The Harvard Books on Astronomy series. Revised edition. 187 pages. No dust jacket. Black cloth. Includes black & white plates. This book tells of the heavenly wanderers, the asteroids, comets, meteors and meteorites. It is the only book (at the time of original publication) which brings together and compares what is known about all these four types of bodies.

Original Review:

This is one of a series of nine volumes covering the entire field of astronomy, written by members of the staff of Harvard Observatory. The present book deals with asteroids, comets, meteors and meteorites. It is intended for the intelligent layman and the amateur astronomer, as would be suggested by the titles of its ten chapters: Surveying the solar system; The little planets; Whirling fragments; Comets in motion; Anatomy of a comet; Shooting stars; Meteor showers; A meteorite falls; Meteorites in the laboratory; Betwixt and between.

Spread over its pages are numerous diagrams and half-tone illustrations, few of which have been seen in previous elementary texts on astronomy. The present reviewer thinks the inscriptions to the cuts are generally too brief and consequently the average reader will have difficulty in appreciating the significance of some of the diagrams. Further, he usually likes to know the circumstances under which the photographs-some quite unique-were taken, including the date and place.

In the history of the three classes of celestial objects discussed in the book there are many picturesque details and remarkable facts. Also the results of observation are multitudinous and complex. Only a person of great ability and fertility of imagination can make critical judgments of the various theories put forward to account for the observed facts; as for instance, the domination of Jupiter over certain asteroids and comets, or the determination of the velocities of meteors and their relation to the solar system. The author handles such matters with clearness and decision.

The last sixty per cent. of the book is devoted to meteors and meteorites. In no other single place can one find the information which the author has collected, systematized and presented here in simple form. There is an abundance of late news and views. The treatment of meteor craters is especially full and interesting.