{"id":18261,"date":"2018-11-23T23:19:46","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T15:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/cosmos-on-your-coffee-table-these-big-books-make-a-big-impact-for-holiday-giving\/"},"modified":"2018-11-23T23:19:46","modified_gmt":"2018-11-23T15:19:46","slug":"cosmos-on-your-coffee-table-these-big-books-make-a-big-impact-for-holiday-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/cosmos-on-your-coffee-table-these-big-books-make-a-big-impact-for-holiday-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"Cosmos on your coffee table: These big books make a big impact for holiday giving"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Coffee-table
\u201cSpace Atlas,\u201d \u201cSpace Stations,\u201d \u201cAll Over the Map\u201d and \u201cThe Universe Today Ultimate Guide to Viewing the Cosmos\u201d are among newly released coffee-table books with cosmic themes. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re going to give somebody a book for the holidays, why not go big?<\/p>\n

In this age of ebooks, smartphones and tiny houses, there\u2019s less need (and less room) for shelves of inch-thick volumes lining the walls. But it\u2019s still nice to have a colorful, glossy-paged book to peruse during the commercials while you\u2019re watching the latest episode of \u201cMars.\u201d And if it\u2019s a big book about a big subject, that\u2019s even better.<\/p>\n

Here are five big-format books on out-of-this-world subjects to put on your gift list, or to consider giving to folks who are crazy about the cosmos:<\/p>\n

Space Stations: The Art, Science and Reality of Working in Space:<\/strong> There are lots of reasons to keep this wide-ranging, picture-packed survey of factual and fictional space stations \u2014 written by Gary Kitmacher, Ron Miller and Robert Pearlman \u2014 handy over the coming year. We just celebrated the 20th anniversary of the International Space Station\u2019s start, and the expected debut of commercial space taxis will focus fresh attention on the ISS. There\u2019s also a lot of talk about the Gateway that NASA and its partners are talking about building in lunar orbit. And if you want to feast your eyes on Space Wheels, O\u2019Neill habitats and other classic sci-fi visions of the future, \u201cSpace Stations\u201d has you covered.<\/p>\n

Space Atlas: Mapping the Universe and Beyond:<\/strong> This second edition of what\u2019s now become a classic off-Earth atlas runs the gamut from constellation star guides to annotated planetary maps based on the latest wave of space missions (including Messenger\u2019s voyage to Mercury and New Horizons\u2019 flyby of Pluto). Because it\u2019s a National Geographic production, there are lots of magazine-quality photos and sumptuous graphics. Written by James Trefil with a foreword by Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin (with an explanation of his cycler concept for trips to Mars).<\/p>\n

The Universe Today Ultimate Guide to Viewing the Cosmos:<\/strong> Astronomy writer David Dickinson and Universe Today publisher Fraser Cain team up on a book you won\u2019t just want to keep on your coffee table. This guide has something for anyone with even the slightest interest in the skies above: easy-to-follow advice for finding the good stuff in the night sky, fun activities to deepen your appreciation of cosmic wonders, full rundowns on eclipses and other key events to watch for when the skies are clear, and lots of tales and trivia to muse over when they\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey:<\/strong> Mapping the cosmos is just one of the topics addressed in this entertaining, colorful look at historical maps and the stories behind them. Space fans will revel in the tale surrounding a century\u2019s worth of road atlases for Mars\u2019 (non-existent) canals, There are also entries for the history of moon maps, the solar system maps that NASA\u2019s Pioneer and Voyager missions provided for the aliens, and the fictional Death Star diagrams. But wait \u2026 there\u2019s much, much more. Co-authors Betsy Mason and Greg Miller provide a cornucopia of cartography that spans subjects ranging from a street map for ancient Rome and a 15th-century guide to the parallels between medieval maps of Britain and contemporary charts of the Seven Kingdoms in \u201cGame of Thrones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cApollo: VII-XVII\u201d takes a mission-by-mission look at Apollo\u2019s space expeditions. (NASA \/ teNeues Publishing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apollo: VII \u2013 XVII:<\/strong> This holiday season kicks off prime time for Apollo moonshot anniversaries, starting with Apollo 7\u2019s first crewed test mission and Apollo 8\u2019s audacious yuletide trip around the moon in 1968. Co-authors Floris Heyne, Joel Meter, Simon Phillipson and Delano Steenmeijer  presents carefully curated photos from each of the 11 missions in chronological order. It\u2019s all about the pictures here: Background text is kept to a minimum, and the captions are grouped together at the end of each section. There\u2019s also a \u201ccollector\u2019s edition\u201d in a larger format with thicker paper (and a fatter price tag). With a foreword by Apollo 7 astronaut Walter Cunningham.<\/p>\n

More books for Apollo\u2019s big year<\/h4>\n

Because the coming year will be a big year for moonshot memories, here are five more Apollo books to moon over:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Apollo:<\/strong> The ultimate space story gets the graphic-novel treatment, blending historical facts about the Apollo 11 moon landing with docudrama-style suspense.<\/li>\n
  • Apollo to the Moon: A History in 50 Objects:<\/strong> The saga of NASA\u2019s glory days, illustrated with artifacts from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.<\/li>\n
  • Mission Moon 3-D: A New Perspective on the Space Race:<\/strong> This collection of 3-D imagery literally brings another dimension to the Space Race, climaxing with the Apollo moon landings. 3-D viewer included.<\/li>\n
  • Moonshots: 50 Years of NASA Space Exploration Seen through Hasselblad Cameras:<\/strong> Not just the Apollo photos, but other big and beautiful Hasselblad frames that chronicle missions ranging from Gemini to the space shuttle and the International Space Station.<\/li>\n
  • The NASA Archives: 60 Years in Space:<\/strong> It won\u2019t be out until January, but if your pocketbook can stand it, you\u2019ll want to put this comprehensive review of NASA\u2019s history on your list for after the holidays. And in a pinch, the 468-page coffee-table book could conceivably serve as a coffee table.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Big topics with fewer pictures<\/h4>\n

    If you\u2019re looking for science books that aren\u2019t so big in size but still handle big subjects, here are five suggestions:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Alice and Bob Meet the Wall of Fire:<\/strong> Stories from Quanta magazine chart the frontiers of physics, including quantum mechanics and black holes.<\/li>\n
    • Out There: <\/strong>Space.com\u2019s Michael Wall addresses big cosmic questions \u2014 for example, are we alone? \u2014 in a Q&A format.<\/li>\n
    • The Poison Squad:<\/strong> Deborah Blum follows up on \u201cThe Poisoner\u2019s Handbook\u201d with the origin story for the fight against unsafe food.<\/li>\n
    • Red Moon:<\/strong> Kim Stanley Robinson\u2019s latest hard-sci-fi novel is set just 30 years from now, when China has set up bases on the moon.<\/li>\n
    • She Has Her Mother\u2019s Laugh: <\/strong>Carl Zimmer delves into the story of heredity and its impact on identity, which goes way beyond just genes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      \u201cSpace Atlas,\u201d \u201cSpace Stations,\u201d \u201cAll Over the Map\u201d and \u201cThe Universe Today Ultimate Guide to Viewing the Cosmos\u201d are among newly released coffee-table books with cosmic themes. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle) If you\u2019re going to give somebody a book for the holidays, why not go big? In this age of ebooks, smartphones and tiny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1651,4418,4029],"class_list":["post-18261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-apollo","tag-books","tag-space-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}