Beyond : Visions Of The Interplanetary Probes

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Space-age prophet Arthur C. Clarke, one of three eloquent, forward-looking contributors to this pioneering and magnificent collection of pictures generated by the robotic space probes Galileo, Voyager, Pathfinder, Magellan, Viking, and other less commonly known mechanical explorers, describes these breathtaking images as "some of the greatest landscape pictures ever taken." The recognition that these miraculous images (supremely reproduced) are nothing less than works of art is the impetus for this resplendent volume, and discerning writer and documentary filmmaker Benson did, in fact, serve as the book's curator, searching through tens of thousands of digital images to find the most striking and beautiful scenes of the solar system, many never published before. Each sequence of finely detailed portraits of Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and our sister planets is sublimely exhilarating, particularly those of the volatile Jovian system, blue and serene Neptune, and elegant Saturn, which Benson describes as "cosmic perfection." Not only do Clarke, Benson, and Lawrence Weschler celebrate the ingenious technology of robotic space probes and their, as Weschler writes, "unparalleled ability to convey the sheer beauty and mystery" of the solar system, they also ponder, with great acumen, the metaphysical questions raised by these awesome new visions of the glorious cosmos. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Book News, Inc.
Presenting photographs from the history of robotic space exploration, this oversized book provides an awe-inspiring visual narrative of the solar system's planets, moons, and asteroids. From the vantage point of unmanned explorers, the book shows Venus' veil of clouds lifted by Magellan's high-resolution radar; Mars as viewed by the Viking orbiters of the 1970s; and unambiguous signs of life on Earth revealed by Galileo's flybys en route to Jupiter. The striking high- resolution images form a body of art created in equal parts by scientists, by the probes themselves, and by the curator Michael Benson. Benson (a writer, filmmaker, and photographer) includes 295 color and black-and-white photographs, and essays explaining the stories behind the photos, and how and why the probes were built. The book includes a forward by novelist Arthur C. Clarke.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Book Description
"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.

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.


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Compiled by writer/photographer/filmmaker Benson-whose work has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times-this collects 295 stunning photographs (color and b&w) of our solar system, taken by an assortment of interplanetary satellites since the 1960s. The amazing views (e.g., the canyons of Mars, the mountains of the moon) take up a full page, and as if that weren't enough, readers are also treated to frequent double fold-outs, giving a four-page panoramic view. For each image, there is a brief description of a prominent feature, the probe, and the date. A brief essay begins the chapter on each solar system object. These, along with a foreword by Arthur C. Clarke and an afterword by Lawrence Weschler, make up practically the entire text. But, then, this book is for viewing, not reading. For public library science and photography collections.-Margaret F. Dominy, Drexel Univ. Lib., Philadelphia Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.


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