Some interesting information, but sometimes I found Plait whiny and condescending. Overall, I prefer Neil DeGrasse Tyson's writing. ( )

I learned some interesting facts, but this book will only ever preach to the converted. ( )

Some interesting information, but sometimes I found Plait whiny and condescending. Overall, I prefer Neil DeGrasse Tyson's writing. ( )

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. ( )

Este libro es directamente fantástico. Es como Malaciencia, pero aplicado únicamente a la astronomía, al Espacio y a alguna cosa más. El autor es humilde y a la vez mordaz, y no deja títere con cabeza cuando se pone a analizar uno por uno bastantes mitos sobre la ciencia. El estilo es simple, claro y conciso. Me encanta. Un breve resumen de los temas que trata seguro que les hace la boca agua:

- Huevos que se sostienen solos durante el equinoccio
- El efecto Coriolis y hacia dónde gira el agua en los lavabos
- MalaCiencia en el lenguaje cotidiano
- Por qué el cielo es azul
- Por qué hay estaciones (no es por la distancia al Sol, auqnue ésta influye un poquito en las temperaturas diferentes entre hemisferios)
- Las fases de la luna
- Las mareas
- Por qué la luna parece más grande cuando está cerca del horizonte
- Por qué las estrellas titilan
- Los colores de las estrellas
- Por qué las estrellas no se ven de día
- La estrella Polar no es la más brillante
- ¡No mires al sol durante un eclipse!
- Meteoritos, meteoros y meteoroides
- El origen del Universo
- Sí llegamos a la Luna
- Las paranoias de Velikovsky
- Creacionismo y astronomía
- Ovnis
- Marte está en la séptima casa pero Venus se ha largado del edificio. Por qué la astrología no funciona.
- Creencias sobre el telescopio Hubble
- Sobre las empresas que bautizan estrellas a cambio de un módico precio
- Los diez peores ejemplos de MalaCiencia en el cine

Todos y cada uno de los capítulos son estupendos. Éste es un libro que penso regalar a mucha gente. Imprescindible. ( )