A Guide to Space

Great learning book, definitely out of this world and reaches for the stars.

The year 2019 marks 50 years since the first man stepped on the moon and as such there seems to be a renewed interest in all things space. To try and ride this wave there have been several space books published, of which this is one. For me this isn't as good as another one we've read recently, The Space Race by Sarah Cruddas (ISBN: 0241343771), mainly because that one features photos as well as graphics, whereas this one's pictures are just graphics.This book contains lots of 'out of this world' facts and stats about space. For example there are 150+ asteroids known to have a small moon orbiting them, some with two moons. Some of these facts will be new and some will reinforce or complement stuff you may have learnt already. For example the book starts with the solar system and the planets in the solar system and anyone who has been watching the BBC "The Planets" presented by Professor Brian Cox will be familiar with many of the facts here.This book is designed with kids in mind, although is fine for adults too, as the bits of text are laid out in bitesize paragraphs whilst also being arranged at jaunty angles and the like, with relevant computer-generated pictures alongside the text. For example it is written that Saturn's rings extend 282,000 km from Saturn but each ring is only around 10 metres high on average and there is a graphic of two double decker buses on top of each other to the side of this fact with a 10m measuring line next to them.Other interesting bits of this book include a "studying space from Earth" section with some nice tips for budding stargazers on what space objects can be spotting using just your eyes, and also a "looking for life" section on the search for extraterrestrial life.This book is good but, as mentioned, IMO not as good as another recent book we have read on the subject mainly because the other book caught my 8-year-old daughter's attention right from the off with the famous Earthrise photograph (whereas there are no photos in this book) and also the other book really brought the other-worldly nature of space exploration across whereas here the facts and stats presented bring across the enormity of space but not necessarily how totally alien it is to our way of life on Earth. This book complements that one.

Ideal for my nine year old grandson. Lots of bite sized facts and good illustrations laid out in an interesting way. This book is good to look into from time to time and could lead on to more interest in these subjects.

This is quite a nice and informative book about space, it covers all the information about planets but also about space travel, details about moons and planetary discoveries in short, lots of useful information for any young mind. Its age appropriate for any child really over 5 especially if they have an interest in space. There is lots to read and its very well illustrated to keep their attention and plenty of fun facts for them to learn from.