Synopses & Reviews
"These images are a spectacular reaffirmation that we are privileged to live in the greatest age of exploration the world has ever known."-From Arthur C. Clarke's foreword Since the 1960s the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been sending unmanned satellites to explore the planets, moons, and sun. These probes have amassed a stunning visual record of other worlds, revealing not one but scores of new frontiers, from rust-red Mars to the ethereal rings of Saturn. Author Michael Benson has spent years compiling and digitally processing the best of these images. In Beyond this "deskbound cosmic pilgrim" (Atlantic Monthly) has pulled together the most spectacular of them into one volume that presents these photographs for the first time as art. The resulting book consists of two parts: the first is a spectacular visual tour of the solar system, with views every bit as compelling as the work of the great landscape photographers on earth; the second is a series of beautifully written essays that explain the story behind these photographs: the history of the probes' journeys, how they work, and why they were built. This book shows us how modern science has revealed the astonishing beauty and mystery of the solar system and its awe-inspiring worlds far beyond any places human beings have ever directly observed. AUTHOR BIO: Michael Benson is a journalist and maker of documentary films, including the award-winning Predictions of Fire (1995). His work has been published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the Nation, among other publications, and he has been a television (CNN) and radio (NPR) reporter. He lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Arthur C. Clarke is the greatest living prophet of the space age. Best known for his science fiction novels (2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End), he was awarded a knighthood for "services to literature." He lives in Sri Lanka. Lawrence Weschler is one of the leading writers of non-fiction prose in the United States. For 20 years he was a staff writer at the New Yorker, covering art and politics. His most recent book was Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonders.
Synopsis
Since the 1960s the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been sending unmanned satellites to explore the planets, moons, and sun. These probes have amassed a stunning visual record of other worlds, revealing not one but scores of new frontiers, from rust-red Mars to the ethereal rings of Saturn. Author Michael Benson has spent years compiling and digitally processing the best of these images. In Beyond this "deskbound cosmic pilgrim" (Atlantic Monthly) has pulled together the most spectacular of them into one volume that presents these photographs for the first time as art. The resulting book consists of two parts: the first is a spectacular visual tour of the solar system, with views every bit as compelling as the work of the great landscape photographers on earth; the second is a series of beautifully written essays that explain the story behind these photographs: the history of the probes' journeys, how they work, and why they were built. This book shows us how modern science has revealed the astonishing beauty and mystery of the solar system and its awe-inspiring worlds far beyond any places human beings have ever directly observed.
Synopsis
Michael Benson tells the thrilling story of the discovery and description of the universe in a new way. Selecting artful and profound illustrations and maps, many hidden away in the worldandrsquo;s great science libraries and virtually unknown today, he chronicles more than 1,000 years of humanityandrsquo;s ever-expanding understanding of the size and shape of space itself. He shows how the invention of the telescope inspired visions of unimaginably distant places and explains why today we turn to supercomputer simulations to reveal deeper truths about space-time.
Cosmigraphics explores the visual side of our greatandshy;est imaginative achievement as a species: the unveiling of a vast universe that is largely invisible to our senses. It will be a revelation to space-struck Earthlings, art lovers, and readers interested in the history of science, the visualization of information, graphic design, and mapping.
Synopsis
Thanks to the photographic output of a small squadron of interplanetary spacecraft, we have awakened to the beauty and splendor of the solar system. Since Michael Bensonandrsquo;s masterful book
Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes, new, more powerful cameras in probes with greatly improved maneuverability have traversed the wheeling satellites of Jupiter; roamed the boulder-strewn red deserts of Mars; studied Saturnandrsquo;s immaculate rings; and shown us our own ravishing Earth, a blue-white orb with a disturbingly thin atmosphere, as it plunges deeper into ecological crisis. These new images are the subject of Bensonandrsquo;s
Planetfall, a truly revelatory book that uses its large page size to reproduce the greatest achievements in contemporary planetary photography as never before.
Praise for Planetfall:
andldquo;All retrospectives, art and otherwise, should shock us awake the way this one does . . . Planetfall is a book of science through and through, but it also deepens our sense of the miracle and the mystery of the universe, of our eye-blink lives.andrdquo; andmdash;The New York Times
andldquo;This is the way I like to tour the solar system. Find a chair. Sit. Turn some pages. Gaze. Wonder.andrdquo; andmdash;NPR.com
andldquo;Beautiful interplanetary images.andrdquo; andmdash;MSNBC.com
andldquo;Beautiful visions of whatandrsquo;s out there.andrdquo; andmdash;The Huffington Post
andldquo;To encounter a Benson landscape is to be in awe of not only how he sees the universe, but also the ways in which he composes the never-ending celestial ballet.andrdquo; andmdash;Time.com
About the Author
Michael Benson is a journalist and maker of documentary films, including the award-winning Predictions of Fire (1995). His work has been published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the Nation, among other publications, and he has been a television (CNN) and radio (NPR) reporter. He lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Arthur C. Clarke is the greatest living prophet of the space age. Best known for his science fiction novels (2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End), he was awarded a knighthood for "services to literature." He lives in Sri Lanka. Lawrence Weschler is one of the leading writers of non-fiction prose in the United States. For 20 years he was a staff writer at the New Yorker, covering art and politics. His most recent book was Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonders.