New books & media

When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach, Ashlee Vance, Ecco, 2023, $35.00

Although space tourism and the efforts of billionaire entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk have tended to dominate public perceptions of the private space industry, a host of startup companies have been proliferating to cash in on another burgeoning market—smaller, faster, and cheaper satellite launches. In When the Heavens Went on Sale, writer Ashlee Vance focuses on four of the leading pioneers in that field: Planet Labs, Rocket Lab, Astra, and Firefly Aerospace. Having gained exclusive access to the companies and their founders, Vance provides a firsthand account of their race to build new types of satellites and rockets, and the many adventures and misadventures along the way. —cc

For the Love of Mars: A Human History of the Red Planet, Matthew Shindell, U. Chicago Press, 2023, $27.50

What is it about Mars that has captivated humanity for centuries? In this new book, Matthew Shindell, a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, investigates why the red planet has cast a spell on societies from antiquity to the present. Early portions of the book, including a section on the depiction of Mars in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, are highly intriguing. But the meat of the book focuses on 19th- and 20th-century conceptions of Mars. It interrogates the key tension of modern Martian “history”: Missions searching for signs of life on the planet have had both scientific and geopolitical motivations. As with so many other fields during the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in planetary science have often been linked to superpower rivalries. —rd

The Short Story of the Universe: A Pocket Guide to the History, Structure, Theories and Building Blocks of the Cosmos, Gemma Lavender, Laurence King, 2022, $19.99

With the beautiful illustrations of a coffee-table book and the conciseness of a primer, The Short Story of the Universe aims to provide an easily digestible overview of current astronomy knowledge. Divided into four parts—structure, history and future, components, and theories—the book comprises some 100 two-page spreads featuring encyclopedic entries on such subjects as spacetime, the origins of our solar system, individual planets and their moons, and special and general relativity. Color and black-and-white images, callouts of notable scientists involved in or notable examples of the phenomena in question, lists of key publications or developments, and cross-references round out the entries. —cc

Astronomical Mindfulness: Your Cosmic Guide to Reconnecting with the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets, Christopher G. De Pree and Sarah Scoles, HarperOne, 2022, $24.99

A starlit sky can inspire awe and wonder, yet how often do we take the time to stargaze? In Astronomical Mindfulness, the astronomer Christopher G. De Pree and the science writer Sarah Scoles focus on the value of becoming better acquainted with the stars and planets as a means of pursuing a heightened awareness of oneself and one’s place in the cosmos. They achieve that through a combination of practical astronomical instruction and homework interspersed with mindfulness exercises, which involve such activities as observation, breathing, and visualization. The book is a timely reminder for people caught up in their daily jobs and routines to take a moment and see the bigger picture. —cc

The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration, Jake Bittle, Simon & Schuster, 2023, $28.99

One potential effect of climate change will be the forced relocation of individuals and entire communities as extreme temperatures, droughts, flooding, and forest fires occur more frequently and become more widespread. In The Great Displacement, the journalist Jake Bittle focuses on the US, where climatological events are already driving people to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. He discusses the havoc wreaked by several 21st-century catastrophes, such as Hurricane Irma in Florida and the Tubbs fire in California; the loss of community and history that results from such tragic events; and the need for improvement in economic and government programs to help those most affected, who tend to be minorities and the less affluent. —cc

“You Are Not Expected to Understand This”: How 26 Lines of Code Changed the World, Torie Bosch, ed., Princeton U. Press, 2022, $19.95 (paper)

Contrary to the book’s title—a comment made in 1975 by a Unix programmer—this collection of 26 essays aims to enlighten readers, programmers and nonprogrammers alike, about the history of computers and coding. Written by leading technology experts and journalists, the essays cover diverse topics: Some focus on actual lines of code, while others discuss software, coding languages, and the very act of coding. As editor Torie Bosch writes in her introduction, by revealing both moments of genius and major mistakes, she aims to tell the stories of the people behind the programming and convey the complexity of the technical environment in which we live. —cc