Audiobook Review - Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to the Universe

Philip Plait is a self-described “astronomer, author, sci-fi dork, TV documentary talking head, and all-around science enthusiast.” He writes the Bad Astronomy Newsletter, available on Substack. He has at least two previous books to his name - 2002’s Bad Astronomy, published by Wiley, and the 2008 Death from the Skies!: The Science Behind the End of the World, available from Penguin Books. He was a Science Advisor on the 2016 movie Arrival starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. He has hosted a series of short YouTube videos called Crash Course Astronomy. And he is known all over social media as “the Bad Astronomer”.

Plait’s writing style is wide-eyed with amazement, but with a dash of humor, and it’s perfect for this book. In Under Alien Skies, Plait takes the reader on a guided tour of the universe from the Moon to Mars, the asteroids, Saturn and Pluto (and their moons) and then out of our solar system on a few somewhat more speculative adventures before taking us all the way to some black holes. At each stop he shows you what you’d see under these “alien skies”. He plays your nerdy wingman, making sure you enjoy the view and also understand the science behind it.

Just as Plait’s writing style is a perfect match for the book’s material, the audiobook format is the perfect way to take this book in. Plait himself narrates the audiobook and does a great job of bringing the alien environments to life. It’s hard to imagine how the book on paper would come across without the excitement in his voice, and his sly and nerdy delivery of his jokes. I just don’t think you’ll get the same feeling as you get with the audiobook.

So, what you have in this book is a planetary science and astronomy guide written for the everyman that really delivers on the pop science promise. The only part of the book where the science got ahead of the descriptions and the fun was in the final chapter on black holes. But that’s because black holes are really weird and so far outside of our earthbound experiences. Plait goes out of his way to try to make them relatable, but I found some of the concepts and most of the science in this chapter to be a bit over my head. About the only part of the chapter I could readily understand was the science fiction-y travel dialogue.

That mix of science fiction and real science is the reason why this book works. But that means that there is an underlying assumption to this book that you, the reader, are as sci-fi dorky as the author. Or at least as sci-fi knowledgeable. From the two-suns planet of Tatooine (Star Wars) to the faster than light travel (Star Trek, Star Wars and many others) the pop culture sci fi references are liberally sprinkled through this book.

Anyone with a passing interest in popular sci fi and popular science ought to like this book. Whether this is your first exposure to Plait, or if you’ve followed The Bad Astronomer for a long time, I think you’ll appreciate his wit and obvious excitement for the material that really helps to “sell” the science concepts.

RATING: Four and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐🌠

Rating Comment: A popular-science astronomy book that delivers on the promise of being accessible to non-scientists. Having a knowledge of popular culture sci fi will help with some of the references in this book.

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See What Others Think:

• WIRED: ‘Under Alien Skies’ Will Fuel the Next Generation of Sci-Fi

• New Scientist: Under Alien Skies review: A terrific guide to our spectacular universe

• Science News: ‘Under Alien Skies’ imagines what the sky looks like on other planets

• Physics World: Take an armchair tour of the universe with this sightseer’s guide

Title: Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer’s Guide to the Universe

Author: Philip Plait

Publisher: Spotify Audiobooks

Publish Date: April 18, 2023

ISBN-13: 9781669661948

Publisher’s List Price: $17.99 (Audiobook)

NOTE: The hardcover edition from W.W. Norton was published April 18th of this year. The paperback edition, from the same publisher, is due out on April 9, 2024