Posted on Saturday, January 23, 2016
Planetary Vistas: The Landscapes of Other Worlds by Paul Murdin
It's quite rare for a book about astronomy to dwell on landscapes of other planets and moons, although you might read about how Galileo was able to see mountains on the Moon and you can read about craters on different planets and volcanoes on Mars, the actual landscape is rarely the main topic, which makes this book quite unique.
I enjoyed how you get a different perspective on the planets and the moon by reading this book and looking at the pictures and focusing more on the details in the images because the authors points out things you might not notice otherwise. You might have seen dozens of panoramas of Mars taken by rovers, and some in this book might be familiar, but it's the descriptions that make the book - it goes more deeply into the making of the pictures and what's in it, how is it different etc.
It's a great book that is a pleasure to go through just as a bit of light reading in quite a short time, but you find out more about our Solar System while doing so.
The book does make you wish that all pictures of Martian landscapes or Apollo landing sites etc had detailed descriptions that would be more of a guided tour through a picture that might otherwise be rather dull, but with proper guidance you can see it better.
It's quite rare for a book about astronomy to dwell on landscapes of other planets and moons, although you might read about how Galileo was able to see mountains on the Moon and you can read about craters on different planets and volcanoes on Mars, the actual landscape is rarely the main topic, which makes this book quite unique.
I enjoyed how you get a different perspective on the planets and the moon by reading this book and looking at the pictures and focusing more on the details in the images because the authors points out things you might not notice otherwise. You might have seen dozens of panoramas of Mars taken by rovers, and some in this book might be familiar, but it's the descriptions that make the book - it goes more deeply into the making of the pictures and what's in it, how is it different etc.
It's a great book that is a pleasure to go through just as a bit of light reading in quite a short time, but you find out more about our Solar System while doing so.
The book does make you wish that all pictures of Martian landscapes or Apollo landing sites etc had detailed descriptions that would be more of a guided tour through a picture that might otherwise be rather dull, but with proper guidance you can see it better.