Author: Mark Mortimer

I love large format picture books. Most any subject suffices, as the photographs are like little works of art, each selected with care and passion. However, space themed books are real treasures for me, and Saturn – A New View by L.Lovett, J.Horvath, and, J.Cuzzi is a jewel in the treasure chest. Within it, wide expansive images bring this distant planet into immediate, astounding view.
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Where is our search for life taking us? Or, even simpler, why are we searching? Bruce Jakosky in his book Science, Society and the Search for Life in the Universe considers these questions and many others. However, he shows that searching for answers is almost as difficult as the search itself for life off of Earth.
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Apogee space books has published four more Pocket Space Guides. These small format books are each about half text and half photographs and are based on a narrow, space topic. The result is to be concise introductions and handy references. In addition, the many good quality photographs add flavourful spice to keep the reader interested. The following are reviews for each of the four.
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Our Moon has been visited by men, yet this fact may seem like fiction to many people. Over an incredibly short span, people of one nation came together, developed a technology and achieved the goal of walking on the lunar surface. For those wanting a reference for this momentous event, Richard Orloff and David Harland provide their book, Apollo – The Definitive Sourcebook. In it are the facts and figures regarding the events surrounding the people and hardware of this amazing achievement.
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The Moon has always held a fascinating role in our existence. Visiting it was surely the most amazing feat we’ve done. Catherine Thimmesh’s book Team Moon relives the days of Apollo when NASA first reached the Moon. She emphasizes the vast number of everyday people who helped Apollo and gives notice that an equally large and varied workforce will be necessary for the success of future manned missions to other planets.
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The Earth has almost returned to its same relative location about our Sun as when I last prepared a summary of my book reviews. While facing the daily ritual of rising, getting dressed and undertaking the day’s tasks, I try to snatch moments to think about this marvel. We are all spinning madly about the Earth’s iron core, which itself orbits ceaselessly about a great fusion reactor that constantly bathes us with warmth. All the while, seemingly through nothing, we hurtle further and further from something called the galactic centre, toward somewhere else. The books I review help me with this perspective of our existence and also help me keep in balance with all the daily news coming in.
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I’m continually amazed at the abilities of our species. Foremost amongst our talents is deduction. Using logic and reasoning, a truth can be determined without direct evidence. Ken Freeman and Geoff McNamara in their book ‘In Search of Dark Matter‘ showcase this talent. In this book, they outline the basis and ongoing search for something we can never see and only indirectly measure. Elementary or not, Holmes would be jealous.
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History isn’t the recitation of facts and dates. It’s about bringing to life the spirit and passion of those who’ve gone before. Deborah Cadbury in her book “Space Race – The Epic Battle Between America and the Soviet Union for Dominion of Space” shows the power and grace of reliving bygone events. With her book, returning to those bygone days is great fun.
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The Spitzer telescope targets the infrared portion of the light spectrum. It also happens to have been one of the successes during the Faster, Better, Cheaper times at NASA. George Rieke’s book The Last of the Great Observatories gives the reader a first hand look at the decades of events required to put this telescope into orbit.
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As some avid campaigners say, “life begins at conception”. And except for a few farm yard animals, this means sex. The book “Sex in Space”, by Laura Woodmansee, moves this sensitive topic into a place without appreciable gravity and provides some weighty thoughts. For, of course, it was sex that brought us into this world and it may be a significant reason for our departure.
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