What Is Space

Young artists will be "drawn" to this book as they learn about space as an element in art. Readers will learn how artists create the feeling of a three-dimensional space on a flat surface-by overlapping objects, by placing objects higher or lower in the picture, and in many other creative ways.

Every generation is filled with the wonder of what's out there beyond our planet, making space travel and exploration one of the most popular science topics of all time. But what happens to all that stuff we send up into outer space? Does it come back down to Earth or stay up there forever? This exciting, high-interest topic attracts even reluctant readers to read about STEAM topics. Fact boxes add extra information that's "Out of this World!" throughout the book. Each spread is complemented with vivid NASA photography.

What is the sun made of? What causes night and day? Why does the moon change shape? Colorful collage illustrations and an easy-to-understand text bring planets, stars, comets, and the wondrous things out there in space right down to earth in a simple introduction to the solar system for young armchair astronauts.

This fascinating entry in the “Big Idea” series is a well-informed, comprehensive and accessibly written look at the very nature of the universe. What Shape Is Space? is a question with far-reaching implications for our understanding of the very nature of reality and our place within it. The concepts involved may be sophisticated, but Giles Sparrow’s effortless prose style renders them understandable, allowing readers to come to grips with the overarching debates at the cutting edge of cosmology today. Illustrations, diagrams, and astronomical visualizations demonstrate and clarify the various astonishing implications of a universe of infinite space. This entry in the “Big Idea” series explores four key topics: “Mapping Space,” featuring the evidence that favors the expanding and infinite universe theory; “The Expanding Universe,” which examines the rate at which the cosmos is expanding; “The Omega Factor,” which explores the possibilities for different types of hypothetically infinite universes; and “The Shape of the Multiverse,” which analyzes the effect of each possible shape on the likely future of the universe. Well-informed and lucid, What Shape Is Space? is an in-depth and approachable exploration of the ideas and possibilities born from this seemingly simple question.

The radical history of space exploration from the Russian Cosmists to Elon Musk Many societies have imagined going to live in space. What they want to do once they get up there - whether conquering the unknown, establishing space "colonies," privatising the moon's resources - reveals more than expected. In this fascinating radical history of space exploration, Fred Scharmen shows that often science and fiction have combined in the imagined dreams of life in outer space, but these visions have real implications for life back on earth. For the Russian Cosmists of the 1890s space was a place to pursue human perfection away from the Earth. For others, such as Wernher Von Braun, it was an engineering task that combined, in the Space Race, the Cold War, and during World War II, with destructive geopolitics. Arthur C. Clark in his speculative books offered an alternative vision of wonder that is indifferent to human interaction. Meanwhile NASA planned and managed the space station like an earthbound corporation. Today, the market has arrived into outer space and exploration is the plaything of superrich technology billionaires, who plan to privatise the mineral wealth for themselves. Are other worlds really possible? Bringing these figures and ideas together reveals a completely different story of our relationship with outer space, as well as the dangers of our current direction of extractive capitalism and colonisation.

Children can set off on an incredible adventure through the Universe and discover planets, stars, space travel, astronauts and much, much more. Quirky cartoon characters communicate extra fun facts, and a practical activity on every spread encourages reader participation. Also included is a wall poster of our Solar System, plus a useful glossary.