The Solar System

Grade 6–10—Extensively revised and with nearly fifty percent more entries (Salem, 1998), these 180 articles offer comprehensive views of the solar system's bodies, dynamics, and phenomena, as well as a thorough account of how they are studied via astronomical observation and space exploration. Each entry opens with a quick summary of the topic and closes with an annotated reading list and an array of cross-references. Most pieces also feature one or more charts, tables, and sharp black-and-white photos or artists' renditions. Subjects range from discussions of "Nemesis and Planet X" (theorized bodies whose long orbits tie into Earth's periodic mass extinctions) to "Earth's Crust" and, further afield, "Pulsars" and "Extrasolar Planets." Articles are generally three pages in length but can be as long as nine. The cross-references, lengthy subject index, continuous pagination throughout the volumes, and a thematic table of contents, in addition to one by volume, make access particularly easy. Though color illustrations give Lucy-Ann McFadden's Encyclopedia of the Solar System (Elsevier, 2006) a visual boost, serious students of our planetary neighborhood will appreciate the more current content of this alternative.—John Peters, New York Public Library END

Some of the material in this encyclopedia was previously published in The Solar System (1998). There are 58 new topics covering every planet in the solar system, comets and asteroids, and interplanetary phenomena as well as 25 topics associated with the earth sciences. The 180 entries are arranged alphabetically. Examples include Big Bang, Dwarf planets, Earth’s origin, Extraterrestrial life in the solar system, Impact cratering, Mars’s water, Pluto and Charon, and Solar radio emissions. Essays are between three and seven pages in length and offer a brief summary of the significance of the topic, an overview of the main facts, context as it relates to a broader perspective, and annotated further-reading suggestions. All three volumes contain numerous black-and-white images, sidebars, and diagrams. Units of measure and alphabetical and category lists of contents are found in each volume, and volume 3 contains a glossary, a general bibliography, a list of Web sites, and a subject index. Extremely well written, this encyclopedia is recommended for high-school, public, and academic libraries. --Robyn Rosenberg