Planet Earth by Jonathan Weiner
	(Illus.) Bantam 1986 xiv+370pp. 0-553-34358-0 Index YA-T, GA **

In only seven chapters, Planet Earth updates the reader with myriad facts learned over the past 30 years about the planet we inhabit. More data have been collected in this period than in the previous 3,000 years. Advertised as a companion volume to the successful seven-part PBS TV series, the book is written in a popular style; however, it is an accurate presentation of current scientific facts and observations regarding the earth's metabolism, seas, climate, neighbors, parent (the sun), resources, and fate. Each chapter provides in-depth views of our planet. Outstanding illustrations highlight each chapter and remind the reader of the weekly TV spectaculars. This valuable book would be an excellent resource for general awareness courses in the earth sciences. Its closing words speak volumes. "Ten thousands years ago, we were still in caves. Now we command some portion of the fire of the Sun, and we understand, in part, the forces that shake the Earth."

--Reviewed by Daniel F. Jackson in Science Books and Films, 22/1 (September/October 1986), p. 48.