One of the things companies making collectible trading cards have done is to add "foil" to cards to make them rarer and therefore more expensive. I have never been particularly fond of either the marketing technique or the aesthetics of this particular practice, but I may have to change my mind after reading "Kingdom of the Sun: A Book of the Planets." This National Geographic Book introduces young readers to the planets of our solar system by not only telling them about the features of the planets but also comparing them to the god/desses of classical mythology for whom they were named, who tell their stories in the first person. The text of "Kingdom of the Sun" is written by Dr. Jacquelin Mitton; in 1990 Asteroid 4027 was named Mitton by the International Astronomical Union in honor of Dr. Mitton and her husband, Simon, who is also an astronomer. However, what immediately catches your eye is the gorgeous artwork by Christina Balit. For each of the planets, along with the sun and moon, Balit has created a painting showing the appropriate god/dess in all of their glory over the heavenly object. The brilliantly colored paintings are embossed with gold foil and if you look carefully you can find the astrological sign for each planet in both the border panel and somewhere on the god/dess. I especially like the contrast between the more naturalistic depictions of the planets with the finely stylized representations of the god/desses. The back of the book includes statistical information about our solar system along with a glossary of terms from astronomer to volcano. Mitton and Balit had worked together previously on "Zoo in the Sky," a similar book about the animal constellations, and I cannot imagine that it is any less exquisite than "Kingdom of the Sun." This is such a beautiful book that you have to remind yourself that it is educational as well. This book can be used as a transition from mythology to astronomy or the other way around.

Kingdom Of The Sun: A Book Of The Planets a truly exciting picturebook that takes young readers on a cosmic tour through the solar system. Published by the National Geographic Society, Kingdom of the sun is filled with scientific facts about each planet as well as mythological lore about the gods after whom the planets are named. The color illustrations of the ancient gods and their planets against the backdrop of space are particularly striking, and the eye-catching use of shiny gold foil makes Kingdom Of The Sun a picturebook that compels admiration. The last two pages feature a short glossary and a table of facts about the sun, moon, and planets. Wonderfully written by Jacqueline Mitton and superbly illustrated by Christina Balit, Kingdom of the Sun is a truly beautiful gift book, superb for sparking an interest in science and astronomy in young people, and very highly recommended.

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission was the first of NASA's "Faster, Better Cheaper" spacecraft. Its primary mission was to orbit the asteroid 433 Eros, thereby becoming the first robotic explorer to orbit and eventually land on an asteroid. On the journey to Eros, NEAR flew by the main-belt asteroid Mathilde as well as our home planet, the Earth and returned dozens of pictures; however, the journey to Eros was almost lost when a software error caused the main engine to shut down prematurely. Due to the efforts the engineers and scientists supporting this project, the space probe was saved and the NEAR mission became one of the most successful NASA missions. In the end, the mission returned with hundreds of thousands of images, spectra, and other measurements about the large near-Earth asteroid Eros.

In this book, the author, Jim Bell, a planetary scientist and professor at Cornell, has assembled nine different articles about various aspects of this mission into one concise book about all aspects of this specular mission. The book opens with a chapter providing an overview of Eros and then moves into two chapters dedicated to the spacecraft and its mission, and its trip to Eros, from launch to rendezvous. The remaining chapters cover the different discovers made by the NEAR spacecraft, such as its overall landscape, its history, and several on its geology. There is also one chapter, which explains the photography planning, and eventual execution of this plan.

In general, I did not find the book to be very technical and there is a glossary of terms to help the layman as well as numerous photographs, figures and graphs are found throughout the book to further explain a given topic.

If you are interested in planetary exploration or the space program in general, this book would an excellent addition to your library.

This book is an excellent resource for information about space. It has many stunning pictures that capture the readers interest. It also has a great deal of factual information that is presented in an easy to read format. It is a great resource for anyone wishing to learn more about space, or just an interesting book to wander through.

This is a beautiful book full of great diagrams illustrating some difficult concepts in astronomy (for example, our place in the universe), wonderfully labeled drawings of planets, and the best of astronomical photographs. There are illustrations on every page. Little boxes of information offer more detail on some subjects ("milestones to the moon" or facts about each planets). The chapters are fairly short and easy to read. After some introductory chapters about exploring the universe and the tools that astronomers use, the book generally goes outward from the earth to the moon, the sun, the solar system, to distant stars (and their exotic varieties), then our galaxy (the Milky Way), other galaxies, quasars, and ideas about the beginning and end of the universe. The tiny star charts weren't very useful, but the glossary is nice. Although the book is aimed at a younger audience, many adults may enjoy the easy to read text and excellent illustrations.

This book is a well-written and enjoyable summary of what we know about Pluto and its relatively huge moon Charon. However, the fact of the matter is we don't know much because we have yet to send a spacecraft to this fascinating double planet! Stern and Mitton do a great job presenting the timeline of our discoveries about Pluto as well as the latest theories on the compositions and origin of these bodies.

I was especially impressed with the discussion of Pluto's atmosphere changing as a result of the planet's greatly elliptical orbit around the Sun. In addition, the authors give a great detailed breakdown of the discoveries gleaned from the mutual occultations in the late 80s. Also, this book was written several years ago but we have since indeed found many more Kuiper Belt objects that lend great credibility to the theory of Pluto simply being one of the largest of that family.

Too much time was spent on describing the birth and continuing struggles of the Pluto Express project. This discussion would have been more appropriate if the spacecraft had even launched, let alone successfully completed its mission. But the fact is that NASA's funding issues have kept the project grounded for now. Hopefully it'll fly in the next couple years. If it doesn't, much of the mission may be compromised because Pluto is getting farther from the Sun each day and as a result its atmospheric activity is dying.

Overall a great effort and worth your time. Don't expect incredible revelations and photographs though, because we still have yet to visit the place!

If you don't know much about the "King of the Kuiper Belt", read this book, and you will have a very clear scientific description of this "massive comet"...

This book is complete, starting from the historic discovery (blind luck, really) of Pluto, the subsequent observations that kept on shrinking the planet, then the suprising discovery of Charon, the fortuitious Pluto/Charon occultation, and the latest HST results.

Easy to read, and yet technical enough, this book will probably make you love this planet, even though it's only a big comet saved from destruction by its orbital resonance with Neptune... and will make you hate NASA (or the US Congress) for not going forward with their Pluto Express probe.

A well written historic perspective on our outer-most-planet that by books' end will change your view of our solar system.

A thoroughly enjoyable easy-to-read book. More hard science/discovery books should be written this way.

It's not just the facts that are amazing but the proven-wrong theories we use to have on Pluto. Too bad we're still waiting for our first encounter with this mysterious planet. If history proves right, the Voyager probes were just another step in our discovering the 'real' solar system.

The authors do a good job in this book and it is a good read. What is interesting is how much we do not know about this amazing satellite. We have no idea about what the surface is like. In less than 5 years the Cassini mission w/ the Huygens lander will make this book obsolete. You have to wonder why this book was written so close to Cassini's arrival. Until then this book should be standard text in any amatuer astronomers library. The authors give too much credit to Carl Sagan and not enough to the real scientists who have contributed to our limited knowledge on the subject. Besides that this book almost gets my highest rating.

This is an exciting time for planetary exploration, when after the solar system has been reconnoitered by spacecraft (except Pluto) and now spacecraft are being sent to specific planets and moons, etc., for closer examination. LIFTING TITAN'S VEIL covers the Cassini mission to Saturn and it's large moon Titan, known to possess a thick atmosphere and perhaps a hydrocarbon ocean, due to insert itself into Saturnian orbit in July, 2004, the attached Huygens probe should enter Titan's atmosphere January, 2005.

The authors include a lot of science in this volume, including background information concerning moons and planets across the solar system. Most of this book covers Titan of course, what we know about it and how we came about that knowledge, from early times to the present. Titan's atmosphere and surface and sub-surface conditions recieve the most attention, with the chemistry of the atmosphere discussed at length. Also, the authors debate the possibility of an ethane/methane ocean existing on Titan as the surface temperature, according to available evidence, is close to the triple point of methane. All of this science can of course, as the authors point out, shed light on the formation and evolution of the solar system and in turn give us clues to our own origins in the misty past. As a chemist I especially enjoyed the information on the chemistry of Titan, and the space-buff in me enjoyed all of it. In addition, the Cassini spacecraft is detailed, and there are lots of illustrations, many in color.

On a personal note, I remember being at the space center as a visitor just a few days before the launch of Cassini, in October, 1997, and thinking that here is this spacecraft sitting out there on the pad just a few hundred yards from the Atlantic beach, I wondered then, will Huygens, at the end of it's journey, find another beach? Space travel is cool!

Lifting Titan's Veil is a revealing account of the second largest moon in our solar system. This world in orbit around Saturn is the only body in the solar system with an atmosphere strikingly similar to Earth's and the only moon with a substantial atmosphere. Nitrogen is the main gas in Titan's atmosphere but it is laced with a cocktail of hydrocarbons and is virtually opaque to human eyes because of layers of orange smog. Beneath the haze, lakes of liquid methane may be a feature of the frigid landscape. Titan is like a giant laboratory in deep freeze that may help scientists understand the first chemical steps towards the origin of life."

My son really enjoyed this book because he loves animals. It explains, in simple terms, the various constellations. The illustrations are beautifully done and very engaging.

The only reason I was a tad disappointed in "Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal Constellations," is that I tracked down this 1998 volume after I had stumbled across "Kingdom of the Sun : A Book of the Planets," the 2001 collaboration between writer Jacqueline Mitton and illustrator Christina Balit. If you like what Balit does with foil for the stars that define the animal constellations, then you should see the stunning artwork in their next book. Both superb volumes are courtesy of the National Geographic Society. Dr. Mitton is an astronomer, who spends more time telling young readers about the stories the ancients told when they looked at the night sky and used the starts to trace the forms of animals. Because this book focuses specifically on animal constellations it does not include the entire zodiac, making room for the Crane, the Whale, the Hare, and the Toucan, among others you might not have heard of before. The front and back pieces of the book shows all of the constellations in the Northern Sky and Southern Sky, with a list of the specific constellations featured in the book, while the back of the book provides more scientific information about stars. Of course the chief attraction are the paintings of the animals, but what really impresses me are the night skies Balit paints behind them. Be sure to check out anything these two do in the future, because you are not going to come even close to being disappointed.

I enjoyed reading this book - it's very informative about Aliens and since I am a fan of the show X-Files, I thought it would be worthwhile. It was an easy read and my students seem to enjoy reading it, as well. If you teach middle school and your students like to read up on aliens or ghosts, this series is for you.

Dana K. Wolcott

The photos are a good sampling of what the HST has given the scientific community to work with. The commentary of what the Hubble images mean is easy to understand for someone who is interested but is without a scientific background. The human mind becomes boggled by the immensity of the universe and this book gives one a sense of awe of the diversity of manifestations.

This book is one of the first *serious* non-hardcover, no-pictures purse-size dictionary of modern Astronomy that I've yet found.

Although the entries can tend to be quite short, it lists entries from "AAO" (Anglo-Australian Observatory) to "ZZ Ceti star." As this is the Third Edition, Jacqueline Mitton has had time to refine, streamline, and update the information within.

This is a fun book to browse through; it's in a straightforward dictionary style. There are some helpful Tables in the back, the usual stuff of Astronomy books: Units of measurements and conversion factors; brightest stars in the night sky; full list of the Constellations; characteristics of the inner and outer planets, tables on the natural satellites and rings of the planets.

The entries are well written, and with a style that shows Jacqueline Mitton enjoys her work.

Note: The book is British (Look for "The Plough", "The Big Dipper", "Ursa Major", "Big Bear")

Recommended for people of any age and background who have even the slightest interest in Astronomy.