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Reflector Book Review:
An Earthling's Guide to
Deep Space
Category: Youth/Educational
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An Earthling's Guide to Deep Space
by Carolyn Sumners and Kerry Handron
McGraw-Hill, 1999
ISBN 0-07-021988-5
$12.95, 9x6" 154 pgs. softbound
An Earthling's Guide to Deep Space
seems to be geared for the older child. This book utilizes
photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to illustrate
its astronomical concepts and ideas.
The chapters are arranged like tours
of the universe as seen through the eyes of Hubble.
Tour One uses photographs of star forming regions, nebulas,
and various molecular clouds. Tour Two looks at various
individual and unusual stars. Tours Three and Four consider
dying stars using photographs of spectacular planetaries,
supernova remnants an d other famous death-shrouded
areas. Tour Five visits different types of star clusters,
and Tour Seven visits various galaxies. The last tour
also includes black holes, quasars and various other
exotica. A glossary, image credits, and a sky map compete
the book.
A unique component of this book is
the "Flip Features." Eight mini-movies are contained
in the appropriate chapter for its subject. If you flip
the pages, like the old cartoon books of a few years
ago, you will see the mini-movies. One, for example,
allows you to fly into a galaxy's core to find a monster
black hole.
An Earthling's Guide to Deep Space
is a colorful book that should go a long way in stimulating
a young person s interest in the universe.
Paul R.
Castle
Astronomical League Book Service
PRC29@aol.com
Reviewed in the November 1999 issue.
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