Book Report: The Planets

The Planets by Dava Sobel, 2006

With a chapter for each planet plus the sun, moon and Pluto, Sobel blends facts about the various planetary objects with literary descriptions and poetry.  I finished 40% of the book and have no intention of reading more.  I learned a few new things in spite of not liking the basic structure of the book.  I found the juxtaposition of poetry and scientific facts to be, at best, distracting.  It never gelled for me.

The facts I learned?  Mercury does not always present the same face to the earth; it changes very slowly due to the timing of the orbits of the two planets.  Venus reflects more sunlight than the moon: 80% for Venus to 8% for the moon.  Since the moon is so much closer, it just seems brighter.  The clouds above Venus (15 miles thick) are 20 miles above the surface.

I found flowery language like "The parched Moon pulls at Earth's seas as though jealous of them" (p.111) particularly annoying.  Maybe high school juniors and seniors with find the book enlightening.  I have moved beyond it.

I have retreated to reading fluffy novels.  I am re-reading the Modern Witch books by Debora Geary.  They are sweet enough to give me tooth decay but I love them.  I love to retreat into a fantasy community where everyone loves everyone else and helps new witches to achieve peace with their abilities.