Book Review: The Planets by Dava Sobel

The Planets by Dava Sobel

In this quick read, Sobel gives a chapter-by-chapter tour of our solar system. The title is a bit of a misnomer, since both the sun and the moon get their own chapters. The book isn't solely scientific, either. Each chapter meanders around, with Sobel's personal experiences or historical anecdotes providing a broader picture of human knowledge. For example, the chapter on Saturn contains an ongoing discussion of Holst's The Planets, an orchestral work from the early 1900s. The early attempts to understand Saturn's odd shape (the rings weren't immediately discerned) and the discovery of separate rings follow a bit of a musical pattern, even half steps when subdivisions were found in individual rings. She gets into the controversy about Pluto's demotion to dwarf planet too, which still rankles people both inside and outside the astronomical community.

The book has a nice blend of historical and literary understanding along with scientific details. I found it entertaining but it does suffer a little bit from being written fifteen years ago. Sobel acknowledges the problem at the end: "But what book can keep abreast of current events in an active field of study? If reading these pages has helped someone befriend the planets, recognizing in them the stalwarts of centuries of popular culture and the inspiration for much high-minded human endeavor, then I have accomplished what I set out to do." [p. 231] I was already interested in the planets before this book. I have some more cultural appreciation for them and for Sobel.

Mildly recommended.