Our Universe
I had been looking for this book for about 15 years, and then one day, I found it. Brand new, for like 7 dollars.
If you’ve never experienced the National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe (by Roy Gallant) then you’re truly missing out on a piece of huge (12″x12″), full-color, hardbound 80s space nostalgia.
It’s interesting to go back and look at this book…NatGeo stands out in my mind as an interminable source of facts and wisdom, but this book gets pretty sci-fi. Even so, there’s tons of awesome information, charts, and photos that depict the anatomy of a star, the complexities of deep space, and the etymological significance of the names of our neighboring planets.
The true bonus in this one, however—at least when you’re a kid, haplessly discovering this secular gem, buried deep and sinister in the bowels of your Christian School library—is the couple of spreads that get devoted to the ‘What if…’ exploration of life on other planets. The writer talks about the different environs on several planets and extrapolates what various forms of life must result from those conditions.
Plus, there’s a giant starship on the cover. Huzzah.
- Hateball
December 1st, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Holy shit. My parents had this and I used to stare at the beasts for hours. Awesome find dude.
December 1st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
“The true bonus in this one, however—at least when you’re a kid, haplessly discovering this secular gem, buried deep and sinister in the bowels of your Christian School library—is the couple of spreads that get devoted to the ‘What if…’ exploration of life on other planets. The writer talks about the different environs on several planets and extrapolates what various forms of life must result from those conditions.”
yes! this was totally me in 2nd grade. i always thought those rocket fart gremlin dogs on titan were hilarious.
December 1st, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Dude I need this!
December 1st, 2008 at 9:17 pm
This is infinitely awesome. Heavy Metal Science.
December 1st, 2008 at 10:21 pm
This is some seriously pretty stuff.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:33 pm
HOLY FUCK! I used to take this book out and renew it for weeks and weeks in my elementary school library. Spent hours trying to draw the same kind of illustrations in this book. Of course as a 9 year old, it didn’t even come close.
I truly thank you so much for this post, I wanna cry now. No homo.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:26 am
Awesome! So glad that everybody’s got the same memories of this book as me (even if you’ve never seen it before…just one of those books that CLICKS). I’ll keep that in mind if I ever have a run-in with a nice scanner…definitely one for the archives.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 am
lovvvved that book! the space monsters are amazing.
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I feel like I Had that book.
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:16 pm
HELL YES!
I found this book this summer at a garage sale for $1, so dope!
Revives memories of elementary school, so proper.
October 24th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
I had this book growing up and unfortunatly it was ruined in a flood. LOVE this book and it is what got me into science. I really really am wondering who the artist is that illustrated “The Tree of Life” in it. I have been wanting to replace my poster of it (was also ruined in flood) but can not remember who did it. If you could possibly help me i would appreciate it more than words could express. thank you for letting others know about this wonderful book. I am going to get another copy for my daughter someday – when books don’t belong in her mouth :)