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'Meteorites and Their Parent Planets provides an engrossing overview of a highly interdisciplinary field - the study of extraterrestrial materials. The second edition of this successful book has been thoroughly revised, and describes the nature of meteorites, where they come from, and how they get to Earth … Harry McSween's writing is accessible to scientists and non-scientists alike … This book gives the reader a clear understanding of the fundamentals of a complex subject. The softback is good value and the book should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the origin and evolution of the Solar System.' R. L. S. Taylor, Spaceflight
'Harry McSween's writing is accessible to scientists and non-scientists alike … the book should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the origin and evolution of the Solar System.' R. L. S. Taylor, Spaceflight
' … an excellent intorduction to meteoritics for those Earth Scientists who have an interest in but not a specialist knowledge of the subject.' Allan Pring, Geological Magazine
' … a very interesting read and is a welcome addition to my bookshelf … generally the text is explanatory and written so that someone with a general interest can follow it quite easily. On the other hand, there seems to be sufficient technical backup to make the book a useful reference tool for those a little more experienced in the subject … All in all a very good interesting book, particularly for pure geologists. It would, I think be of general interest to all Geoscientists.' Geoscientist
'The first edition provided one of the initial sparks to my interest in meteorites, and this new book is no less inspiring. This book is up to date, broad in focus, and confidently written by an author with a deep understanding of his subject. It is a must for the bookshelf of every planetary scientist, as well as being of interest to students and scientists from other disciplines. The easy writing style would also make it an enjoyable read for an interested amateur or bright teenager.' Sara Russell, The Observatory
'Harry McSween's writing is accessible to scientists and non-scientists alike … the book should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the origin and evolution of the Solar System.' R. L. S. Taylor, Spaceflight
' … an excellent intorduction to meteoritics for those Earth Scientists who have an interest in but not a specialist knowledge of the subject.' Allan Pring, Geological Magazine
' … a very interesting read and is a welcome addition to my bookshelf … generally the text is explanatory and written so that someone with a general interest can follow it quite easily. On the other hand, there seems to be sufficient technical backup to make the book a useful reference tool for those a little more experienced in the subject … All in all a very good interesting book, particularly for pure geologists. It would, I think be of general interest to all Geoscientists.' Geoscientist
'The first edition provided one of the initial sparks to my interest in meteorites, and this new book is no less inspiring. This book is up to date, broad in focus, and confidently written by an author with a deep understanding of his subject. It is a must for the bookshelf of every planetary scientist, as well as being of interest to students and scientists from other disciplines. The easy writing style would also make it an enjoyable read for an interested amateur or bright teenager.' Sara Russell, The Observatory
Product Description
Meteorites and Their Parent Planets provides an engrossing overview of a highly interdisciplinary field - the study of extraterrestrial materials. The second edition of this successful book has been thoroughly revised, and describes the nature of meteorites, where they come from, and how they get to Earth. Meteorites offer important insights into processes in stars and in interstellar regions, the birth of our solar system, the formation and evolution of planets and smaller bodies, and the origin of life. The first edition was immensely popular with meteorite collectors, scientists and science students in many fields, and amateur astronomers. In this second edition all of the illustrations have been updated and improved, many sections have been expanded and modified based on discoveries in the last decade, and a new final chapter on the importance of meteorites has been added. Everyone with an interest in meteorites will want a copy of this book.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Imagine a witness at the birth of the solar system, painstakingly observing and recording each event as it unfolds. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Imagine a witness at the birth of the solar system, painstakingly observing and recording each event as it unfolds. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Easy to understand for the seriously interested layperson,
By A Customer
This review is from: Meteorites and their Parent Planets (Paperback)
If you are searching for a book which gives a lot of timely, detailed, but easy to follow explanations on types, compositions and origins of meteorites, as well as major research methods in the field of meteoritics, this is the one to buy. The text is within the grasp of an interested layperson, even with little background in geology and/or physics or astronomy, and a delightfull read. When it comes to factual correctness and thoroughness of descriptions of meteorite types and origins and major research methods, this book is far superior to the more well known "Rocks from Space" by Norton. The (short) historic outline in the introductory chapter however is a bit meagre and "thirteen in a dozen". The following chapters by far make up for that however. After reading this book, you'll know all a non-professional needs to know to have a basic and actually quite detailed understanding of the many types and subtypes of meteorites, their classification, and their parent bodies. Well illustrated, and well written. I can recommend it!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews) 24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating - I was amazed at the power of geochemistry,
By A Geology Teacher - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Meteorites and their Parent Planets (Paperback)
I'm a geologist who loves to find good summaries of geology / planetary science topics, and "Meteorites and their Parent Planets" is one of the best I've found. While I've always been more interested in "geometric" topics like structural geology, McSween's book made geochemistry and cosmochemistry come alive like I'd never imagined. He weaves a fascinating tale of the amazing deductions that have been made from analyses of meteorites. "Compositional" sciences like petrology and geochemistry used to make my eyes glaze over, but now I think that if I had it to do over again, I might go into geochemistry or meteoritics! I look forward to reading McSween's other books.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The ultimate meteorite book.,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Meteorites and their Parent Planets (Hardcover)
Meteorites are amazing. Most people don't realize how much of what we know about the earth and solar system is based on the study of meteorites. McSween is a scientist and this book is technical but is well written and understandable to a layman with a reasonable scientific background. He covers topics from the earliest history of recorded meteorite falls to the chemistry of these objects. With the exception of martian microbes and armegeddon, meteoritics is largely ignored by the lay press. This book weaves tales of ancient asteroid impacts and planets long ago destroyed. The progression of the book is logical, and along the way, the author stops to explain how tests such as spectrophotometry and radioactive dating work. If you're the type who wants to know "how did they figure that out?" this book is for you.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding resource,
By Joseph Hilbe - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Meteorites and their Parent Planets (Paperback)
I both collect meteorites and give talks about them throughout the U.S. I am always looking for good books on meteorites that I can recommend to those who attend my presentations. Norton's books, as well as McSween's, are the best. It's chock full of very interesting information that has been abstracted from research journals and put into language that non-specialists can understand. It's by no means a beginners book, but one that you'd want to read after the more superficial ones.
The main theme is, of course, identifying the parent planets and asteroids for the classifications of meteorite. McSween provides his readers with the most up-to-date information, by 1999 standards, and when there is no agreement, he offers us his best opinion. The book is organized by first providing a good overview of meteoronics in general. Then he addresses chondrites in Chapter 2, followed by a chapter related to possible parent bodies for the chondrites discussed. Ch 4 and 5 do the same for achondrites, and Chs 6 and 7 for Irons and Stony-Irons. The final two chapters get into subjects such as the geography of teh asteroidal belt and Kirkwood gaps, resonance, fractionations, and so forth -- this is the discussion that will interest those who have been involved with meteors for awhile. I highly recommend the book and hope that he updates it in the near future. It has a 1999 date -- 8 years ago from this review. I'd love to read a third edition. |
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