| A fresh entry in the recent crop of books on comet/meteor impacts with earth, this time by a British astronomer. Nowadays, the selling point of any book on comets and meteors is the probability of a collision with one, ending in the destruction of civilization. As the title indicates, Grego's publisher clearly wants to emphasize the book's comments on that topic. Actually, the book has little more to say on the subject than a dozen recent books. There are clear accounts of known meteor impact events and of the craters left by prehistoric events; there is even a brief discussion of people known to have been killed or injured by such impacts (surprisingly few, with several tons of meteoric material entering the earth's atmosphere every day). Grego seems much more interested in alerting his readers to the possibility of observing some of the brilliant meteor showers (notably the Leonids, in November 1999) expected to light up our night skies during the next few years. This is, in fact, a refreshing angle, and his description may entice a fair number of readers to brave the winter nights to see whether this year's Leonids deliver one of the spectacular displays (several hundred an hour) they present every 33 years. There is a fine chapter on the basics of amateur meteor-watching, including tips for recording the events on film or video (and suggestions for outdoor wear on cold winter evenings). And while there are a few oversimplifications of historical matters (for example, he seems not to realize that the shorter life expectancy of medieval times represents the impact of a high infant mortality rate on the average), the accounts of historical reactions to comets and meteors are well-chosen and vivid. This would be an excellent book to give to a youngster who's shown an interest in astronomy. |