An Earthling's Guide to Outer Space
CBC Books | | Posted: July 30, 2019 7:12 PM | Last Updated: February 7, 2020
Bob McDonald
How big is our galaxy? Is there life on those distant planets? Are we really made of star dust? And where do stars even come from?
In An Earthling's Guide to Outer Space, we finally have the answers to all those questions and more. With clarity, wisdom and a great deal of enthusiasm, McDonald explores the curiosities of the big blue planet we call home as well as our galactic neighbours — from Martian caves to storm clouds on Jupiter to the nebulae at the far end of the universe.
So if you're pondering how to become an astronaut, or what dark matter really is, or how an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, look no further. Through a captivating mix of stories, experiments, and illustrations, McDonald walks us through space exploration past and present and reveals what we can look forward to in the future.
An Earthling's Guide to Outer Space is sure to satisfy science readers of all ages, and to remind us earthbound terrestrials just how special our place in the universe truly is. (From Simon & Schuster)
In An Earthling's Guide to Outer Space, we finally have the answers to all those questions and more. With clarity, wisdom and a great deal of enthusiasm, McDonald explores the curiosities of the big blue planet we call home as well as our galactic neighbours — from Martian caves to storm clouds on Jupiter to the nebulae at the far end of the universe.
So if you're pondering how to become an astronaut, or what dark matter really is, or how an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, look no further. Through a captivating mix of stories, experiments, and illustrations, McDonald walks us through space exploration past and present and reveals what we can look forward to in the future.
An Earthling's Guide to Outer Space is sure to satisfy science readers of all ages, and to remind us earthbound terrestrials just how special our place in the universe truly is. (From Simon & Schuster)
Bob McDonald is the host of CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks.
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From the book
Our Earth is floating through a beautiful whirlpool of stars almost too large to imagine. We call our galaxy the Milky Way because it looks like someone spilled milk across the night sky. You can see it with your own eyes, but it's a little tricky. You have to find a dark place where there are no streetlights, away from towns and cities, on a clear night when the moon is not up. If you can find a spot like that — in the country, beside a lake, on a farm — and look up on a summer night, you'll see a ghostly glow arcing across the entire sky, a bridge of stars that reaches from horizon to horizon.
From An Earthling's Guide to Outer Space by Bob McDonald ©2019. Published by Simon & Schuster.