Images selected and introduced by David A. Rothery
The Planets is a thrilling tour of our solar system by Andrew Cohen and Professor Brian Cox, in a Folio edition with breathtaking NASA photography from the latest space missions.Â
‘Excellent... a blend of enjoyable, accessible science and dreamlike wonder.’
- The Times
The Planets is a fantastic voyage through the history of our solar system. Drawing on the latest discoveries from space telescopes and interplanetary probes, Andrew Cohen and Professor Brian Cox show how the story of our own world is intimately bound up with the fate of our celestial neighbours. The journey begins with the three inner planets: Sun-parched Mercury; Venus, once thought to be lush and fertile, now smothered in toxic gases; and Mars, too small to hold on to its own atmosphere. Cohen reveals the fearsome power of Jupiter – both a destroyer and a protector of worlds – and how Saturn may become the final place in our solar system where life can exist. Finally, the voyage reaches the mysterious ice giants of Uranus and Neptune, and the distant dwarf planet Pluto. All are featured in spectacularly detailed colour images from NASA, with a supporting cast of moons, comets and asteroids. With stunning fold-out spreads and many new and improved images, this is a Folio edition to inspire wonder and awe.
Bound in printed and blocked paper
Set in Kepler Standard with Soleil as display
288 pages printed in 2 colours, plus 27 diagrams
48 pages of full-colour photographs, plus 2 x 8-page fold-outs and 6 pages of integrated black & white photographs
Printed endpapers
Printed slipcase
Coloured edges
9¼˝ x 8¼˝
From the magnificent cover featuring Saturn and its ring system, inside a slipcase emblazoned with a transit of Venus across the Sun, this is a Folio edition that presents a visual and narrative tour of our solar system. The latest and sharpest pictures were selected by David A. Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences and consultant to The Planets television series. In his fascinating note on the images, he explains that they are ‘all real images sent back by visiting spacecraft or powerful space telescopes’. Highlights include an ultraviolet snapshot of Venus’s atmosphere taken by Japan’s Akatsuki orbiter, a ‘selfie’ from NASA’s Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, and an amazing fold-out panorama of the Red Planet, composed from 146 separate images taken by the Curiosity rover. The Juno mission contributes superb pictures of Jupiter, including a fold-out of its four largest moons. There is also startlingly vivid imagery of Saturn’s icy rings from the Cassini orbiter and a superb image of the Southern Ring Nebula from the newly launched Webb Telescope showing the shedding of material from a dying star from which new stars and planets can be born. With two-colour text, redrawn diagrams, and endpapers bearing a beautifully detailed colour image of Mercury’s Caloris Basin, this is the ultimate grand tour of the planets.
Parallel Worlds is Michio Kaku’s astonishing journey into the mysteries of our universe – and the tantalising possibility that many others may exist. Awe-inspiring images of the cosmos complete this Folio edition.
Andrew Chaikin selects stunning new photography for The Folio Society edition of A Man on the Moon – his commanding history of the Apollo missions, with an introduction by Tom Hanks.Â
Stephen Hawking’s landmark scientific work, A Brief History of Time, is presented as a striking Folio Society illustrated edition, exclusively introduced by Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees.
The Order of Time is physicist Carlo Rovelli’s number-one bestselling exploration of the universe’s greatest mystery – time itself. Philip Pullman introduces this Folio edition featuring Daniel Streat’s unique graphic design.
