For several years I have followed Dr. Plait’s badastronomy.com site because he does an excellent job pointing out how Hollywood couldn’t pass basic Astronomy or Physics. Sure, they’re just movies but the pervasiveness of Bad Astronomy (as Dr. Plait coins it) clouds the average person’s understanding of the world and universe. This problem is even worse when it comes to Hollywood butchering History.
Besides movies, the site also discusses current events with NASA’s findings and the latest (usually recycled) nonsense being spread around by nutjobs, con artists, dupes and religious fanatics. Sadly, he has to spend more time debunking the nonsense. I know how he feels, I have a co-worker who believes in the myth that Venus may be a large piece of matter ejected from Jupiter centuries ago. Well, at least it’s better than dealing with the former co-worker who believed in the moon landings being faked.
Anyway, Dr. Plait wrote a book several years ago covering the common misunderstandings, misconceptions, myths and mysteries that Astronomy solved and he communicates this in plain English! He starts out from Earth with explanations on the color of the sky, phases of the moon and the twinkling of stars. Then he moves out into space with the moon, our solar system, meteors and the stars with a healthy sprinkling of basic Physics since gravity is a major facet of the Universe. Back to Earth for the next sections on the whacky nonsense some people purport: UFOs, encounters with aliens, the moon landings being faked, runaway planets, runaway comets and astrology. Finally, the part everyone loves, the ten things that Hollywood consistently shows incorrectly in science fiction movies. My personal favorite is how much mass the asteroid belt in The Empire Strikes Back constitutes and why it would be highly unlikely there is such a place (An asteroid belt that dense would have to be equal to the mass all the planets in our solar system).
This is definitely a book the intelligent design crowd will not read. It is ammunition for intelligent layman who need concise explanations defending Science, truth, knowledge and reality. Written more intelligently than the for Dummies products yet Plait’s style is down to Earth (pun intended) so I came away with a stronger understanding of how to explain the essentials to my nieces and nephews, when the need arrives. This book is also highly recommended for elementary and high school Science teachers, especially when their text books are dead wrong. Personally, I have always loved Astronomy since I was a kid thus I had trouble putting down BA. But for everyone else; it’s a must for anyone taking an Astronomy course, it’s a must for anyone teaching Physical Science and it’s highly recommended for anyone else seeking to expand one’s knowledge of basic Astronomy.