If John Lennon were alive today to read Dava Sobel’s “The Planets”, I’ve no doubt he would be pleased to call it “a magical mystery tour”I’ve always enjoyed reading popular science but, frankly, some of it is turgid, dry-as-dust commentary that is far more soporific than informative. By contrast, Sobel’s “The Planets”, a whirlwind tour of some of the most fascinating features of our very own solar system, waxes lyrical, indeed, almost poetic at times with the compelling beauty of its prose.
Each chapter, written from a unique imaginative perspective, takes what might otherwise be difficult scientific concepts and weaves them into a narrative that will draw in even the most science-phobic reader with an irresistible urgency and fascination. Sci-Fi, for example, the chapter that lucidly tells us the story of Mars, uses the extraordinarily clever device of narration from the point of view of a Martian meteorite, a piece of Martian rock blasted loose from Mars’ surface by an asteroid impact that found its way to earth, landing in an Antarctic icefield over sixteen million years ago.
I don’t think I could improve on Newsweek’s comment … “a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we’re being educated while we’re being entertained.”
“The Planets” is highly recommended and adds to a growing body of work that includes the equally entertaining “Longitude” and “Galileo’s Daughter”.
Paul Weiss
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