Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax"

By Philip C. Plait

Advance praise for Philip Plait s Bad Astronomy

"Bad Astronomy is just plain good! Philip Plait clears up every misconception on astronomy and space you never knew you suffered from." --Stephen Maran, Author of Astronomy for Dummies and editor of The Astronomy and Astrophysics Encyclopedia

"Thank the cosmos for the bundle of star stuff named Philip Plait, who is the world s leading consumer advocate for quality science in space and on Earth. This important contribution to science will rest firmly on my reference library shelf, ready for easy access the next time an astrologer calls." --Dr. Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and author of The Borderlands of Science

"Philip Plait has given us a readable, erudite, informative, useful, and entertaining book. Bad Astronomy is Good Science. Very good science..." --James "The Amazing" Randi, President, James Randi Educational Foundation, and author of An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural

"Bad Astronomy is a fun read. Plait is wonderfully witty and educational as he debunks the myths, legends, and 'conspiracies that abound in our society. 'The Truth Is Out There' and it's in this book. I loved it!" --Mike Mullane, Space Shuttle astronaut and author of Do Your Ears Pop in Space?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Oct 8, 2002
• ISBN: 9780471422075

Book preview

Reviews for Bad Astronomy

[kaelirenee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Plait is a sci-fi loving astronomer, but there are just some things out there that infuriate him. Bad Astronomy adressed a wide array of misperceptions and flat-out lies in the field. The book ranges from silly ideas from movies (rocketships wooshing through space) to costly mistakes (astrology) to confusions (why IS the sky blue, while clouds are white?) to flat out bad science (creationists). The books is very accessible to non-astronomy buffs. In fact, this was the first major (non textbook) book on astronomy I'd read. The author uses excellent thought experiments to help the reader imagine some very complicated theories and facts.

[psiloiordinary_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I know Phil from his blog and sceptical activities around the web so catching up with his book was only a matter of time.Phil has a knack of making the debunking of nonsense witty and interesting. This book is a tour of twenty four misconceptions, myths or downright silly claims.Suitable for both those with little or no scientific knowledge and perhaps those a bit more knowledgeable as his enthusiastic style and cheeky sense of humour make both new and old topics equally stimulating.Great fun.(Plus a good recommended reading section which scores highly with me)

[arthwollipot · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't enjoy this as much as Death From The Skies. There are some interesting facts, and I've already used it as reference material in an argument about why the moon looks big on the horizon, but as a reader it didn't engage me quite as much as his second book did.

[quantum_flapdoodle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Which is more peculiar - a lighthearted book about astronomy, or a lighthearted book that is simultaneously serious? This book manages to be all of the above. Plait takes his astronomy, and his critical thinking, seriously, but he doesn't hesitate to sprinkle heavy doses of humor into the mix - and a couple of times gets perhaps a bit too heavy handed with the humor. A good introduction to many pseudoscientific ideas and conspiracy theories, as well as many bits of honest disinformation. It is readable, something that a high school student could not only understand but enjoy, but not dumbed down to insult audiences who have a bit more background. There are a great many good critical thinking tips provided, as well.

[frostkitty · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely love Phil Plait and this book is beyond wonderful.

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is Phil Plait's first book, born out of his Bad Astronomy website, and it's an excellent and entertaining takedown of, as it says on the label, bad astronomy. He takes on many popular misunderstandings and misrepresentations of astronomical facts and realities.Why is the sky really blue? Are meteorites hot enough to cause fires when they hit the ground? Can you see stars during the day if you are at the bottom of a well?Plait takes on creationism, astrology, and UFOs, as well as bad science in movies and television. He talks about the Hubble telescope, and what it can and can't do, and why its data is not released publicly for a year after after collection.I especially enjoyed the chapter dealing with the moon landing "hoax" (spoiler: yes, we really did land on the moon). Also quite interesting is the discussion of Velikovsky's crazy theory about Venus being ejected from Jupiter towards the inner solar system, and causing many of the dramatic events recorded in the Bible, such as when Joshua is reported to have stopped the sun in the sky for a full day. There are many reasons this doesn't make sense, but, really, read or listen to Plait's explanation.Plait does a great job of making this entertaining, educational, and just really interesting. At times it's clear the nonsense that gets presented as plausible science makes him really cranky, but he's also very clear about how much he has enjoyed science fiction tv and movies with really bad science, and how it got him interested in real science and a career in astronomy.The book was originally published in 2002, and is naturally a little dated in some respects. That's mostly in ways such as talking about the space shuttle as still an active part of our space program, and other relatively minor details. And if you catch him out in something more significant that scientific research since 2002 has proven wrong, well, he'd say, "Good!" He'd be delighted you're paying attention to scientific progress, and science's natural self-correcting features.Recommended.I bought this audiobook.

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Mildly interesting content - I'm already familiar with a good bit of it, from Phil Plait's blog and other sources. It got a bit much after a while - debunking, unfortunately, is usually less interesting than the stories it's trying to correct. There were some good bits - details about tides, for instance, or the Hubble telescope. Part of the problem was that I was reading the ebook, and the formatting job was horrible - large chunks missing at the beginning of (almost?) every chapter, drop caps overlapping text, scannos throughout ("Ali! I thought..." It's supposed to be "Ah! I thought..."). I'm going to get the paper copy and check to see what I missed.

[devil_llama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Which is more peculiar - a lighthearted book about astronomy, or a lighthearted book that is simultaneously serious? This book manages to be all of the above. Plait takes his astronomy, and his critical thinking, seriously, but he doesn't hesitate to sprinkle heavy doses of humor into the mix - and a couple of times gets perhaps a bit too heavy handed with the humor. A good introduction to many pseudoscientific ideas and conspiracy theories, as well as many bits of honest disinformation. It is readable, something that a high school student could not only understand but enjoy, but not dumbed down to insult audiences who have a bit more background. There are a great many good critical thinking tips provided, as well.

[islanddave · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Dr. Plait's Bad Astronomy is a first-rate introduction to astronomy-related myths and the real facts you should know. This book is intended as a primer for curious but otherwise beginning science readers. If you have read other popular science books, you probably don't need most of the info contained in this book. Plait sets straight many different myths, including why the sky is blue (not from ocean reflections) and why toilets flush the way they do (hint: it is not due to the rotation of the earth). Basic concepts are covered and popular but ignorant misconceptions are cleared up.While this book was not really for me (I did skim through a few chapters), it is an excellent resource for someone interested in learning more about astronomy or science myths. Plait's writing is very easily digested and he is good at clearly defining his concepts. The section on debunking astronomy-related creationist points is well formed and should be a solid framework for smacking down those arguments. Three stars for me personally since I prefer more advanced treatment of astronomy, but solidly recommended for beginning science readers or those whose astronomy experience is very low.