There is a lot of exciting information out of space these days. We’re finding out all sorts of cool things from outside our star system, but the facts we’re finding about our own solar neighborhood grow more amazing every day. If you’re like me, you’re starting to discover that what you thought you knew, or remembered, about our star and its planets is either outdated or just wrong.
This is where Vacation Guide to the Solar System, by Olivia Koski and Jana Grcevich comes in so handy! It contains a lot of useful information about our star system, perfectly written in the form of a Travel Guide. Weather and Climate, When to Go, Arriving, and Seeing the Sights… all there are very familiar headings to any Lonely Planet book, only this one presumes access to a working space suit and a space ship. The book is augmented with lovely poster-style art that has a delicious 1960s flavor.
I consider this a vacation or “summer” book. It’s technically nonfiction (or science fiction…) with a lot of good data; but set up to be browsed and read in bits; at the pool, in the park, in the hammock. At the family picnic or while you’re waiting for the fireworks to start, you can amaze friends and family with tidbits; the moon is drifting out of earth’s orbit at the rate of one and a half inches per year. Mercury takes 88 Earth days to rotate the sun, and its average surface temperature is 333 degrees Fahrenheit with highs reaching to 880. Bring sunscreen. Jupiter takes 12 Earth years to orbit the sun. Startle your friends and enjoy the whimsy! Locals can find it at Copperfields (in the Sebastopol store, it was on their Travel display.) Recommended.