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Over the course of ten short chapters, highly respected space historian Launius ponders the impact of the Apollo missions. Though published to coincide with the half-century anniversary of the first lunar landing, this book, while praising the achievement, offers a balanced view of the Apollo missions' multilayered impact on US history. For example, Launius lucidly considers who challenged the program and why. Interestingly, opponents are found among both the conservative Right and the liberal Left, and the author patiently untangles these tensions. He also clarifies the major scientific breakthroughs lunar science has achieved, such as that which led to the first scientific conference on lunar origins, held in 1984. The knowledge shared is deeply interwoven with interesting anecdotes, and the author is careful to keep the prose crisp and manageable for a lay audience. The final chapter may surprise readers because it takes on "moon deniers" who, though small in numbers, have become quite strident in recent years. This very fine examination of the Apollo program also points to how a technological feat can be a reflection of American society's qualities and flaws, past and present.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Many of the astronomical milestones and many of the scientists in Dispatches from Planet 3 will be familiar from other books on the history of science. But what sets this book well apart from other recountings is the warm glow of humanity infusing each of its 32 chapters. One has to admire Bartusiak's keen judgment in choosing stories from astronomers' lives as well as her skill in retelling them so efficiently. The chapters are brief, but each one weaves lives, events, and science together effortlessly. Even better, the humanizing details supporting each account of a breakthrough are not ones that most readers will have encountered before. Dispatches introduces general readers to clearly elucidated astronomy, to be sure. But readers will gain something from nearly every chapter, either by meeting a less-famous scientist or by learning interesting new background on familiar figures and their discoveries. Structurally, Dispatches is organized by scale rather than historical time; its three sections expand outward from the solar system to stars, galaxies, and then cosmology. It's very difficult to offer a truly original tour through these well-covered grounds, but Bartusiak has done it masterfully.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

This volume fills a gap between books for lay readers and books for serious students of cosmology. An undergraduate student seeking a big picture understanding of cosmology and an easy introduction to the mathematics involved will find this book very useful. It is like a breath of fresh air among many other books on the topic, differentiating itself by taking on topics rarely covered in books for lay readers, such as the FRW metric, de Sitter spaces, the Lambda-CDM model, and other models used in cosmology. The appendix includes a discussion of many of these topics at a slightly higher mathematical level. There is some math interspersed throughout, making the book slightly more relevant for physics students. Each section concludes with a helpful summary in question-answer format. This is really useful in answering some questions and clarifying concepts that really do not get addressed properly in the running prose format. Various lucid, simple graphs illustrate concepts throughout the text. A particularly refreshing aspect is the authors' respect for the reader's intelligence: they clearly admit where scientists do still not know the answers and at best can speculate.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty.

British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane once remarked that, "The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." Powell (independent scholar) follows this theme as he discusses many common celestial events that are often omitted or glossed over in standard tests. Much of the text is devoted to naked eye events such as eclipses and the solar and lunar cycles, starting with the ancient Chinese and Egyptians, continuing with Stonehenge and native observations in the Americas, and even including the 1769 transit of Venus, which helped launch American science. Impact theory, telescopes, and human exploration of space are also among several topics covered. This is an excellent book for those interested in what is going on in the universe without delving into too much detail. Interestingly enough, Powell concludes by reiterating what Haldane said nearly a century before. Powell continues: "Yet, 96% of what's out there remains unseen, unheard, and beyond our comprehension." A fascinating resource for anyone interested in the skies above their heads.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries.