Product Description
Merely a decade ago there were no known planets orbiting sunlike stars outside our own solar system. In the past ten years, however, fast-paced developments in astronomy have revealed over 140 extrasolar planets--with more discoveries surely on the way. Though it will be years before we have direct images of these far-flung worlds, this lavishly illustrated book gives us an idea of what they might look like. A fascinating exploration of the cosmos written for a wide audience, Infinite Worlds brings together Lynette Cook's internationally renowned astronomical artwork, the latest and most dramatic images from the world's top observatories, and up-to-the-minute scientific findings on subjects ranging from the big bang and stellar evolution to a possible universe filled with countless planets and life forms.
The newly discovered planets are boggling astronomers' minds with their bizarre characteristics, including an unimagined diversity of sizes and orbits. In Lynette Cook's scientifically based illustrations--many newly created for this book--we glimpse the landscapes and atmospheres that might adorn these planets. Ray Villard's text elegantly describes the state of astronomy today, imagines where it will take us in the coming years, ponders the chances of success for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and explores the survivability of life in an evolving and accelerating universe.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 5 reviews)

Mind Expanding

The text and artwork in this volume are first class. The art is exceptionally beautiful and is only enhanced by the story. Together, they bring together what we know with what is likely and expands that to a universe of pure possibility. There's nothing dry about this marvelous work. Infinite Worlds is noteworthy accomplishment.
February 10, 2007

reminds me of Bonestall's paintings

The images are everything in this book. Not that the text is badly written. Far from it. But the text is clearly subordinate to letting you see the imagination of many talented artists, as they depict worlds in other planetary systems. Speculative, but based on solid science. And astronomers now have detected over 200 worlds. The book explains how from sometimes single pixels, information is teased out about a world. Impressive. We now have detected enough worlds that we can start talking of classifications and statistics across worlds.

What the book clearly leads up to is a desire for more, better images. Well, you will have to wait at least 10 years, as new telescopes are being constructed.

Science fiction readers might compare these paintings to those made decades ago by Chesley Bonestall. His were necessarily more imaginative. But both types can be very evocative.
November 05, 2006

Different book than the title might suggest.

The title of this book is "Infinite Worlds: An Illustrated Voyage to Planets beyond our Sun". However, only a fraction of the book actually deals with extrasolar planets. I purchased this book based on the assumption that it would be about extrasolar planets. Instead most of the book is based on theories of galaxy formations, birth and death of stars and planets, and theoretical extraterrestrial life. It also describes our Solar System in detail. The artwork is very good although other space artists I have seen on the internet have superior artistic ability than Cook. Overall, though, this is still an interesting book. But potential readers should know that this is not a book about extrasolar planets.
May 16, 2006

nice but flawed

excellent atrwork of the highest standard; would have been nice to have mentioned HD114762, the FIRST extrasolar planet discovered by the center for astrophysics in 1989.
September 21, 2005

Infinitely enjoyable....

A very delightful book. The writing by Ray Villard was surprisingly different than most "astro books" by *not* sounding like a textbook. There are many interesting facts and tidbits that I had not heard before that made reading it quite interesting. Lyn's art of course made the book. There are dozens of her trademark-styled images, each illustrating what the writer is saying. I particularly liked Lyn's use of stratus layers in the landscapes. Five of the images must have taken ages to paint with all the layers in there (Greenhouse Earth on pg 49, HD 16141 b and Moon on pg 108, Planet in the Virgo Cluster on pg 190, Terrestrial Planet at 55 Cancri on pg 171, and Planet Near the Siamese Squid Nebula on pg 53). The Siamese Squid image is really eye-catching with it's pink and green layers and Planet at 55 Cancri is a gorgeous painting in brilliant reds and yellows of sunset. Lyn's attention to the way the waves of the lake curve and reflect the light is just amazing, as is the detailed way the shadows of the rocks fall on the water. This is my favorite image of the book. Another very effective painting is HD 177830 b and Moon on pg 117, a beautiful image of a habitable moon orbiting a Saturnian-like panet. Imagine the night view beings on this planet would have! In fact, I found almost every image in the book to be excellent and inspiring. All-in-all, Lyn's done a remarkable job in this book, definitely a "must add" to your astronomical art collection.
June 22, 2005

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