Franklyn M(ansfield) Branley

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David G. Hoag

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How frustrating it is to review a book [Comets, Meteoroids, and Asteroids] so close to being excellent but damaged severely by carelessness. If only the author or publisher had insisted on a quick review by any careful engineer or scientist. For example, the statement on page 38 that all asteroids melted together would make a globe less than 500 miles diameter contradicts the table two pages earlier. On page 43 the book says very small tektites are "a millimeter or so across, and weigh only a few grams." By this, these strange objects found on earth would have a density 50 times that of uranium! And so on for at least several more outright errors. Yet, there is a lot of excellent material for a student in these pages albeit sometimes it's rather awkwardly organized.

David G. Hoag, "'Comets, Meteoroids, and Asteroids'," in Appraisal: Science Books for Young People (copyright © 1975 by the Children's Science Book Review Committee), Vol. 8, No. 1, Winter, 1975, p. 8.

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