The Planets

By: Dava Sobel

Narrated by: Lorna Raver

With her blockbuster New York Times best sellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, Dava Sobel used her rare and luminous gift for weaving difficult scientific concepts into a compelling story to garner rave reviews and attract readers from across the literary spectrum. Now, in The Planets, Sobel brings her full talents to bear on what is perhaps her most ambitious subject to date: the planets of our solar system.

The sun's family of planets become a familiar place in this personal account of the lives of other worlds. Sobel explores the planets' origins and oddities through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history. Whether revealing what lies behind Venus' cocoon of acid clouds or capturing firsthand the excitement at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when pictures from Cassini at Saturn are beamed to Earth, this intimate account is filled with fascination, beauty, and surprise.

Written in Dava Sobel's characteristically graceful prose, The Planets is a distinctive view of our place in the universe. It is that rare book that will delight the experienced astronomer and, at the same time, engage someone eager to get to know the planets.

©2005 Dava Sobel (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Playful . . . lyrical . . . a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we’re being educated as we’re being entertained.” (Newsweek)

“[Sobel] has outdone her extraordinary talent for keeping readers enthralled. . . . Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter were exciting enough, but The Planets has a charm of its own . . . . A splendid and enticing book.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“A sublime journey. [Sobel’s] writing . . . is as bright as the sun and its thinking as star-studded as the cosmos.” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Interesting stories

Author teaches about planets using interesting stories which I think makes learning about the planets much more enjoyable. Reading for the second time back to back.

Art mixed with science

This is a well-narrated piece of pop-science. Hard core science junkies may want to steer clear since the robust storytelling is this audiobooks strong point. If you are not adept at astronomy but want a gentle and entertaining introduction this is the audiobook for you. An enjoyable and breezy experience for those not wanting to get mired in scientific jargon.

Great astronomy reading

This book has really great and very accurate information on each of the planets in our solar sysem. The book is set up in a way that is very easy to follow and each chapter is about a different planet. My astronomy teacher asigned this book for extra credit reading. I really enjoyed it.

Interesting

This was a nice reading. The book bring a high level view, facts and “mythology” of planets. It mix scientific data and poetry / popular culture about the planets.

As I wrote, it was an easy reading that brought a few new facts and the willing to learn more.

A note from the audible version: the chapters of the audiobook doesn’t correspond to the the length of the books what, for me, make it difficult to plan the reading / listening.

Narrator ruined the book for us...

We've read numerous books by Dava Sobel and enjoyed them; this was the first audiobook version we've listened to of one of her works. She tends to write in a somewhat grandiose style, but the information she conveys is interesting and well-told. Unfortunately, this narrator uses an elevated tone that, when combined with Sobel's writing style, came across as a boring teacher. We found our minds wandering from the content because of its delivery. Mispronunciations of "Willamette" and Maria Mitchell's name (in her name, "Maria" should be pronounced "Mar-EYE-a") only compounded the problem. We would have done better to stick with the printed version of this book.

Superb story of our changing views of the planets

This book is a tour of the nine planets that is equal parts mythology, history, and science. Ms. Sobel goes through each planet in order, discussing how it is has been seen throughout history, and what the latest scientific discoveries and theories about its origins and future might be. The stories she tells about the planets range from personal tales to historical or mythological incidents, and they are often highly lyrical. Mars is described from the perspective of a martian meteorite found in the Antarctic, while the tale of the discovery of Uranus is given through the letters of the sister of its discoverer. If you are looking for a hardcore science volume, you may want to look elsewhere, for though scientific facts abound, so does history and fables. If you liked Dava Sobel's other works (Longitude, etc.) or appreciate slightly more quirky non-fiction, you will like this. Wonderfully read and highly reccommended.

Good Balance

If you enjoyed books such as Bill Bryson's Short History you will enjoy this. A nice blend of science and story telling, where the balance is just right for the amateur astronomer.

Fun

"The Planets" kept me very interested in astronomy and the Solor system. It is easy to understand and fun to read.

I'm into astronomy: Couldn't read it

This book was agony. I was so looking forward to it. I read Longitude and loved it. I couldn't listen to this at all. I only got about 1/3 of the way through before I gave up. It was all fluff and not much science. Nothing I found interesting.

Not that good

She wrote Longitude : The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (1995) and Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love (2000). Both of these books were outstanding! So I was really looking forward to this book. Man is it bad. The intellectual level of this book is really low. I am not sure if this is because I already know a lot about the topic and apparently know more about it than she presents, or she just dropped the ball on this one. So I am left wondering if my satisfaction with her previous work is due to my ignorance of the subjects or her poor showing on this book is an anomaly. As it is, I must strongly recommend the other two books and to give this one a pass.

The audio quality of this book is satisfactory.