I Love You to a Black Hole and Back: Book Review of Under Alien Skies

 

Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to the Universe by Philip Plait
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to W. W. Norton and GoodReads Giveaways, from whom I received an ARC of Dr. Philip Plait’s Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe in exchange for a fair and honest review.

In Under Alien Skies, Plait takes us across the universe, exploring our solar system, galaxy, and beyond. He helps the reader imagine being a tourist in many different places--from the moon to a dwarf star to a black hole. Each adventure has corresponding evidence and history of how we know what we know. There is much to learn from this book, especially for someone like me, who has not learned about space since middle school. I didn’t have astronomy in high school or college, so that is the case for me.

In the second person sections which describe the different trips throughout the universe, Plait creates the experience of being on a spaceship and describing both the sensations and what you might see. There is a captain, of course, and moments when everyone on board is viewing together. There is some discussion of the travel it takes to get there, and admissions from the author when things would have been fudged to make the impossible (as we know it) possible.

The majority of the book, however, is dedicated to science, discussing the composition of planets and stars, the effect of gravity in different places, the possibility of humans traveling to or living in different places. The tone is chatty and the language is not complicated, though it introduces the reader to a lot of vocabulary. This book is clearly written for the common person, and not someone who knows a whole lot about space. There is a lot of information, and if you are looking for a good science writing book, here it is.

Would I teach this book? Well--probably not. I can see that this is a good book. That’s obvious. But it was a little too dense to be entertaining to me. It took me a while to read and I found it to be--well--not to my taste. So, while there might be a lot in the book for my students to learn, it would not be enjoyable for me. And I cannot say that a lot of the information stuck with me. I found my mind drifting in several places. So. while I might recommend this to others who enjoy science writing, especially astronomy, I would not assign it for my class.

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