FALLING STARS: A Guide to Meteors and Meteorites

Alastair Reynolds, Michael D. Reynolds, . . Stackpole, $12.95 (160pp) ISBN 978-0-8117-2755-6

Traveling at 44 miles per second, ranging in size from dust particle to fist-sized chunks, burning up 50 to 75 miles above the earth and lasting half a second, meteors are fast, hot and out of control. Reynolds, executive director of Oakland, California's Chabot Observatory and Science Center, relays to non-scientists know-how for meteor watching (equipment includes lawn chair, bug repellant, binoculars), recording data, photographing meteors, the meteorological calendar, etc. 54 b&w photos. (July)

Featured Nonfiction Reviews

Bruce Chadwick

The Battle of Gettysburg was a dramatic combination of pathos and absurdity, according to this remarkable selection of primary sources from historian Chadwick (The Cannons Continue reading »

Joshua Howe, Alexander Lemons

Howe (Behind the Curve), a professor of environmental history at Reed College, and U.S. Marine veteran Lemons team up for a searing mix of wartime memoir and scientific Continue reading »

Rich Benjamin

Benjamin (Searching for Whitopia) delivers a devastating memoir about the ripple effects of the coup that ousted his grandfather, Haitian president Daniel Fignolé, in 1957. Continue reading »

Marlene L Daut

Historian Daut (Awakening the Ashes) offers a powerful biography of Henry Christophe (1767-1820), who fought for, defected from, and ultimately ruled over Haiti. She first Continue reading »