Lifting Titan's Veil: Exploring the Giant Moon of Saturn

by Ralph Lorenz, Jacqueline Mitton

Lifting Titan's Veil is a revealing account of the second largest moon in our solar system. This world in orbit around Saturn is the only body in the solar system with an atmosphere strikingly similar to Earth's. Titan is like a giant frozen laboratory that may help scientists understand the first chemical steps towards the origin of life. Beginning with its discovery in 1655, the authors describe our current knowledge of Titan, including observations made before the space age, results from the Voyager missions of the 1980s, and recent revelations from the world's most advanced telescopes. In Lifting Titan's Veil, Ralph Lorenz includes his personal experiences in preparing for the Cassini mission, which will reach Saturn in 2004 and release the Huygens probe into Titan's atmosphere in 2005. A splendid introduction to Titan, this book will appeal to anyone interested in astronomical discovery and space exploration. Ralph Lorenz trained as an engineer and worked for the European Space Agency at the very beginning of the Huygens project. Since obtaining a PhD at the University of Kent, England, he has worked as a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, Tucson. His research interests focus on Titan, but also include climatology, radar, impact dynamics and spacecraft and instrumentation design. He has been involved in NASA's largest planetary mission (Cassini) and its smallest (the DS-2 Mars Microprobes). Jacqueline Mitton obtained a Ph.D in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge, and is now a full-time writer and media consultant specializing in astronomy. She has served as Press Officer for the Royal Astonomical Society since 1989, and was Editor of the Journal of the British Astronomical Association 1989-1993. She has written or co-authored sixteen published astronomy books, the most recent, The Cambridge Dictionary of Astronomy (2001).

Genres: Science, Astronomy, Nonfiction

268 pages, Hardcover

Published June 17, 2002

Reviews

[Josh Hedgepeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Titan scientist, I thought this was a fantastic overview of everything about Titan leading up to
the Cassini mission. It was also interesting to learn about the creating and implementation of the Cassini mission, but I think that would have worked better as a stand alone story.

However, as a reader, I found this overly technical and the writing a bit clunky. There were also certain things that felt odd or out of place, but overall, I don't regret reading it. I encourage any other planetary scientist to read this. Everyone else... maybe check out his book after Cassini was released, Titan Unveiled. I'll update this review once I've read it to share whether the writing was improved.

Rating Break Down
Writing Style: 6/10
Content: 8/10
Structure: 7/10
Engagement: 7/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Comprehension: 6/10
Desire to Reread: 0/10
Special: 8/10
Calculated Rating: 3.15/10
Final Rating: 3/5
Note, each rating is weighted based on personal importance to calculate a final score that is rounded to the nearest half.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemed to a book to introduce the Cassini mission. I was hoping for information after data had started coming back from Cassini. I should have read the introduction more closely before checking this out of my local library.

[Amelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and out of date. Lots of cool pictures and diagrams though.