Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2017 -

"Peering deep and long into the darkness is what astronomers do," says Tucker, a professional astronomer, a science journalist, and the science spokesperson for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-Ray Center. Few instruments have peered as deep into darkness as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched in 1999. This is a beautiful book about some of the most amazing discoveries made by one of NASA's flagship observatories. It is richly illustrated with images and diagrams that are well-explained in simple terms and written in Tucker's easy-to-follow, conversational style. The book's main theme is that access to the X-ray region has given astronomers key information on a host of "hot" topics in astronomy, ranging from white dwarf stars and supernovas to the monster black holes at the heart of most or all galaxies like our own. Chandra observations have also provided key clues to current astronomical puzzles, such as dark matter and dark energy. This book introduces readers to all these topics and more. It is also a good general introduction to astronomy, albeit presented in a nontraditional yet very engaging, order.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

How do astronomers know about galaxies that are millions of light-years away, even if they only appear as fuzzy spots in the sky? This book has the answer. The publisher's description as "a short stopover, a moment of self-reflection of the past century of achievements" in extragalactic research is an understatement. This is a remarkably detailed, 800-page compendium of information currently known about galaxies, told in an unusual question and answer interview format by dozens of experts in the field. This approach offers the kind of experience that can typically only be found in a professional meeting. Beginning with the initial discovery of the Milky Way galaxy, readers are led through the Local Group galaxies, all the way to the edge of the observable universe. Along the way, the observational data, technologies used, and theoretical models are put into their historical context. This 800-page book is well referenced and makes excellent use of diagrams and images, many of which appear in color. It is an essential reference for any individual with a technical interest in galaxies.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals.

This splendidly illustrated and oversized compendium features 179 images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The pictures were taken by MRO's HiRISE, deemed "the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet." McEwen (Univ. of Arizona) and Hansen-Koharcheck, a planetary scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, are investigators on the HiRISE science team; Espinoza (Univ. of Arizona) is an outreach specialist. The book should be displayed in science libraries and geology and planetary science departments, where students who browse it may be inspired to become scientists, aerospace engineers, or even astronauts. Every picture puzzles and delights; explanations offered for bizarre topography photographed from above are sure in some cases but hesitant or hopeful in others. Fascinating scenes include sand dune landscapes that remind the authors of the giant sandworms imagined in Frank Herbert's classic novel Dune. Some images evoke abstract art--at least to the geologically uninitiated. Pits in Mars's southern polar ice cap are shaped like kidney beans. A terrain resembling "caterpillars crawling over the bedrock ... " is likely produced by windblown drifts. In one region, lines of conical structures are surrounded by rings with raised rims. At another place, odd mounds may have risen as mud volcanoes. Overall, this book is strongly recommended.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals.

The eminent astronomer Jones (emer., Univ. of Groningen, Netherlands) has successfully produced a book that enables physics students to advance their knowledge to the point where they can read and understand research papers in cosmology. A background in mechanics, electromagnetism, and special relativity is required. Given this, readers will learn the fundamentals of Newtonian cosmology, relativistic cosmology, and the subfields of dark energy, the early universe, inflation theory, and the supporting data. The book also contains a long section on the mathematical tools required to analyze the observational data supporting current understanding of the universe. For example, the book contains an excellent introduction to and discussion of the use of Bayes theorem for data analysis. This section alone justifies having the book on a library shelf. An adjacent section on the data processing used to extract the maps of the cosmic microwave background for the raw radiometric satellite data is extraordinary and will be valued by readers wishing to understand this important area of research. The references are thorough and excellently organized. This is strongly recommended for universities with active astrophysics and astronomy departments.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; researchers and faculty.

Is the United States at the end of the human spaceflight era? This question serves as the overarching framework of this interesting book, which provides a cultural and social history of the Space Shuttle Era (1981-2011). The "Heroic Era" of human spaceflight commenced in the 1960s and became part of the Cold War; during this time, NASA received large amounts of federal funding. The Shuttle Era began with the utilization of less expensive and more routine human spaceflight, with the shuttle serving as a "space truck." After the 1986 Challenger explosion, the purpose of the shuttle was transformed into a science laboratory vehicle and the builder of a space station. Neal, who chairs the space history department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, critically recounts the endless cycle of strategic planning at NASA (sometimes by different groups, at the same time) and how this flawed approach never seemed to reach a new vision for moving forward. In 2017, indeed, there is no coherent plan for a future human space program in the United States. This book is one of the best this reviewer has read on the state of space policy and the future of NASA--it is highly recommended.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

As the time scales for most astronomical events are much longer than that of human life, research in astronomy has relied on large surveys to illuminate the nature of stars and galaxies. For example, surveys have enabled researchers to determine that young massive stars tend to be hot and blue, whereas stars of low mass are cool and red. Nearby galaxies might be elliptical or spiral in shape, while distant objects are obviously evolving with time. In each case, discovering these facts has enabled a deeper understanding of the physical conditions prevailing in these objects. This work is a masterful summary of the history of surveys at all wavelengths in astronomy, detailing the major advances supported by modern technology. Emphasis is placed on the nature of the surveys and what contribution each has made to the advancement of science. Catalogs of gravitationally lensed objects have helped in the mapping of the distribution of the enigmatic dark matter. Catalogs of nearby stars, showing slight, short-lived dimming, have led to the detection of extrasolar planets. The book, intended for the lay reader, is extremely well written and highly recommended.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

In this work, best-selling science writer Sobel examines the personal and scientific history of the underpaid women of the mid-19th century at the Harvard Observatory who uncovered the nature of stars and their distances. The director of the observatory, Edward Pickering, embarked on the task of photographing the entire sky on glass plates. For this project, Pickering hired women, who were known as "computers." These women not only measured the glass photographic plates, but also interpreted them. They were hired at lower wages but were often more skillful than their male coworkers. Since observatory directors always struggled for funds, Harvard found many talented women eager to work in an era of little opportunity. Several of these women, including Williamina Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne, eventually received worldwide recognition for their research. Using diaries and letters, Sobel knits together the stories of these remarkable women, while deftly describing the revealed science. The half a million glass plates that remain from Pickering's original project idea are a record of the sky from 1885 to 1992, and are still utilized. Excellent additions to the book include a section of images, a catalog of names, a bibliography, remarks, and an index.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

The editors of this volume boldly announce that this collection of essays by an international group of philosophers and physicists "marks a beginning" of "a body of philosophical literature engaged with contemporary cosmology...." Currently, cosmology is at the pinnacle of innovation; its rapid development requires engagement from physicists and philosophers of physics on foundational issues. What is speculative or meta-cosmology today, soon becomes the cosmology of tomorrow as theory struggles to keep up with discovery. Thus, the book begins with a section entitled "Issues in the Philosophy of Cosmology" and proceeds to delve further into more specialized topics in cosmological structures, gravity, quantum foundations, and "methodological and philosophical issues." It should be noted that the quality of the volume's essays varies, as well as the level of technical difficulty; some chapters are remarkably lucid while others are comprehensible only to specialists. The closest comparison to this well-produced volume is Universe or Multiverse? (CH, Jan'08, 45-2586), edited by Bernard Carr.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals.