- ISBN13: 9780471409762
- Condition: USED – VERY GOOD
- Notes:
Product Description
Advance praise for Philip Plaits 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 worlds leading consumer advocate for quality science in space and on Earth. This important … More >>
Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing “Hoax”
Tags: Astrology, Astronomy, astronomy and astrophysics, astronomy misconceptions, bad astronomy, consumer advocate, from, Hoax, Landing, maran, misconception, Misconceptions, Misuses, Moon, moon landing hoax, philip plait, plaits, quality science, Revealed
#1 by G. Estes on April 17, 2010 - 11:21 pm
As long as Plait limits himself to topics he actually understands this book has some use. He clearly doesn’t understand astrology so his attempts to debunk it in terms of Astronomy are laughable. Astrology gave birth to Astronomy not the other way around. So he should be a little more respectful. Instead he basically ignores the fact that Astrology actually does work, and has worked for countless millenia, for people the world over! Of course Newtonian Astronomy tells him it can’t work, so this of course must be so. Wrong! Astrology and Astronomy deal in two completely different ways of understanding the heavenly bodies, so a modern Astronomer is the least qualified to explain Astrology in any way shape or form.
As far as the Apollo hoax is concerned he again follows the politically correct route. Insisting that the Apollo Hoax crowd is wrong! Plait relies upon the standard NASA “proofs” to “prove” Apollo was real, instead of looking at the facts of the case objectively. Regardless of Plait’s and NASA’s assurances to the contrary, the fact that today NASA doesn’t even know how to do a moon mission is a strong indication that something was seriously wrong with Apollo at the very least. How is this possible, if Apollo actually solved all the monumental technological and scientific problems blocking manned lunar missions over thirty years ago? The post Apollo space program is basically limited to missions operating at the relative level of Project Gemini. Why? Apollo should have been the stepping stone to more advanced lunar missions at the very least! It was not, and if Apollo was genuine, there’s no valid explanation for NASA’s current incompetence in manned lunar missions! In fact Apollo should have made manned lunar missions easier to do today, not more difficult! The fact that NASA has “dumbed downed” the post Apollo space program rather than build upon its alleged Apollo achievements proves more than any other “proof” to the contrary, that Apollo was a massive hoax!
Rating: 3 / 5
#2 by Ward Frazier on April 18, 2010 - 1:58 am
Oh my!land sakes the flag moves! What does it all mean? Maybe the moon really does have an atmosphere, but we didnt find out for sure until we actually landed got out put up the flag and low and behold, a breeze made the flag flap! Does this mean that we didnt go to the moon? No what it means is that sometimes just because we have a theory about something regardless of what it is, does not mean that our theory was right to begin with. Sometimes our professionals leading the charge dont want to admit that they were wrong about something, so they just leave us to believe the original theory even if their theory turns out to be wrong. As far as the moonhoax promoters go, put up or shut up. There’s an obscure piece of moon jumping footage that is hard to find, but it is out there that is from the apollo 11 moon landing. When Neil Armstrong goes to get back in the lem, he stands flat footed on the lem pad grabs the ladder with both hands, bends his knees and jumps straight up and lands on the 3rd step which is about 4 1/2 feet above the lem pad. The greatest recorded vertical jumps in the last century were only 42 an 44 inches. get out your messuring tapes right now and do a standing vertical leap and see how high you get. Now after you do that put a back pack on that weighs about 75 pounds. Now put 25 pound ankle weights on, 1 for each ankle. now your ready to try and duplicate Neil Armstrongs “1 giant leap” if you or maybe the great “AIR JORDAN” cant get as high as Neil did, “54″ inches, then maybe its time to accept the fact that “YES “we did go to the moon, now GET OVER IT! OH while you still have the back pack and leg weights on, try and duplicate John Youngs “JUMP SALUTE” just the way he did it, with only just slightly bending the knees. He got about 18 or so inches off the lunar surface. If you cant duplicate these jumps or cant find a basketball player or a high jumper to get anywhere close to Neil Armstrongs “54 inch” vertical jump, thens its time to close the books on the moon hoax theory, because we did indeed go to the moon, but they found out that the moon was already occupied and the astronauts were not well received. This is why we’ve never gone back to the moon and thats what all the cover up is really all about. Yes there is life out there and our closest neighbors are not light years away, but are right up there on the moon not wanting any part of our violent behavior to influence their world in any way. So we were told to get off the moon and dont came back. WARD FRAZIER U.S. ARMY PROJECT M.A.R.S MINDCONTROL SURVIVOR 1984-1986 GREENSBURG INDIANA.
Rating: 3 / 5
#3 by A. Turner on April 18, 2010 - 2:19 am
I bought this book for my 14 year-old nephew. I wanted to preview it for my 9 year-old daughter. In flipping through I did find one expletive on page 103 (opening sentence to chapter 11), but the story is funny, so I will just black it out. I think some of the chapters would lose my daughter in comprehension. I’ll wait a couple of years for her copy.
Here is an except from the final paragraph of chapter 8: “Finally, in this section we’ll travel back in time and space to where it all began, the Big Bang. Something about contemplating the beginning of everything twists our already tangled minds, and descriptions of the Big Bang usually confuse the issue more than unravel it. The irony of the Big Bang, I suppose, is that it is even odder than our oddest theories could possibly suppose.”
Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by Theodore Helkowski on April 18, 2010 - 2:37 am
I have not read “Bad Astronomy” yet, however, I did skim through the book. It is certainly uniquue in its content, very, informative and written to appeal to a broad readership. I ordered another copy for a friend who is a science teacher.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Anonymous on April 18, 2010 - 5:11 am
…despite the fact that the author is an extremely poor poker player who never bluffs (successfully).
But nonetheless this is a good book. On second thought, I feel like the whole thing about his poker skills is not really relevant to the quality of the book. In fact I am sorry I brought it up. Really. Very sorry. So ignore that part. Just focus on the book, not the poker thing. Block it out of your mind, please.
He’s not too good at black jack either. There I go again with the irrelevance…God, I gotta control myself.
Rating: 5 / 5