Vault of the Heavens: Exploring the Solar System's Place in the Universe (Portable Professor Series) FROM THE PUBLISHER
PORTABLE PROFESSOR™ is a series of exciting and informative lectures recorded by some of today's most renowned university and college professors. Each course introduces listeners to fascinating, and sometimes startling, insights into the intellectual forces that shape our understanding of the world. Each package includes 14 riveting lectures presented by notable professors as well as a book-length course guide.
Since the beginning of recorded history, and likely for much longer than that, humankind has gazed to the heavens for clues to the most fundamental mysteries about our place in the universe. In the modern age, when the science of astronomy has replaced mythology as the primary tool for interpreting the heavens, we continue to search the skies for answers as we tumble through the solar system. In this remarkable course, award-winning astronomer James Kaler, moving outward from our vantage point on Earth, explains the workings of the planets and sun and shows how this knowledge provides remarkable insights into the mechanics of the universe at large.
COURSE LECTURES
We and the UniverseReflections of the Spinning EarthSun and SeasonsStories in the Sky: ConstellationsRomance of the MoonHappy Wanderers: The PlanetsKeeping It All TogetherReaching OutwardOur Domain: Earth and the MoonIron Planets: Mercury, Venus, and MarsMonsters of the Midway: Jupiter and SaturnDistant Outposts: Uranus, Neptune, and PlutoLeftovers of Creation: Comets, Asteroids, and MeteorsCreation
FROM THE CRITICS
AudioFile
This exceptional series of 14 lectures by Dr. James Kaler, of the University of Illinois, reminds us that the universe is an exciting place. Starting with the sun and proceeding to the farthest known reaches of the cosmos, we are reintroduced in a folksy, personal, and enthusiastic manner to the origins of the light that informs our every day. Sunspots, Kuiper belts, black holes, quasars, neutron stars, and more are explained in everyday terms with awe and reverence that will overwhelm the most cynical among us. The production is relatively unadorned, but the brilliance of the speaker is such that a more ornate setting might detract from the force of his ideas. This is the place where rational persons start talking about religious experiences. J.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
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