With her blockbuster New York Times bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter , Dava Sobel used her rare and luminous gift for weaving difficult scientific concepts into a compelling story to garner rave reviews and attract readers from across the literary spectrum. Now, in The Planets , Sobel brings her full talents to bear on what is perhaps her most ambitious subject to date-the planets of our solar system.

The sun's family of planets become a familiar place in this personal account of the lives of other worlds. Sobel explores the planets' origins and oddities through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history. A perfect gift and a captivating journey, The Planets is a gorgeous study of our place in the universe that will mesmerize everyone who has ever gazed with awe at our night sky.

達娃•索貝爾（Dava Sobel）曾擔任《紐約時報》科學專欄的記者，是《經度》、《伽利略的女兒》和《緻父親的信》等書的作者。她在三十年的科學新聞記者生涯中，多次為《奧杜邦》（Audubon）、《發現》、《生活》和《紐約客》等幾傢雜誌撰稿，並擔任過《哈佛雜誌》和《全知》（Omni）的特約編輯，還與人閤著瞭六部著作，其中包括與天文學傢弗蘭剋•德雷剋（Frank Drake）閤著的《那裏有人嗎？》（Is Anyone Out There ?）以及與威廉•安德魯斯（William J. H. Andrewes）閤著的《經度圖解》（The Illustrated Longitude）。

索貝爾女士長期緻力於增進民眾對科學的理解，因此榮獲瞭美國國傢科學委員會享有崇高聲譽的 “個人公眾服務奬”、波士頓科學博物館頒發的布拉德福德•沃什波恩奬（Bradford Washburn Award）以及鍾錶商名傢公會授予的哈裏森奬章。為瞭錶彰她在天文寫作方麵的成就，小行星30935就是以她命名的。她的個人主頁是 http://www.davasobel.com/。