art and graphics add appeal. This is an ideal introduction to the solar system for younger readers and casual space fans who crave an imaginative trip into the possibilities of real space tourism. Agent: Rachel Vogel, Waxman Leavell Literary. (June)

Publishers Weekly

An ideal introduction to the solar system for younger readers and casual space fans who crave an imaginative trip into the possibilities of real space tourism.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Vacation Guide to the Solar System offers would-be explorers a guidebook to what [space] voyages might be like in the future, adventures driven by dreams and supported with science. . . . By recasting these locales not just as places to look at but as destinations to visit, the new book invites readers to imagine what it might be like to be there and do things. . . . The new guidebook often reads not just as a travel guide to the solar system, but from the future.”
—Astronomy Magazine

“The Vacation Guide to the Solar System is from a future we wish were now . . . while Vacation Guide is anything but a hard science book, you'll probably end up smarter for having read it. . . . A fun, new way to look at our Solar System.”
—Ars Technica

“Forget Lake George—we’re dreaming of Saturn’s Lake Titan. . . . If entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Richard Branson have their way, humans will soon be taking their vacations in space. While we wait to get into space, Olivia Koski and Jana Grcevich, a science writer and astronomer, respectively, are giving us mere earthlings a taste of what space travel may look like.”
—Travel + Leisure

“If you want to plan a vacation that’s truly out of this world, look no further.”
—Parade

“What a fun book the Intergalactic Travel Bureau has brought us! . . . As thorough as any real-life travel guide . . . up-to-the-moment knowledge combines with wry wit and charming imagery.”
—New York Journal of Books

“This is a great source for information on our solar system, appropriate for kids and adults alike. Fans of astronomy, science, and science fiction should jump on this book. Anyone who likes entertaining nonfiction (Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars immediately springs to mind) will enjoy this.”
—The Irregular Reader 

From the Publisher

Kathleen McInerney narrates the authors’ hybrid—a fanciful travel guide to the solar system grounded in solid science. McInerney takes the wide-eyed, cheerful tone of a successful tour guide, patiently recounting basic facts about Earth’s moon and each planet—distance from Earth, gravitational force, and the like—and then delving into potential vacation activities, like writers’ retreats on Venus and hiking on Mars. The combination of clever writing and McInerney’s charming performance is educational and entertaining for listeners who don’t have strong scientific backgrounds and are interested in learning something about the cosmos. This is one of those ageless productions that will be a particularly great choice for family listening. A.F. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

JULY 2017 - AudioFile

Kathleen McInerney narrates the authors’ hybrid—a fanciful travel guide to the solar system grounded in solid science. McInerney takes the wide-eyed, cheerful tone of a successful tour guide, patiently recounting basic facts about Earth’s moon and each planet—distance from Earth, gravitational force, and the like—and then delving into potential vacation activities, like writers’ retreats on Venus and hiking on Mars. The combination of clever writing and McInerney’s charming performance is educational and entertaining for listeners who don’t have strong scientific backgrounds and are interested in learning something about the cosmos. This is one of those ageless productions that will be a particularly great choice for family listening. A.F. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

JULY 2017 - AudioFile