© Columbia University Press
The 23rd Cycle: Learning to Live with a Stormy Star
Paper, 224 pages, 10 halftones / 15 color photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-12079-1
$26.50
/ £15.50
February, 2001
Cloth, 224 pages, 10 halftones / 15 color photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-12078-4
$73.50
/ £43.00
"With the Sun about halfway through its 23rd sunspot cycle since the 18th century, there is a chance that solar flares and coronal mass ejections . . . will affect the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field . . . This book presents an interesting explanation of this phenomenon. For astronomy, space science, and engineering collections." — Library Journal
"Odenwald offers a cogent warning, which deserves to have an impact beyond the book's own immediate readership of space science enthusiasts." — Publishers Weekly
"Odenwald . . . gives us reason to worry about how ill-prepared we are for geomagnetic disturbances in the future. It's scary enough to warrant a Hollywood disaster movie." — American Scientist
"Odenwald (NASA) offers an outstanding nontechnical introduction to the solar-terrestrial environment with a focus on "space weather". He weaves a fascinating story using numerous examples of space weather impacts on human and technological systems. Scientific references are highly accessible and accurate throughout." — T. Eastman, Choice
"Odenwald uses a breezy journalistic style as he explores solar eruptions and how these interfere with such vital elements as electrical power grids, long-distance piplines, and navigation." — Sky & Telescope
"A fine summary of space weather effects, and how they work to the detriment of many satellite-based communications systems and, even, technology at ground level. I recommend Odenwald's book as a guide to the subtler, but very important, processes which occur in tandem with spectacular auroral storms." — Neil Bone, Astronomy Now
"With his first book The Astronomy Café, Sten Odenwald demonstrated that he belongs at the interface between the cosmic frontier and public inquiry of that frontier. With The 23rd Cycle, he now brings to us an exposé on the ups and downs of the Sun, our home star. With its eleven-year pattern of gurgling and churning gases we learn how turbulent the Sun is, and how turbulent it can get. But most important, we learn whether or not we should worry about it." — Neil de Grasse Tyson, astrophysicist and director, Hayden Planetarium, New York
"Sten Odenwald has done an extraordinary job of collecting a massive amount of information from a large array of sources. His effort will be appreciated by all who are interested in the subject of what happens when a disturbed Sun erupts and its emissions and ejecta intercept the Earth and its satellites." — Joe Allen, Scientific Secretary, Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP)