In Search of Planet Vulcan: The Ghost in Newton's Clockwork Universe
by Richard Baum and William Sheehan
Plenum, 1997
hardcover, 350 pp., illus.
ISBN 0-306-45567-6
US$28.95

Take off the pointed ears and unlock your hand from that distinctive salute. The account described in In Search of Planet Vulcan has nothing to do with the fictional world that's home to Star Trek's logical aliens. Rather, the book recounts the unsuccessful search for a planet orbiting the Sun closer than Mercury, one that could account for the peculiarities in the orbit of Mercury. Richard Baum and William Sheehan discuss the fruitless search for such a planet, dubbed Vulcan, in In Search of Planet Vulcan.
     Baum and Sheehan discuss the search for Vulcan as part of a larger search for planets in the inner and outer solar system. Herschel's discovery of Uranus, and subsequent discoveries of perturbations in its orbit, led astronomers to theorize the existence of an outer planet whose gravity could account for the perturbations. These studies were "vindicated", in a sense, by the discovery of Neptune (the coincidence of the actual and theorized existence of Neptune turned out to be just a fortunate circumstance.) This work led some 19th Century astronomers to believe a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury could account for the slow precession of Mercury's elliptical orbit. In the end, no Vulcan was found, despite numerous false alarms: the precession of the orbit was later explained by Einstein's formulation of general relativity.
     Baum and Sheehan, both astronomers and historians of science, provide a detailed and compelling account of the search for Vulcan. Couched in the history of planet searches, one will learn as much about the discovery of Neptune as of the futile search for Vulcan. Anyone interested in the search for planets in our solar system, from a scientific and personal history standpoint, will enjoy In Search of Planet Vulcan.

Space and the American Imagination
by Howard E. McCurdy
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997
hardcover, 294 pp., illus.
ISBN 1-56098-764-2
US$29.95

There has been no shortage of visions of the human exploration, development, and colonization of space from before and after the dawn of the Space Age. Advocates of space have proposed often grandiose roles for our future in space, from colonies on the Moon and Mars to giant space stations, factories, power stations, and observatories in Earth orbit. Yet, what we have actually achieved in space is but a disappointingly small fraction of those visions. This disconnect between vision and reality, and the reasons for it, is the focus of Howard McCurdy's Space and the American Imagination.
     McCurdy argues that the sudden rise in the space program in the 50s to mid-60s was due to concentrated efforts by opinion leaders, especially science and science fiction writers. Their efforts to portray space as the next inevitable conquest of mankind generated entertainment and excitement regarding the opening of a new frontier. It also generated a Cold War-inspired fear that the United States could lose the "high ground" of space to the Soviet Union. The combination captured the imagination of the public and resulted in broad support for the space program in the early days of the Space Age.
     This combination of forces led to inevitable disappointment as the actual space program failed to match the visions of the early space proponents, which were often ungrounded in reality. This disconnect between vision and reality brewed discontent among the public with the space program, as they blamed NASA for its inability to meet their expectations. The result: decreased interest in space, reduced government funding, and a perceived "failure" of space.
     This book will hit home with many space activists, and its conclusions will be uncomfortable for many. Yet, if one wants to help formulate effective policy for the future, and raise consciousness of space in the minds of the public, the failures of past efforts must be understood. For those people, and anyone else interested in the rise and fall of space in American minds, this book is required reading.

The Corona Project: America's First Spy Satellites
by Curtis Peebles
Naval Institute Press, 1997
hardcover, 368 pp., illus.
US$36.95
ISBN 1-55750-688-4

One of the earliest roles the government, and particularly the military, saw for space was in reconnaissance. As the Cold War deepened, and Soviet efforts to develop nuclear weapons and vehicles to deliver them increased, American analysts craved information about what was really going inside that closed society. Cameras on unmanned balloons that overflew of the Soviet Union provided only spotty coverage; U-2 flights provided better images but had strong political repercussions. This led to the development of Corona, the first generation of spy satellites.
     Curtis Peebles, taking advantage of information and images declassified only in recent years, writes a thorough history of the Corona project, from its development and early string of frustrating failures to later routine operations. Of particular interest to space enthusiasts is a description of images of the Soviet's N-1 lunar rocket launch center taken before and after a catastrophic explosion in July 1969. This book will be of tangential interest to those with a mainstream interest in space, but will be an enlightening read to anyone with a interest in the history of the military uses of space.

Stephen Hawking's Universe: The Cosmos Explained
by David Filkin
Basic Books, 1997
hardcover, 304 pp., illus.
US$30.00
ISBN 0-465-08199-1

This book is billed as the "authorized companion" to the recent PBS series of the same title. One might infer from the title that it focuses much on Hawking himself and his research, but in fact the book is little more than a superficial account of astrophysics and cosmology. The book is extensively illustrated, but many of the illustrations seemed lifted directly from the series, and lose something in the translation to print. The basic level of information in the book, and a lack of focus on Hawking himself, makes this book suitable just for those with little knowledge of cosmology, and few others.

Astronomy from Space: The Design and Operation of Orbiting Observatories
by John K. Davies
Wiley-Praxis, 1997
hardcover, 320 pp., illus.
US $64.95
ISBN 0-471-96250-9

One of the promises of space has been its ability to revolutionize astronomy: the lack of an atmosphere would allow for longer, higher resolution observations at wavelengths invisible from the surface of the Earth. this potential has been realized to some degree by a retinue of orbiting spacecraft that have provided observations from radio to gamma ray wavelengths. The history of these spacecraft is provided in a no-nonsense manner by astronomer John Davies in this book. Davies reviews the successes and failures of space-based astronomy, from the Hubble Space Telescope to relatively unknown missions. This provides a useful history of spaceborne astronomy and a set of lessons learned for future efforts.

Sun, Earth and Sky
by Kenneth R. Lang
Springer-Verlag, 1997
softcover, 282 pp., illus.
US$39.95
ISBN 3-540-62808-8

Astronomer Kenneth Lang writes a useful study about the Sun in his revised textbook Sun, Earth and Sky. Lang provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of our studies of the Sun and our current knowledge of the Sun, in addition to its effects on the Earth. Although the book appears intended for the college textbook market, its readable style, where popular culture references and artwork are interspersed throughout, makes this book a useful to more than just students interested about the Sun.