Paul Murdin

A gorgeous exploration of the ways in which humans have documented the beauty of the cosmos in a new compact editionUniverse is a groundbreaking survey that celebrates the popular subject of astronomy through 300 images created by those who have tried to understand or who have been inspired by the beauty and mystery of stars, planets, and beyond. Carefully chosen by an international panel of experts and arranged to highlight thought-provoking contrasts and similarities, the selection includes paintings, photographs, sculpture, animation, prints, sketches, and digital renderings with iconic works by renowned photographers, artists, and astronomers alongside previously unpublished finds.

A deft, frequently dramatic tourNatureA wonderfully clear and readable book . . . Gives a splendid overview of our Suns planetary system, including its history and explorationDame Jocelyn Bell Burnell*We have the impression that the solar system is perfectly regular like a clock, or a planetarium instrument. On a short timescale it is. But, seen in a longer perspective, the planets, and their satellites, have exciting lives, full of events - for example, did you know that Saturns moon, Titan, boasts lakes which contain liquid methane surrounded by soaring hills and valleys, exactly as the earth did before life evolved on our fragile planet? Or that Mercury is the shyest planet? Or, that Mars biggest volcano is 100 times the size of Earths, or that its biggest canyon is 10 times the depth of the Grand Canyon, or that it wasnt always red, but blue? The culmination of a lifetime of astronomy and wonder, Paul Murdins enchanting new book reveals everything you ever wanted to know about the planets, their satellites, and our place in the solar system.

El investigador y divulgador Paul Murdin ofrece una visión innovadora de la astronomía centrada en la emoción del descubrimiento. Recorre todos los grandes temas de la astronomía antigua y moderna. Una obra actual pero de orientacion historica que destaca los aspectos humanos de la ciencia, con anecdotas y datos clave acerca del contexto cientifico de los hallazgos.

The first modern edition of Aphra Behns translation of a charming and witty dialogue by the French writer Bernard de Fontenelle. Although over three hundred years old, Fontenelles dialogues in a garden over five nights are still a surprisingly painless way to learn about the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars, even though new planets were later discovered and modern science has filled out many details Fontenelle could not have known. This is no lecture, but a conversation with the cut and thrust of intelligent argument as the Marchioness challenges each of the astronomers assertions and requires him to explain the evidence. Aphra Behns translation, one of the earliest, adds the feminine wit of a leading dramatist to Fontanelles work. The general applause this little book has met with," she writes in a Preface, "both in France and England, made me attempt to translate it into English. The reputation of the author, the novelty of the subject in vulgar language and the authors introducing a woman as one of the speakers in these five discourse were further motives for me to undertake this little work; for I thought an English woman might adventure to translate anything a French woman may be supposed to have spoken.