Book Description
"FASCINATING . . . MEMORABLE . . . REVEALING . . . PERHAPS THE BEST OF CARL SAGAN'S BOOKS."
--The Washington Post Book World (front page review)
In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time.
Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier--space. In Pale Blue Dot Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race.
"TAKES READERS FAR BEYOND Cosmos . . . Sagan sees humanity's future in the stars."
--Chicago Tribune
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Rating the physical book, not the content.......2007-07-23
First, I must say that I am enjoying the book very much. I love reading Professor Sagan's books very much. So this rating applies more to the decision of the publisher than the book itself.
I have never written a review on Amazon before, and I have been coming here for years. I had to say something about this. After I finish this, I plan on emailing the publisher with the same review.
Wow. A book named Pale Blue Dot, inspired by the famous photograph of the Earth of the same name. It is referenced in the first few chapters heavily and Prof. Sagan asks us to visit and revisit the photo several times as he builds his introduction. I think to myself "Great! Can't wait to see it. Now where is it?" This then led to the disappointing finding that there are no pictures at all in this printing. None, not one, not even just the one of the Pale Blue Dot image itself. How can you publish a book inspired by a photo and not include the picture itself, not even a low res poorly printed picture? All you get is a few instructions to look at it, but you won't be able to look at it in here. Apparently, the hardback and first soft-back printing had photos. I guess I can understand (not like, mind you) why the decision was made to eliminate photos, but to get rid of the Pale Blue Dot photo is mind boggling. Surely this decision couldn't have been made on purpose. Surely, this was just an oversight. If this was a conscious decision, then it speaks volumes about how Ballantine views this work and it makes you wonder if they have any idea why it was written in the first place.
Anyway thanks for listening.
Pale Blue Dot.......2007-01-04
This was very interesting reading. Carl has a wonderful way of relating science, technology and his vision in very understandable language.
Perspective from Pluto.......2006-08-19
As I write this review, scientists around the world are in one more tizzy about whether Pluto is a planet, and exactly what a planet is.
They are missing the boat, or spaceship as it were. Pick up a copy of Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot," and it becomes clearer. Just take the much longer view, courtesy of Sagan's vivid and creative mind.
No matter how many times I read it, the look back at our solar system by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1990 stimulates my imagination in a huge way. After passing the orbit of Pluto and visiting Neptune and its spectacular moon Triton,the Voyager 1's camera turned back and took a family portrait of the solar system....caught in a mosaic of 60 pictures, saved on the ship's tape recorder and then slowly, over a period of three months, sent back to big radio telescopes on Earth.
The camera caught not only Earth (the pale blue dot), but also Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Pluo and Mars were too small and Mercury was lost in the glare of the Sun.
Just think, a look back at all of us, from a place I dream of being ---out past the orbit of Neptune/Pluto, but will never get to. It boggles the mind to even estimate how long it will take to get any human to that distant vantage point. But here it is ....a wonderful book which covers this, and so many other space marvels. Buy it and keep it close to your bed for months and months of inspiration.
Earl
Let's take the first steps .......2006-04-13
This book really focuses on something I believe is of uttermost importance for human kind: our long-term survival as a species and the essential role of space exploration. Many ideas and facts presented in Pale Blue Dot have already been expressed elsewhere, not least in science-fiction, but here they are collected and presented to us in a formidable way, with the focus on the potentially new era awaiting us where we would finally quit our Earth cocoon and start expanding through the Universe. As a scientist, I believe that this is a realistic view even if it definitely won't happen in our lifetimes. Sagan gives very convicing arguments why it is necessary to take the first steps in this direction: now, without delay!
A great sequel to Cosmos.......2005-03-09
The title of this book refers to Earth- all that our planet is in the big scheme of things is a Pale Blue Dot, as photographed by the Voyager spacecraft, departing our solar system. It's very humbling. Sagan went before his time, and didn't even get to see the landing of Mars Pathfinder in 1997, but that mission was renamed "The Sagan Memorial Mars Station." Whereas Cosmos talked about the past and future of space travel, this book talks about the future. It's written 20 years after "Cosmos" so builds upon what that book says. It used many charts and interesting pictures and graphs. This is better than "Cosmos" in my opinion, and is my favorite book ever.
Average customer rating:
- Fresh Perspectives on a Fragile Planet
- An excellent choice for anyone of any age
- Only Being in Orbit Could Give You a Better View!!!!
- A new perspective
- best book on earth
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The Home Planet
Kevin W. Kelley
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The Universe Story : From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era--A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos
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ASIN: 0201550954 |
Customer Reviews:
Fresh Perspectives on a Fragile Planet.......2006-01-28
Let's not forget we're living on a little planet, what some like to call spaceship earth. If earth is a spaceship, this is the owner's manual: THE HOME PLANET. Political boundaries are dissolved by a moon's-eye view of Earth to create bold visions of the planet through 150 color photographs culled from the American and then-Soviet archives. Commentary is provided solely by eloquent quotes from astronauts of 18 nations which are shown both in original language (be it Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hindi, Mongolian, French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Dutch, or Russian) and English translation. The message is simple--we are all citizens of the same global nation.
An excellent choice for anyone of any age.......2002-03-07
This superb coffee table book by Kevin W. Kelley is especially apt in this day and age, when so much in life feels precarious and precious. A simple and simply eloquent collection of photographs and quotations, it is so much more than the sum of its parts.
The astronauts who have either landed on the moon or have orbited the earth have so much to tell us and it's easy to see from the photographs why they feel words fail them. Luckily for us, words DON'T fail them. This select, small group of men and woman try mightily to tell us what their experiences were, and overwhelmingly they succeed in conveying the mystery and beauty they saw from their unique perches in space. A few of the better bits include:
"[From space] you have an almost dispassionate platform--remote, Olympian--and yet [seeing the earth from up there is] so moving that you can hardly believe how emotionally attached you are to those rough patterns shifting steadily below."
- THOMAS STAFFORD, USA
"O. Henry, the American writer, wrote in one of his stories that if you want to encourage the craft of murder, all you have to do is lock up two men for two months in an eighteen-by-twenty-four-foot room. Entering 'Salyut,' which was to be both our home and our office for six months, we told each other: We are brothers. I am you and you are me."
- VALERIE RYUMIN, USSR
"Before I flew, I was already aware of how small and vulnerable our planet is; but only when I saw it from space, in all its ineffable beauty and fragility, did I realize that humankind's most urgent task is to cherish and preserve it for future generations."
- SIGMUND JAHN, GERMANY
In no book that I can think of does the phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words" better fit. The photographs herein are astonishing in showing the exquisite planet we occupy. A view of England's North Sea coast looks like a slab of lapiz lazuli, its surface flecked with sparkle and hue. Canada's Lake Winnipeg from space has the appearance of something primal, almost fetal. The Indian Ocean off Madagascar looks like a sheet of slate over which some divine presence has tossed a handful of diamonds. So few of us can ever hope to share the experience of these men and women that this book is all the more precious, and beautiful.
Only Being in Orbit Could Give You a Better View!!!!.......2001-03-28
This coffee table book presents some of the best photographs taken of the Earth and the Moon by both astronauts and cosmonauts. Due to the large size of the book, these photographs are even more stunning. In addition to the photographs, several quotes by those who have flown in space accompany each photograph.
One of things that I really liked about the book is that other than the small quotes, there is very little accompany text. The only real text is at the end of the book, where NASA's chief photographic planner describes "Why Space Photography?" I found thispart kind of chilling where he states, "it is a far more air-polluted Earth today than it was in the past ... twenty years ago"
A new perspective.......1999-03-09
A wonderfully moving and beautifully compiled collection of images. Mountain ranges and river deltas dissolve into abstract designs of astounding beauty. The accompanying commentaries show a world united in space in a way that is sadly absent on Earth. The book would make anybody want to become an astronaut.
This is the perfect present for any occasion. It has touched the hearts of everyone I know who has ever seen it. Highly recommended.
best book on earth.......1999-02-21
Political boundaries are dissolved by a moon's-eye view of Earth to create bold visions of the planet through 150 color photographs culled from the American and then-Soviet archives. The pictures are allowed to speak for themselves, with only tiny captions describing locales and weather conditions. Commentary is provided solely by eloquent quotes from astronauts of 18 nations which are shown both in original language (be it Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hindi, Mongolian, French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Dutch, or Russian) and English translation. The message is simple--we are all citizens of the same global nation.
Conceived and edited for the Association of Space Explorers, no earthling will be unmoved by the views, both photographic and verbal, regarding our home. From desert to arctic, ocean to breadbasket, this book will delight anyone who's ever looked outside an airplane window to marvel at the forms below.
Book Description
Blast off with Douglas Florian's new high-flying compendium, which features twenty whimsical poems about space.
From the moon to the stars, from the Earth to Mars, here is an exuberant celebration of our celestial surroundings that's certain to become a universal favorite among aspiring astronomers everywhere.
Includes die-cut pages and a glossary of space terms.
Customer Reviews:
A "Universal" treat!.......2007-05-05
I think Douglas Florian's new book, 'comets, stars, the moon and mars' is his most expressive yet.
Beginning with the poem "skywatch," two children look at the sky. The next poem is "the universe."
Die cut "planet" holes move the reader deeper and further through space. From "mercury" to "venus" to "the earth" to "the moon" the poems continue in order according to their distance from the Sun. Comets, black holes and the mystery of what lies beyond are also addressed. Florian's ability to weave facts and fun are on full display here.
The bright color palette echoes the amazing views from the Hubble space telescope. This generation of kids has grown up looking at Seymour Simon's books about the solar system and the Universe. They have seen the colors that are out there.
Check out the Harcourt page about the book and download Florian's Poetry Kit. The "Practical Poetry Pointers" are some of the most best tips for writing poetry with kids that I have ever seen.
You have Gotta-Have-It.
Book Description
Get ready to blast off with Captain Bug Rogers on an intergalactic pop-up adventure.
Customer Reviews:
Love it!.......2006-11-10
my kids (boy 4 1/2 & girl 16 month) loves the David A. Carter books. the Bugs in Space book is very cute.
Cool and cute too.......2003-11-01
This book is really cute, in a weird and silly way. My son got it when he was five, and it was his favorite book for a long time. The space bug pictures and goofy plot were funny enough that I didn't mind reading it to him over and over and over and over and .....
Daughter loves this book........2001-06-05
This book is full of silly plays on words, like "Capt. Bug Rogers" and "The Bug in the Moon." Although my 4-year-old daughter doesn't get the references, she still asks me to read it again and again. Every page has a pop-up, a movable piece, or flap to open. She broke two of them, which I was able to glue back together, good as new. Personally I thought it was kind of hokey, but I rated it 5 stars because it certainly seems to reach its audience.
Excellent Children's Book!.......2000-10-07
This is the first "Bug Book" by David Carter I have bought. It has wonderful illustrations and pop-ups. I thought it was a little young for my four-month old son when I bought it. However, I thought it was too cute to pass up. As it turns out the colors are so vivid and eye-catching and the pop-ups so entertaining, that he actually laughs when I read it to him. I highly recommend it for children of any age. I plan on buying many more of the "Bug Books".
Bugs in Space.......2000-01-09
Our five year-old son received this book as a gift and it was a delightful surprise! We laughed out loud through the whole book. It was very fun to read. Lots of interactive fun! This was our first book by David Carter but I would buy another. Very young children would like it too but I would be afraid of it holding up without getting ripped - not that it is too flimsy but that young hands would want to grab it.
Average customer rating:
- good pics
- Beautiful Book
- Breathtaking photos of our Solar System
- Look At the Stars & What Do You See?
- Gorgeous!!! Nothing Comparable.
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Beyond: Visions Of The Interplanetary Probes
Michael Benson
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0810945312 |
Book Description
"These images are a spectacular reaffirmation that we are privileged to live in the greatest age of exploration the world has ever known."-From Arthur C. Clarke's foreword
Since the 1960s the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been sending unmanned satellites to explore the planets, moons, and sun. These probes have amassed a stunning visual record of other worlds, revealing not one but scores of new frontiers, from rust-red Mars to the ethereal rings of Saturn.
Author Michael Benson has spent years compiling and digitally processing the best of these images. In Beyond this "deskbound cosmic pilgrim" (Atlantic Monthly) has pulled together the most spectacular of them into one volume that presents these photographs for the first time as art. The resulting book consists of two parts: the first is a spectacular visual tour of the solar system, with views every bit as compelling as the work of the great landscape photographers on earth; the second is a series of beautifully written essays that explain the story behind these photographs: the history of the probes' journeys, how they work, and why they were built. This book shows us how modern science has revealed the astonishing beauty and mystery of the solar system and its awe-inspiring worlds far beyond any places human beings have ever directly observed.
Customer Reviews:
good pics.......2007-10-02
this has a lot of good pictures in it. It is well worth the purchase if you are looking for a reasonable compilation of planetary images. The one problem is that is does not have any of the Cassini-Huygens images of Saturn. This is extremely unfortunate because the book would have benefited greatly by these images. Other than then that it is mostly pictures without a lot of explanation. So if you have a decent knowledge of the planets or you are in the mood to do some internet research on the things that you see, it is a great book.
Beautiful Book.......2007-05-09
beautiful coffee table book. not the sort of thing you sit and read, but great to have out when guests come over. fantastic images.
Breathtaking photos of our Solar System.......2007-01-05
I am floored every time I open this book of pictures of our Solar System. The images are so amazing and clear. I sometimes wonder that these are actually our neighboring planets.
The main planets themselves are mind-blowing in and of themselves. Io is perhaps the single most jaw dropping moon - a planet in its own right - and evokes so much imagination. Gallisto is also a fascinating moon with its craters coming to life.
Only two regrets with this book. First, the pictures of the moon were not satisfying at all. They didn't portray the moon in any way that is as beautiful as the rest of the solar system. Instead the pictures focus on close up pictures of its surface, which is interesting as well, yet I would have still liked to see whole far off pictures of the moon. And lastly, one of Saturn's moons is mentioned in passing - Titan - as perhaps the most interesting and fascinating of the solar system, and yet it isn't included. Why? Because they didn't want to detract from Saturn and its rings! Including Titan, if it is as fascinating as they are saying, would only add more to Saturn.
Both are trivial and it doesn't in any way change my view of this fantastic collection of pictures of our Solar System. This is a must for all households. A definite recommend.
5 stars.
Look At the Stars & What Do You See?.......2005-10-28
Have you looked up into the night sky or early morning to see the plethora of stars in their stark beauty. On a clear day, it is a spectacular sight, as on this morning's. Mars is getting closer to the Earth, but that is not the sight you will get if you go out and observe the solar system in all its glory.
Near the outer reaches, the second largest planet hovers like a shimmering star with its rings; Saturn is 250,000 miles wide and formed of minute to boulder-size particles held in the gravitational grip of a rapidly spinning central sphere. Jupiter, the largest, has two moons as discovred by the Galileo probe in its fourteen year mission.
Galileo Galilei made telescopic discoveries of the universe; Johannes Kepler used meticulous mathematical charting of the planets; and NASA's 'Spunik' and 'Ranger' spaceflights of the past four decades shows the beauty of the spheres as they appear "suspended in space like weightless jewels." Venus is out nearest and Mars the other next-door neighbor. The 'Mariner 9' probe showed the vastness of the "grandest canyon in the entire solar system and as wide as the continental United States." Venus is the brightest planet we can see from Earth.
Mercury speed around the Sun every 88 days faster than any other planet. It is forty percent larger and far denser than our Moon. It has an overall magnetic field and an iron core, like Earth. Jupiter and Neptune have also been closely obsrved by NASA's 'Voyager 2.' Jupiter is the largest planet with fourteen moons; no, make that sixty-one, according to the 'Voyager 1' probe.
Once upon a time, some years ago, I gave a tour of the Solar System to a literary group. Being a new member, I had stuck with travel books until I got a firm footing and learned what the others were reviewing. So, I began, "Today I will take you on a tour, but not like one you've ever been on before -- we will soar out into the sky and view the Universe as man knows it today." Much has been discovered since then, as the photographs Michael Benson uses in this book show in detail. He confesses that he retrieved most from NASA's Planetary Photojournal web site. They are "out-of-this-world" in every aspect.
Gorgeous!!! Nothing Comparable........2005-07-11
This book is really a space buff's wet dream. I mean, there is not a single book on the market, anywhere, that has such gorgeous, exquisite and detailed pictures of the planets and moons of our solar system as this book has (made by Voyager, Galileo, Maggelan and the like). You just won't believe your eyes. And the essays of Benson (and those of Arthur C. Clarke and Lawrence Weschler) are also splendid, one by one. Convince yourself and surf to the website of Kinetikon Pictures to behold some of the photographs offered in this book and to read some of the essays (and even more). Robotic planetary photography made into (abstract expressionist and impressioinst) art, that is what Beyond is all about. Buy this hefty beast of a book before it is sold out.
Amazon.com
Hooray for Captain Underpants! Everybody's favorite waistband warrior is back, ready to fight for Truth, Justice, and all that is Pre-Shrunk and Cottony. If you've read Dav Pilkey's first two comic epics, The Adventures of Captain Underpants and Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets, you already know the brave Captain is really just crabby old Principal Krupp, hypnotized into becoming the world's greatest superhero every time someone snaps their fingers. And of course you know the trouble-making hypnotists are none other than Jerome Horwitz Elementary School's two most notorious tricksters, George and Harold ("We rule!" "Me, too!").
Well, George and Harold--surprise, surprise--are at it again. The cranky lunch ladies quit after George and Harold fool them into baking super-volcanic krispy kupcakes that flood the school with gigantic green globs o' goo. Mr. Krupp finds replacements and fast, but he unwittingly hires the tentacled alien trio of Zorx, Klax, and Jennifer in disguise! Will they turn everyone in school into evil zombie nerds? Can George and Harold save the world before it's too late? All seems lost until the diabolical Zorx snaps his... um, tentacles in front of Mr. Krupp, and the power of wedgies comes to the rescue once again.
Captain Underpants's third outing is better than ever, with patented Flip-o-Rama animation and wacky bonus comics like "Captain Underpants--Wedgie Wars" and "Captain Underpants and the Night of the Living Lunch Ladies." (Ages 8 to 12) --Paul Hughes
Customer Reviews:
Super FUNNY!.......2007-03-15
My girls both loved it! It is good to get books that they enjoy and get credit for at school for reading! Thanks!
Parent's Choice; good starter for chapter books........2007-01-24
My 6 year old loves Captain Underpants. He loves to read and we wanted to keep him challenged with chapter books without overwhelming him. After trying chapter books on his favorite movies to minimal enthusiasm, we found the Cap.U series. When he reads one he can hardly put it down. Sometimes he doesn'tput one down until he's finished it. But its true the flip o rama does require assistance not to rip the pages. Still...buy the series. By the way...epic novel # 8 is a two parter. We made the mistake of buying only one.
You have to read this book!.......2005-12-16
Well ths book was boring at first but little on in the book it had action.And i coud not put it down because of the action.Harold & George are funny but get into trouble.I read it like 100 times.If you ever read this book you will say the same thing.If you want to know more you have to read it yourself.
THE BEST BOOK YOU EVER READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2005-11-18
its just plain funny.i think its the best book ever.its really funny espeicaly when the aliens blow up their own ship.
It doesn't get much sillier than this,.......2005-10-22
Using his books as evidence, Dav Pilkey must be a very weird guy. This book is extremely silly. Last year my third-grade son hated Captain Underpants, this year he can't get enough of it. If you like gross-out jokes, toilet humor, ridiculous aliens, and making fun of elementary school, you'll love this. Is reading about the school secretary being turned into a zombie good for my child? I'm not sure, but at least he is reading, which is nothing to sneeze at.
Book Description
Discover the incredible secrets of the Universe, from its furthest galaxies to our own solar system. With over 50 million copies sold in 88 countries and in 36 languages, Eyewitness Books are truly the ultimate visual information encyclopedias for the 21st Century. Carrying on the tradition of integrating words and pictures, these three new titles in the Eyewitness series are timely editions to any library.
Book Description
A revelatory look at the U.S. Government's plan to put weapons in outer space, by two bestselling experts.
"During the early portion of the twenty-first century, space power will also evolve into a separate and equal medium of warfare….The emerging synergy of space superiority with land, sea, and air superiority will lead to Full Spectrum Dominance."—from "U.S. Space Command Vision for 2020"
When most of us think about the potential of outer space for future generations, we think of world communications, satellite navigation, and scientific exploration. U.S. Space Command, however, thinks about weapons. Believing that conflict in space and wars fought from space are inevitable, the president has called on the agency to weaponize outer space and thus provoke an arms race that could cost the United States trillions of dollars and could lead to the demise of the human race.
In War in Heaven, a Nobel Prize-nominated peace activist and a former U.S. foreign service officer (who helped write the Outer Space Treaty of 1967) look at the history of military uses of space and the current plans for "militarizing the heavens," including kinetic, laser, nuclear bombardment, and anti-satellite weapons. Contrary to the claims of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that the United States faces a "space Pearl Harbor," Caldicott and Eisendrath show that the United States itself is today the principal obstruction to passage of an international treaty banning weapons from outer space.
At a time when plans to build and deploy space weapons are on the administration's agenda but only just becoming known to the general public, this book will help launch a national discussion of a critical issue.
Customer Reviews:
A Well Done anti-Bush Polemical.......2007-04-05
This book is a history of the military uses of space, the treaties that exist about space, and the development of space oriented weapons. It is also a plea that we not militarize space. It is well written, well intended, well thought out but I'm afraid pointless.
Mankind has militarized everything. First the land, then the sea, then the air, next orbiting space based weapons systems and then the moon. And I have to say that I'm not so sure just where I personally stand on this.
One of the points made by the authors is that more money should be spent on foreign economic aid and situations like the aftermath of Katrina. This is going to be a hard sell. Most people believe that money given to foreign aid winds up in the hands of the local politicians and is not really helpful to the intended people. Money to the Katrina victums is one thing. Rebuilding New Orleans is an entirely different matter. It's a stupid place to build a city, the French knew it when the laid it out, which is why the French quarter remained dry. With rising sea waters from Global Warming, a rebuilt New Orleans is another disaster waiting to happen.
This book presents the side of the anti-weapon, anti-Bush (Eisendrath has also written: Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives Are Putting the World at Risk) people. I think they have a hard sell before them
Amazon.com
Humans are not native to the Earth. So posits astronautical engineer Bob Zubrin in the opening of Entering Space. We're native to just a small sliver of it, the spot where our species originated in tropical Kenya. We set out from that paradise about 50,000 years ago, north into "the teeth of the Ice Age," and all the ground we've gained since then has been thanks to our tenacity and our tools.
Zubrin reasons that it's time we cover a little more ground. Written with a boyish enthusiasm and formidable techie know-how, Entering Space urges us to realize "the feasibility, the necessity, and the promise" of becoming a space-faring civilization, of colonizing our own solar system and beyond. And Zubrin, author of the influential and widely acclaimed The Case for Mars, knows his stuff--NASA adapted his plans for near-term human exploration of Mars, and Carl Sagan gave the author no less credit: "Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue." Entering Space plots the second and third phases of humanity's course--now that we've mastered our own planet, Zubrin says we must first look to settling our solar system (beginning with Mars) and then to the galaxy beyond.
With its practicable visions of using "iceteroids" to terraform Mars and harnessing the power of the outlying gas giants ("the solar system's Persian Gulf"), Entering Space succeeds at making the fantastic seem attainable, the stuff of science fiction, science fact. --Paul Hughes
Book Description
The man celebrated as "the Christopher Columbus of Mars" brings us to the very brink of human exploration.
Using nuts-and-bolts engineering and a unique grasp of human history, Robert Zubrin takes us to the not-very-distant future, when our global society will branch out into the universe. From the current-day prospect of lunar bases and Mars settlements to the outer reaches of other galaxies, Zubrin delivers the most important and forward-looking work on space and the true possibilities of human exploration since Carl Sagan's Cosmos.
Sagan himself said of Zubrin's humans-to-Mars plan, "Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue." With Entering Space, he takes us further, into the prospect of human expansion to the outer planets of our own solar system--and beyond.
"An exhilarating and informative ride." --The San Diego Union-Tribune
"Robert Zubrin is a true engineering genius like the heroic engineers of the past." --Frederick Turner, American Enterprise
Amazon.com
When NASA sent the crew of Apollo 12 to the moon, they may not have realized that they were giving an artist the vision that would carry him through a lifetime of painting. The artist, of course, was astronaut Alan Bean, whose trip to the moon with pals Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon sunk so deeply into his brain that he's been trying to get it down on canvas ever since. He even mixes moon dust and bits of charred Apollo 12 heat shield into his paints to capture a bit of the Ocean of Storms in each image. The astronauts Bean paints are brave, exuberant, and all-American, right down to the reflections of Old Glory in their mirrored visors. His moon is surprisingly colorful and dreamlike, a magical place for jumping higher than you ever did before, racing around in the lunar rover, and swatting golf balls into orbit. Apollo: An Eyewitness Account, coauthored with space expert Andrew Chaikin, is filled with Bean's riveting stories and paintings, recording a long, successful career as an explorer-artist. He recreates the drama and brash enthusiasm of the Apollo program in bold strokes. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Lunar missions chronicled in paintings by Apollo 12 astronaut Captain Alan Bean.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful book in every way.......2007-10-05
When you get Alan Bean, astronaut and amazing artist, with Andrew Chaikin, a tremendous writer, you have the recipe for one magnificent book. The artwork, of course, is the main ingredient and it never disappoints. Alan Bean has a unique talent and tells the tale of going to the Moon in his drawings. Even without the accompanying words, it is easy to lose oneself in the moment. I think there is a certain 'realness' that the photos dont have and I do not know how to adequately explain why.
At any rate, this is a wonderful book and any space fan should not hesitate to pick it up.
An artist from the Moon.......2007-05-07
There are sometimes laments that we will never get a proper description of what it's really like to be in space until we send a poet. However, though NASA may not have sent a poet, it did send a painter. Al Bean had dabbled in the arts before and during his tenure as an astronaut, but when he retired he focused on becoming a painter and particularly on creating paintings that showed what it was really like to walk around on the surface of the Moon. This book contains many of those paintings.
The text, meanwhile, is yet another memoir by an Apollo astronaut, and if anything is rather on the terse side, with only brief bits leading up to the more extensive Apollo portion, and only a brief conclusion. It's interesting but doesn't stand out amongst the many other astronaut memoirs, except for the accompanying illustrations. Each chapter concludes with a dozen or so pages reproducing Bean's paintings, with Bean explaining the scene he was depicting and what he wanted to show. This makes this book a unique record of one man's trip to the Moon, and, I suppose, won't be matched until we actually do send a poet.
Exquisite Paintings from the Moon.......2006-06-02
First, let me say that Alan Bean is one of the most articulate of the Apollo Astronauts who walked on the Moon. In addition to listening to the painter himself about his collective series of truly unique "Paintings from the Moon", you owe it to yourself to purchase a copy of the DVD, "For All Mankind". That DVD is reviewed elsewhere on this site, but it and this particular book full of Mr. Bean's paintings will likely become the most treasured additions to your collection of manned spaceflight memorabilia.
I also found the dramatic characterization of Alan Bean, and the exploits his Apollo 12 crewmates, depicted in Tom Hank's 1998 HBO miniseries "From the Earth To The Moon" to be one of the most entertaining espisodes of that facinating and truly outstanding TV production first telecast in 1998. This book was published in the same year and the two works complement each other very well, upstaging most of the other spaceflight documentaries which are somewhat lacking in humanistic content.
We are very fortunate to have had at least one Astronaut with additional interests other than just pure science and aerospace engineering, to share his extraordinary experiences while serving as a key member of the Apollo program.
The one and only thing missing from my copy of this book is Al Bean's personal autograph!
Reviewing Hero's.......2005-09-15
If you have a strong interest in Space travel, and always wanted to talk to the Astronauts that went to the moon to ask them how it felt or what they were thinking as they walked on a planet other then earth, this is the book that will bring you to a time that has never been repeated. A time when man walked on the moon.
Mr. Bean's use of his fantastic artwork to describe a part of his life when he was a member of the elite few, chosen by NASA, to become the first to walk on the moon, is the closest you will get to actually being there.
It is a book of Mr. Beans paintings but also a trip thru the minds of some of our first Astronauts. If how space travel began interests you at all, I strongly recommend obtaining this book. It's a must have to any collector of Space Memorabilia.
He's the best!.......2003-03-17
If you want to experience the moon through the eyes of an artist and an astronaut this book is for you! It is inspiring and educational. Highly recommeded!
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