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The Secret Lives of Planets: Order, Chaos, and Uniqueness in the Solar System Paperback – September 14, 2021

by Paul Murdin (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 112 ratings
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An insider’s guide to astronomy reveals everything you need to know about the planets, their satellites, and our place in the solar system.

We have the impression that the solar system is perfectly regular like a clock or a planetarium instrument. On a short timescale it is. But, seen in a longer perspective, the planets, and their satellites, have exciting lives, full of events.

For example, did you know that Saturn’s moon, Titan, boasts lakes which contain liquid methane surrounded by soaring hills and valleys, exactly as the earth did before life evolved on our fragile planet? Or that Mercury is the shyest planet? Or, that Mars’s biggest volcano is one hundred times the size of Earth’s, or that its biggest canyon is ten times the depth of the Grand Canyon, or that it wasn’t always red, but blue?

The culmination of a lifetime of astronomy and wonder, Paul Murdin’s enchanting new book reveals everything you ever wanted to know about the planets, their satellites, and our place in the solar system.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Pegasus Books
  4. Publication date
    September 14, 2021
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.8 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1643138480
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1643138480
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“An awe-inspiring tour of the solar system’s most noteworthy celestial bodies. Murdin’s fondness for his subject is evident throughout this elegant, imaginative survey and should be contagious to all who encounter it.” ― Publishers Weekly (starred)

“With nations reviving an interest in human space exploration, this expert overview by Murdin, emeritus professor of astronomy at Cambridge, is a welcome description of what’s out there...Satisfying popular science, just right for the budding astronomer in the household...satisfying popular science, just right for the budding astronomer in the household.” ― Kirkus Review

In this highly readable survey of the planets from Mercury outward, astronomer Murdin summarizes the scientific knowledge about each...A first-rate introduction to the solar system. ― Booklist

About the Author

Paul Murdin has worked as an astronomer in the United States, Australia, England, Scotland, and Spain, where he led the operation of the Anglo-Dutch Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. He has been a research scientist (studying supernovae, black holes, and neutron stars) and a science administrator for the British Government and the Royal Astronomical Society. He is Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge, England. He has been honored in Britain by the Queen for his services to astronomy.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pegasus Books; Reprint edition (September 14, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1643138480
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1643138480
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 112 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
112 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Erin
5.0 out of 5 stars we know more about space that we used to
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2022
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Neat facts about the solar system that make you remember being in third grade and wanting to be an astronaut, explained in digestible ways.
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4.0 out of 5 stars History is also an empirical subject.
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2020
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Murdin’s book exhibits a virtue and a vice that are common in popular books by scientists. The virtue is that it provides a good deal of information about the author’s field - planetary astronomy in this case. The vice is that the author wanders into remarks about the history of his field, and while the voice is authoritative, it is not reliable. It seems as if Murdin just repeats familiar stories without checking the data. For example, Murdin claims that as a result of his telescopic discoveries, “Galileo had proved Copernicus’s model of the solar system.” This is not correct. Although Galileo’s results - especially the phases of Venus - undermined the Ptolemaic version of geocentric astronomy, there was another geocentric model due to Tycho Brahe - an astronomer whom Galileo tried to ignore. No observation within the solar system can distinguish Copernicus’ model from Tycho’s while the failure to observe stellar parallax favored Tycho’s view. Tycho’s account was sufficiently impressive that Newton addressed it in Principia where he argues that neither the Earth nor the Sun is the center of motion of the universe. The actual center is the mass-center of the solar system, although taking the Sun as the center is a good approximation. Galileo publicly adopted the Copernican view by 1611, but you would not guess from Murdin’s account that Galileo was not “summoned by the Inquisition” until 1632. Much happened in between. Those interested in an accurate account of the events leading to Galileo’s trial, and the trial itself, should see Maurice Finocchiaro’s The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History.

I will mention two, more recent, historical inaccuracies. While Murdin’s account of Herschel’s discovery of Uranus is generally correct, Herschel did not himself realize that he was seeing a planet, not a comet. That discovery is usually attributed to Anders Lexell. Lowell’s prediction of Pluto was not based on anomalies in the orbit of Neptune - although this common story makes for a lovely parallel with the discovery of Neptune. The prediction was based on a belief, held by some, that there were residual motions in the orbit of Uranus that had not been accounted for by Neptune.

Scientists who write popular books are, like Murdin, generally quite clear on the empirical basis of their own subject. It would be helpful if these authors would recognize that history is also an empirical subject and that it is important to attend to the evidence.
15 people found this helpful
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William Desjarlais
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and readable discussion of the planets.
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2021
The author does a great job presenting the makeup and current lives of the planets in a highly readable format.
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Juniper Man
2.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
Found the writing awkward and even a bit dull. Quality of book printing disappointingly cheap, with low quality rough paper for text. No illustrations or diagrams or photos of any kind. There might be some juicy factual tidbits in there, but I gave up after first several pages.
One person found this helpful
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DES
4.0 out of 5 stars "The secrets of planets’ lives are often well hidden.”
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2021
Verified Purchase
To me, the main premise behind “The Secret Lives of Planets: Order, Chaos, and Uniqueness In The Solar System,” is a line author Paul Murdin uses near the end of the book, “the secrets of planets’ lives are often well hidden.”

Anyone who has looked into the skies or done any amount of reading about our solar system, remembers the headline stories (Jupiter has rings, the sun is the only body that generates its own energy), but this book takes each planet and many other bodies and offers tidbits that you probably didn’t know. For example, Murdin writes about how some planets were ejected from the solar system. He writes, “Whatever might have happened to eject our Earth from the solar system, it didn’t. However, in this chaotic period in the development of the solar system the Earth shifted its orbit back and forth towards and away from the Sun. Our planet ended up in the Goldilocks Zone of the solar system, which made the evolution of life possible. It was a matter of luck.”

The material is clear and concise. You don’t need to be an astronomer to understand what he shares. In fact, it is probably better if you are not. Just bring your wonder about why and how planets evolved.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

As I write in 2019, there are about 3,800 planets known in orbit around stars other than the Sun (‘extrasolar planets’). Planets appear to be common.
It seems that the most common planets in the Galaxy are Earth-like, but twice the size of the Earth – so-called super-earths. Our solar system has four Earth-like planets, the Earth being the largest. There is no super-earth: this might be because we never had one, or because we had one and now it has gone. It is not known what favours the formation of super-earths but our solar system might have missed out on it. Or, alternatively, perhaps our solar system made a super-earth that was somehow flung off into interstellar space? What possible event could have happened in the life of our planetary system; an event that was evidently catastrophic enough to doom a super-earth but let our Earth survive?
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DES
4.0 out of 5 stars "The secrets of planets’ lives are often well hidden.”
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2021
To me, the main premise behind “The Secret Lives of Planets: Order, Chaos, and Uniqueness In The Solar System,” is a line author Paul Murdin uses near the end of the book, “the secrets of planets’ lives are often well hidden.”

Anyone who has looked into the skies or done any amount of reading about our solar system, remembers the headline stories (Jupiter has rings, the sun is the only body that generates its own energy), but this book takes each planet and many other bodies and offers tidbits that you probably didn’t know. For example, Murdin writes about how some planets were ejected from the solar system. He writes, “Whatever might have happened to eject our Earth from the solar system, it didn’t. However, in this chaotic period in the development of the solar system the Earth shifted its orbit back and forth towards and away from the Sun. Our planet ended up in the Goldilocks Zone of the solar system, which made the evolution of life possible. It was a matter of luck.”

The material is clear and concise. You don’t need to be an astronomer to understand what he shares. In fact, it is probably better if you are not. Just bring your wonder about why and how planets evolved.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

As I write in 2019, there are about 3,800 planets known in orbit around stars other than the Sun (‘extrasolar planets’). Planets appear to be common.
It seems that the most common planets in the Galaxy are Earth-like, but twice the size of the Earth – so-called super-earths. Our solar system has four Earth-like planets, the Earth being the largest. There is no super-earth: this might be because we never had one, or because we had one and now it has gone. It is not known what favours the formation of super-earths but our solar system might have missed out on it. Or, alternatively, perhaps our solar system made a super-earth that was somehow flung off into interstellar space? What possible event could have happened in the life of our planetary system; an event that was evidently catastrophic enough to doom a super-earth but let our Earth survive?
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Gateway
5.0 out of 5 stars very interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2024
Verified Purchase
Great read on kindle. very interesting to learn about the planets. It’s quite technical in parts but actually just skim over the difficult bits to get the gist of it. Well written. I only discovered the photos at the end of the book after I read the book.
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JMC
4.0 out of 5 stars Divulgación
Reviewed in Spain on May 13, 2020
Verified Purchase
Una excelente y amena actualización sobre los conocimientos y datos que se van añadiendo sobre nuestro Sistema Solar. Una agradable sorpresa que invita a seguir explorando y aprendiendo.
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Bob W
4.0 out of 5 stars Paper and print poor
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2019
Verified Purchase
OK as a stocking filler but not great quality printing or paper.
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A customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly informative book written in a pleasant way
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2020
Verified Purchase
Before I started reading this book I had read a number of excellent Wikipdia artivles on the solar system, its planets, moons et. al. By he time the book finally arrived I had become ever more sceptical whether this book would add any value to my newly acquired knowldege. From chapter 2 onwards I realised that this book offers a host of new insights that were not mentioned in Wikipedia articles. The main strong point is in how the author has arranged a host of highly useful information to give a more complete picture of the subject matter. Written in a highly enjoyable style with so much extra information that I immediately searched for other books by Mr Murdin and bought his 'sister' book the cosmos which is also a highly enjoyable and hugely informative book.
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White Knight
5.0 out of 5 stars Bang up to date layman's guide written by an expert
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 6, 2019
Verified Purchase
This book is,a real treat written by someone with a real.sweep of history and a real sense of humour. Paul never over-claims scientific facts, but shares the latest theories with the reader. He'd make a much better job of covering the planets on TV than Cox
One person found this helpful
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