Dava Sobel’s Tour Through ‘The Planets’

In The Planets,Dava Sobel, best-selling author of Galileo’sDaughter and Longitude, shedslight on difficult scientific concepts as she weaves together a compellingseries of essays on our solar system. Sobel’s book imbues the scientific textwith entertaining and poetic stories, as each chapter mixes science fiction,mythology, literature and even music into a mesmerizing portrayal of ourneighboring planets.

Each chapter of ThePlanets is given over to one of the celestial bodies. In these chapters,Sobel’s artful descriptions paint pictures of planetary landscapes and skylinesfilled with awe-inspiring colors and endless beauty. The book’s romanticlanguage allows the author to write on technical topics with an unexpectedlyrical slant. Your senses will awaken as Jupiter is portrayed as a musicalcomposition and a 45-billion-year-old meteorite narrates the tale of Mars.Stunning depictions of the night’s sky and all of its mysteries show the solarsystem in exceedingly rich detailJupiter “swims,” Mars’ waters run liketeardrops, and sunlight skitters off the tops of Venus’ clouds.

Sobel’s examination of the planets developsalongside related concepts like geography, mapmaking, religion and navigationaltechniques. Rooted in historical and scientific fact, The Planets explores characters from Greek mythology, followsnavigators’ voyages during the time of Columbus,and provides glimpses of today’s planetary explorers. With familiar names likeGalileo and Copernicus but with an innovative spin on the solar system, Sobeltakes readers on a guided tour to worlds that are light years away and to seethe planets like an astronomer gazing through the lens of a telescope.

Dava Sobel will speak at Boswell Book Co. on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 2 to 4 p.m. Afterward, Sobel willperform with the musical group Galileo’s Daughters as part of the Early MusicNow concert series. For more information on the concert, visitwww.earlymusicnow.org.