In this book, the authors present many of the classic photographs of the sun, planets, their moons, asteroids and comets taken during the space age by various space exploration vehicles. Accompanying each photograph is a detailed description of what was discovered and why is important. While many of the these photographs are well over thirty years old, they have been digitally enhanced, but still show the graininess associated with the early planetary space probes.

In general, I found most of the photographs contained in the both to be a good representation of the bodies found in our solar system; however, there are several missing photographs which could have made this book a lot better. For example, there are no photographs of Mercury's Caloris Basin, Neptune's moon Triton, or any of the major geological features of Mars. On the other hand, there seems to be an over abundance of pictures of Saturn and its moons which could have been left out if space was a problem.

If you are looking for a good book that summarizes the solar system in pictures, this book would good addition to your collection. If you are looking for new photographs or new information about solar system research you will not find it in this book.

I bought this book for 8 dollars, knowing exactly what I would get in it. Great pictures (even though some are a bit archaic, but that's okay because they're full color and full page photos of some of the most wonderful things man has ever seen) and additional background information covering the pictures. There really isn't much else to describe in the book. If you want to know about our Solar System and see some wonderful pictures, this is the book for you. It has a nice introduction as well, part of it telling a proposed (and very plausible) way of our Solar System forming. The only thing I did not like about this book is the fact that the authors kept repeatedly saying that Pluto is not a real planet. I wish they would've just left it to accepted ideals of the time and leave it be. But other than that, this book contains great imagery and information on our space backyard.

Excellent pictures and a good reference book to add to your collection.

One of the great mysteries of our time is to discover how It All Began. Ever since radio astronomy disproved the steady state theory of astronomer Fred Hoyle, cosmologists have pretty well agreed that this universe began in some incomprehensibly colossal explosion that astoundingly enough seems to have come out of nothing to produce the sights that we can see in the sky. As students of science read texts such as THE OMEGA POINT by John Gribbon, they often learn that these books differ more in style than substance. Essentially, this is the theory of the Big Bang (much abbreviated): There was no 'before' before the Big Bang. For reasons not understood, a point in time and space merged out of nothing to produce something. This something was an explosion that did not exist in space but created its own space as it inflated. In the first few billionths of a second, the necessary ingredients of matter were created. These ingredients coalesced into tiny bits of matter, then later into galaxies and clusters of galaxies. And all this happened 15 billion years ago. What Gribbon does is to explain all this in a reasonably straightforward way. His focuses on the ever so delicate balance that the universe teetertotters on between eternal expansion and eventual contraction. An analogy might be to consider lifting a mountain and positioning it on the pointy end of a sturdy needle so as to maintain equilibrium. Gribbin calls this the Omega Point. His core thesis is that during the first fraction of a second when time began, there was a tiny fraction of baryonic (anything that is solid) matter in excess of its anti-matter particle. As the universe inflated exponentially, this excess caused a lumpiness that later caused the growth of stars and galaxies. Gribbon believes that much of this baryonic matter is hidden from the eyes and ears of radio astronomers. In fact, he thinks that there is so much of this 'dark matter' that he is fairly sure that the gravitic attraction of the totality of this dark matter will stall the universal expansion and cause a Big Bang in reverse. Of course, by that time (zillions of years from now) neither we nor our descendants will be around to note the universe's passing.
The charm of this book lies in Gribbon's smooth and lucid style. Unfortunately again, despite his writing ability, the latest in cosmological advances indicate that he is quite wrong in his assertion that the universe will shrink into some impossibly tiny micro-dot. The latest thinking is that the amount of dark matter is not enough to slow down galactic expansion. Our future seems to be a dreary never-ending ride toward what Hemingway would term 'nada,' a big but empty cosmos that once contained at least one sentient species. Not a very appealing prospect to be sure, but somehow still preferable to knowing that the universe allows traffic in both directions.

First off, this book is a bit dated. Written in 1988, it is ancient by the standards of cosmology. There have been many advances in the field since its publication. But even so, I didn't think this book was very readable. The author seems to explain some things to death, and then other things he glosses over. The only reason I finished this book is because I already knew a lot of the stuff the author was writing about, so even if he didn't make it clear, I could stumble through and get to the main point.

I would recommend any avid reader of cosmology not to buy this book. Since I think there are lots of other better books on this topic. The first problem with the book is that it virtually wastes three chapters (chapters 2,3 and 4) with issues like how to measure distances to stars and galaxies, which any avid reader on cosmology is always conversant with. The author's coverage of the Big Bang Standard Model is quite good. It gives a reasonable idea about the two rival theories about the origin of the universe as well as concepts like neucleosynthesis of matter. The major blunder of this book is its coverage of the Inflation Theory, which I found to be very very superficial. The number of lines used to describe how the Inflation Theory explains the Horizon Problem and the Flatness problem, are less than the number of lines in the problem statements themselves. Any modern book that deals with the creation of the universe must emphasize a lot on the latest theory about it and the Inflation theory did not get its due in this book. The author gives a good idea about the significance of the dark matter in the universe and what it could constitute of. But once again his explanation of concepts like the CPT symmetry is very very superficial.

Though this book does cover Newton's life and lives up to its name - Newton in 90- minutes ( I finished the book in 60 minutes though) it does not provide the reader with more elaborate details about Newton's life. The style is pacey and holds you throughout. No doubt it is a well written book but throughout you will feel as if more information could have been provided. I dont know if there is a more detailed biography of Newton available or not, but I would prefer reading something more detailed about Newton. Most of the stuff in the book would be known to any reader of scince wih interest in the development of scintific thought. This is for someone who doesnt much about Newton and doesnt want to spare more than 90 minutes knowing about him.........

I am a high school student with no previous interest in the subject of unification in physics until this book. It was written plainly and so it was easy to read, but it was also too concise. The only problem was that, and the fact superstrings are discussed towards the end of the book. Also, probably from being new to the subject, I did not see why he had to describe group theory, it would have been better if he explained what the importance of group theory was and why he put it in the book. I do not think the book is horrible, but many better books exist as an introduction to unification. Search for a Supertheory by Barry Parker is better in that it doesn't suffer from conciseness. Particle Garden by Gordon Kane actually describes the particles in an understandable manner, rather than just listing particle after particle with little explanation as in this book. Too many questions remained to someone like me, new to the subject after reading this. Unless you already are familiar with the subject and want a quick review, this book is not worth the money.

If you are looking for more than " Oh, Golly" physics with some real mathematics, then this will be disappointing, but if you like Richard Feynman type informative lectures that name the names and give an understandable overview, then this is a well written book with history and facts and references. I got is as a gift from a friend who was trying to be of help! It was more help than some of my Google searches on the Internet!

Popular books on quantum theory are like cheap toilet paper, they fall apart easily. Gribbin's latest book is a triumph for the quantum wanabees who think they know some of the basic concepts, but in reality can only recite what they've read. Gribbin has a way of giving the reader an insight into what can only be properly understood mathematically. This book was written for those who don't know the math, but wish they did. The only thing "cheap" about this book is the price. Excellent!