A YOUNG ASTRONOMER RISKS HIS JOB TO BRING HIS PARAMOUR A PARCEL OF MOON DUST
ars in her eyes
Molten spheres may not sound like the thing you’d want to read about on your day off. But Allan Radcliffe reckons DAVA SOBEL makes it all rather compelling.
ava Sobel is one ol‘ those authors whose work
is impossible to neatly describe. pin down or
pigeonhole. Indeed. the former New York 'li'mes science reporter arguably spawned a sub—genre that ol' the accessible. entertaining. science-based book with her landmark mid-90s work. Ixmgirmle. The captivating tale ol the clockrnaker John Harrison. who overturned centtrries ol‘ received wisdom and the vested interests of religious and scientilic movements to solve the problem of hast-West movement that had evaded (ialileo and Newton scaled the bestseller lists. scooped awards around the world and inspired a television mini-series.
The book's startling mix ol’ compelling narrative drive alongside a clear-eyed insight into the development ol‘ tricky scientilic theory was also to the lore in Sobel‘s l‘ollow-up work Galileo's Daughter.
Rather than create a conventional. linear biography of the legendary astronomer. physicist and pioneer ol’
experimental scientil‘ic method. Sobel used translations ol letters l‘rom (ialileo's deeply religious illegitimate daughter. Suor Maria Celeste. to illuminate a hitherto unknown. tender side to the lather ol‘ modern physics. While determinedly non- liction. the book was as page-turning as any novel. set against a thrilling backdrop ol‘ the Black Death. Thirty Years War and a tyrannical (‘atholic church. Sobel's latest work. The Planets. has as its
protagonists none other than the nine residents of our
solar system. 'l‘ypically. the insatiably curious Sobel is
at the heart ol' the book. which opens with her
amusing recollections of building a crude. shoebox diorama and staging a planets play at a primary school science lair. in which she solemnly took the role ol ‘l.onely Star". In the chapter ‘l.unacy‘. Sobel
28 7:” fl'.’{/ '1: (ii...
takes as her starting point the love al'l‘air between her l‘riend (‘arolyn and a young astronomer who risked his job at the height ol the Apollo project to bring his paramour a parcel ol‘ moon dtist.
The author retains this personal. romantic approach to each of her planetary subjects throughout. charting the development of scientific understanding ol our solar system‘s occupants. alongside what she describes as ‘the emotional weight ol‘ their long influence on our lives‘. Thus. powerl’ul episodes ol’ scientilic discovery ~- lrom the detection ol' the l'l"() in the early 1930s that was to be named Pluto to pictures ol‘ Saturn‘s moons being beamed to liarth last year by the spacecraft ('assini are interspersed with mythologies and poetry inspired by molten spheres and gas giants. Meanwhile. astrology and sci-li jostle alongside an impressive array ol~ hard facts. l‘rom the mysteries ol‘ Venus‘ acid clouds to information on exoplanets orbiting the stars outside our solar system.
lnevitably. The Planets will endure similar accusations to those levelled at Sobel‘s two previous books —- and at the popular work ol‘ science writers such as Richard Hawkins. Bill Bryson and Simon Singh — namely that this is science ‘lite‘. jazzed up and dumbed down. While l)awkins would argue against this suggestion by saying ‘it‘s better than no science‘. Sobel’s books are so much more than complicated theory explained in simple language for lay people. Romantic. imaginative and compelling. The Planets gloriously contradicts the notion that non—l'iction works have to be dry and impenetrable.
The Planets is out now published by Fourth Estate.
VENTS
3}: Dava Sobel The wild old world of popular science has never been so fascinating than in this New York lady’s hands and her new one, The Planets. is set to go positively ballistic. In a good way. See preview, left. Fourth Estate.
=ii Salman Rushdie Shalimar the Clown is quite simply just another epic. multi-faceted tale from a guy who doesn't need the approval of the Booker panel. thank you very much indeed. See review. Jonathan Cape.
3i: Alan Spence We love a bit of haiku and this genial Scottish writer is certainly one of the current masters. Check out Clear Light for evidence. See review. Canongate.
it: Bill Willingham & Shawn McManus You may recall the central character here from the Sandman books and Thessaly: Witch for Hire is given free rein to wreak havoc with her ghostly suitor Fitch. See review. Titan/Vertigo.
=5: Brian Azzarello 8. Eduardo Risso It’s a sin as Bri and Ed fire 700 Bullets our way. portraying the criminal underbelly in a ore-Katrina New Orleans. See review. [DC/Titan. =l¢ Vikram Seth Mr Seth pops by to promote his new one. Two Lives, with the estimable Prof Willy Maley in the hosting chair. The Hub, Edinburgh, Thu 22 Sep.
=i= Scottish Book Town Festival A gaggle of authorly types arrive in Wigtown, including Kate Adie, Magnus Magnusson (pictured) and George Galloway. Various venues, Wigtown, Fri 23 Sep—Sun 2 Oct.