Wonders of Solar System Book

[khalen]

I have just bought the Wonders of the Solar System book by Prof Brian Cox. Love the DVD series which I also got but I have noticed an error in the book and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about it. Are there many errors, of which I am not going to know.

I only recognised this one because I know that the sun is 1,400,000 kilometres in diameter but the book says 140,000km.

I have only just bought it but starting to think that maybe it will cause more confusion than help me to learn.

Your thoughts please.

[khalen]

I don't want to sound pushy Guys, but is the lack of responce because no one has bought the book? or am I just being petty about my concerns?

I know very little about space and astronomy and I need something that I can rely on to be accurate, interestingly presented and affordable. This book seemed to fit the bill.

[paul schofield]

Hiya Khalen, I have read it cover to cover too and loved it. Just ordered Wonders of the universe too. Must admit I never noticed that type error in my book. But rest assured the sun is approx 1`400 00 km in diameter. Or slightly less than 1000000 miles. Not 140`000 km. Hope this helps. good luck.......

[alowen]

Amazon reviews pointed that error out.

[khalen]

Thanks guys ... Paul: I am not concerned about the dia fo the Sun I know it is 1.4 million km, or just under. My concern was that if there were any other typos, would I be assimilating many errors. I don't know about you but once I have something in my head it is very difficult to change. Especially at my age ... lol

Alowen: Thanks for that. Maybe it will be worth reading some Amazon reviews Hope there isn't too many!

[alowen]

Amazon does have some good reviews i find, theres some very knowledgable peoples reviews on there.

Al

[paul schofield]

Sorry I miss read your post..

[Space Beagle]

There are a few typos in the new 'Wonders Of The Universe' book too, unfortunately!

Nothing that really distracts from it still being a very good read!

Doc

[Ender Of Days]

I doubt there's anymore typo's or errors in that book than in any other book,

The fun is finding them

JJ..

[stick]

i really liked the book to be fair

as a newbie to all this i thought it was well laid out and explained things really well but i take your point on typos being an issue, but like Ender of days said, they are in most books unfortunately

[meteoriot]

I noticed many errors. They were pretty much all in the little square boxes of text rather than the main text. One of the worst I thought was 'a meteorite measuring 50metres across (30feet)' lol great book still!

[khalen]

Thanks for all of your comments guys. I got a result though. Apparantly has been a revision and errors corrected I received a new copy today in exchange for mine and the Sun diameter error is gone. Not sure about the others though.

Now to get into reading it. And preparing for the 'Universe' version!

[Viv]

I bought it a few months back & didn't notice

Making Every Photon Count is the main book at the mo ......

[meteoriot]

I have two copies now (bought one and then won one last week for winning a quiz at my local observatory) I'm donating it to a fellow astronomer on the course but I'll check to see if mistakes have been corrected first

[Pakmoto]

Just purchased my copy today, WHSmiths had it for £15 and I had a £5 off voucher,

So far looks good, deffo worth a tenner,

The wife also got me Wonders of the Universe from Waterstones for a tenner also, but I won't get that until me birthday, time enough to read the Solar System.

[lankywolf]

I'm reading WOTSS at the moment and have noticed that it says 'then' when it should say 'than' a few times. One of my pet hates is that. Haven't noticed any other errors yet though.

Sack the proof reader I say!!!

[khalen]

Lankywolf using 'then' when 'than' should be used and visa versa is a common error in English. I don't understand why but I see it an awful lot! I am looking at getting WOTU next. Can't wait.

[ajdetpwm]

Great book - loved it

Have also have spotted the following apparent errors

P 150 - re chinese lanterns "increasing the pressure in the lantern". IMHO the lantern is not a sealed container, so the pressure cant increase. It rises because the hot molecules produce a reduction in density of the air in the lantern.

P152 - the comments about pictures refer to "the planet", but it is talking about Titan which is a moon.

P198 "for every orbit of Io, Ganymede goes around almost exactly four times and Europa goes around just twice."

This is the wrong way round Io goes round 4 for each orbit of Ganymede and twice for each of Europa - as per table on P192.

[meteoriot]

Great book - loved it

Have also have spotted the following apparent errors

P 150 - re chinese lanterns "increasing the pressure in the lantern". IMHO the lantern is not a sealed container, so the pressure cant increase. It rises because the hot molecules produce a reduction in density of the air in the lantern.

P152 - the comments about pictures refer to "the planet", but it is talking about Titan which is a moon.

P198 "for every orbit of Io, Ganymede goes around almost exactly four times and Europa goes around just twice."

This is the wrong way round Io goes round 4 for each orbit of Ganymede and twice for each of Europa - as per table on P192.

Well spotted

[Sparrow]

I got both books for my birthday the other week (Solar System and Universe) - yes there were a few typos - one was a Billion instead of a Million, but to be honest - they were both such a good read that I didn't really let it worry me. Overall I thought they were very well presented books with plenty of good information and a great compliment to the series.

In the life of the universe, who's going to worry about the odd billion here and there between friends:)

[blackparticle]

It's doubtful Brian Cox writes many of his TV lines and this may apply to the book as well. I noticed this after watching another documentary on the BBCi player at the same time WOTSS was on (Theory of Nothing / Everything perhaps?) and the script in parts was almost identical apart from the grammar.

Let's just hope his calculations and figures for the LHC experiments aren't missing the occasional zero here and there!! heh.