Higher than Everest: An Adventurer's Guide to the Solar System and Turn Right at Orion: Travels through the Cosmos

A little light reading is desirable now and then, especially over the holidays and/or during times of stress or periods of reflection. With this idea in mind, I reviewed two books that may be viewed as “science entertainment.” The first is Higher than Everest by Paul Hodge. Set some 200 years in the future, this book is structured as a guidebook for adventurers who are looking for thrills and spills at spectacular sites in the Solar System. Based on undergraduate-level lectures in planetary science, the book has 20 chapters focusing on sites such as Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris, Mars; Copernicus Crater on the Moon; Maxwell Montes, Venus; Euboea Montes, Io; and geysers on Triton. With a “peak bagging” emphasis on exploring the highest (or lowest) features, recommendations are provided for siting base camps, including necessary equipment, recognizing environmental constraints, and mapping out traverses and itineraries. Along the way, participants are advised to keep an eye out for aspects of their surroundings that would help to resolve long-standing “mysteries” regarding their origin. Parallels are drawn between extraterrestrial features and their terrestrial counterparts, and numerous photos are provided to reinforce the similarities among planetary surfaces in different environments.