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Some Reviews - Part 2 of 4

M!, May 1998, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 41:

Rocks From Space, 2nd Revised & Updated Edition, by O.R. Norton,
Mountain Press Publishing Co., Missoula Montana, 1998, ISBN
0-87842-373-7. US $30.

The author has taken an already outstanding book and made it better.
In fact, to a lot of amateur meteorite enthusiasts, it is simply known
as "The Bible". Let me begin by reprinting my review from our February
1995 issue, since nearly every word is still applicable.

The first thing that strikes you about this book is the stunning cover
of a meteoroid entering the Earth's atmosphere over San Francisco Bay.
The next thing you notice is that the book weighs as much as your
average dictionary. This is because it is printed on robust paper that
is going to last as long as you will. Another thing that you notice is
that there are dozens of illustrations, maps, and strewnfields to
augment the text. These have been done by the author's wife, Dorothy
Norton, who is an artist (she did the cover) and scientific illustrator.
As well, there are a profuse number of photographs, 8 pages of which are
in color.
The author is a former director of the Grace Flandrau Planetarium at the
University of Arizona, and the Fleischmann Planetarium at the University
of Nevada. He was also fortunate enough to have studied under the famous
meteoriticist Frederick C. Leonard at UCLA, and has maintained a keen
interest in meteorites over many years. The result is a magnificent book
containing some very fine writing and replete with interesting material.

The book is aimed at the amateur who perhaps knows a bit about the
subject, but wants to learn a whole lot more. In Part I, there is a good
discussion of meteor showers, interplanetary dust, comets, early
meteorite history, fall dynamics, a comprehensive section on meteorite
showers, as well as a section on Tunguska and Sikhote-Alin. The
Barringer Crater is discussed at length, including a fine photograph of
Daniel Moreau Barringer, with a magnifying glass in one hand and a
meteorite and cigar in the other. This leads into a discourse on Earth
craters in general, featuring many of the most prominent.
Part II deals with the classification of meteorites; first the
chondrites with nice chondrule pictures, petrologic types, and then the
achondrites, irons and stony-irons. Again, an abundance of photographs
to illustrate every point. Part III deals with meteorite hunters and
some of their prey - Peary and Cape York, Ellis Hughes and Willamette,
Friburg & Jendruczak (who?) and the Old Woman, Evans and Port Orford,
plus a whole chapter on the Father of all Meteorite Hunters, H.H.
Nininger, and a chapter on his heir apparent, Robert Haag. Here, as
elsewhere, the author's personal experiences are interwoven with the
narrative, which adds a nice touch. A section on hunting meteorites has
some good tips, especially for those fortunate enough to live near
deserts, dry lake beds, or the Antarctic.
Part IV deals with the Solar Nebula, asteroids, and of course the story
of the K-T boundary and the extinction of the dinosaurs. This is
followed by an interesting discourse on periodic extinctions and the
"Death Star" Nemesis theory. There is a useful glossary, plus numerous
references for further reading, as well as appendices on Verification
Labs (in the USA), Commercial Dealers, Impact Craters, Etching an Iron,
Testing for Nickel. Phew! All this for 20 bucks.

One small difference from the first edition is that the paper is whiter
and lighter, yet the overall weight is even heavier! Also the listed
price is now $30.
The first edition was published in 1994 and a lot has happened in the
four years since. So the author has updated the text and added some
additional material. All this has been done by keeping the original
pagination essentially the same.
What is different then from the 1st edition? There are many new photos,
including the likes of Adamana (the near perfectly oriented new find
from Arizona), lbitira, Peekskill in full flight, thin sections, to name
but a few.
There are now discussions of the important notions of equilibrated and
unequilibrated chondrites (see also our Geologist column. p.21), the new
R chondrite group, CR and CK carbonaceous chondrites, thin sections, the
chemical classification of irons (RFS I had only the structural
classification), a Vesta update, market price update, ALH84001, as well
as Mars Pathfinder results.
One quibble I did have is that the book is only available in soft cover.
Because the book is so popular, it tends to get used a lot, even taken
along on field expeditions. And the cover, as beautiful as it is, has a
half-life of only a few years. Perhaps the publisher should think about
this matter for the next printing. - JLS


Best regards,

Bernd

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