The Planetary Society's 2025 book club review

Read any good books lately? Members of The Planetary Society’s book club have read at least 12! We’ve also enjoyed live conversations with 11 outstanding authors and one astronaut. Our conversations with these guests are added to the Planetary Radio podcast feed on the third Friday of each month.

We begin a look back at the past year’s selections with Denise Herzing’s “Is Anyone Listening?” featured in January. Denise is the founder of the Wild Dolphin Project, where she leads research into animal communication. She wonders in her book if we have any hope of understanding extraterrestrials if we can’t talk to advanced creatures we evolved alongside here on Earth. Much of our conversation revolved around the progress she and others have made in deciphering how animals as varied as dolphins, octopuses, and prairie dogs share information.

Our only fictional selection was featured in February, though Booker Prize winner “Orbital” is such a vivid depiction of life on the International Space Station that a reader might wonder if the characters were actual members of an ISS crew. With author Samantha Harvey unavailable, we welcomed ISS astronaut Nicole Stott. She told us the book offered an almost uncannily realistic account of life in low-Earth orbit, and shared some of her own experiences as she lived and worked in space.

“Are we alone?” is a theme that runs through many of our selections, including Nathalie Cabrol’s. She directs the SETI Institute’s Carl Sagan Center, where she conducts and directs research into life beyond Earth. I’ve been a fan for many years, so it was a great pleasure to talk with her about her book, “The Secret Life of the Universe” in March.

Hakeem Oluseyi has been busy since we featured his wonderful memoir, “A Quantum Life,” in April. The astrophysicist and science communicator was recently named as host of a new video podcast from the producers of the public television science documentary series NOVA. “Particles of Thought” brings Hakeem together with some of the world’s greatest scientists for in-depth conversations, much like the one we had with him about his book.

Something very special happened in May. Our choice was the gorgeous “Mars: Photographs from the NASA Archives,” a magnificent collection of images with captions by our former colleague Emily Lakdawalla. Also in the book are illuminating essays by former NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green and Jet Propulsion Lab Chief Engineer emeritus Rob Manning. All three joined us live on stage for a thrilling conversation.

Frank White penned the first edition of “The Overview Effect” in 1987. The book and the concept it describes have been embraced by most of the human beings who’ve been lucky enough to travel into space. They experience a sometimes overwhelming sense of awe as they gaze down at our pale blue dot rotating below them. It’s this sensation that Frank has explored and expanded on across four editions. He shared that he is working now on the fifth.

Author and science historian Dava Sobel has written masterpiece after masterpiece. We decided to honor all of them in July, which was also when we were delighted to award her the Cosmos award, the Society’s highest honor for outstanding public presentation of science. Whether she writes about Galileo or Marie Curie, there is no more eloquent or devoted chronicler of amazing individuals who have advanced and sometimes revolutionized our knowledge of how the Universe works. 

We came right back down to Earth when we welcomed National Air and Space Museum curator Margaret Weitekamp in August. Margaret based much of “Space Craze” on the wildly diverse collection of space memorabilia she manages at the museum. From Buck Rogers to John Glenn, and from Mercury capsule cookie jars to Star Trek phasers, Margaret demonstrated how our cultural artifacts reflect our deepest hopes and fears.

There was still more fun when we took up “The Martians” in September. Author David Baron spent years uncovering the full story of how Americans went crazy for the red planet and its denizens at the turn of the 20th century. We would eventually realize the Martians and their canals were never really there, in spite of passionate support for them from Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Percival Lowell, and scores of other great thinkers.

Members of the Society know the great work of our colleague Kate Howells through her stewardship of our magazine, The Planetary Report, and our weekly newsletter, The Downlink. They may not have been as familiar with her books, including “Moons: The Mysteries and Marvels of our Solar System.” I thought I knew my moons, but I picked up more than a few more fascinating facts in its pages, and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Kate about them.

If anything unites our authors, it’s their passion for the Cosmos and their driving need to share the love. Wow, is this ever true of Adam Frank. The astrophysicist’s latest is “The Little Book of Aliens.” It’s a frequently hilarious romp across the rapidly advancing search for life, and especially for intelligent life. Our readers and I also appreciated Adam’s take on the widespread belief that we are already being visited by little green people.

It’s not too late to pick up one or both of our December selections for the young (or older) space nerd in your life. “Are We Alone?” and “The Size of Space” are the latest and the last in the long series of books by our own chief scientist, Bruce Betts. These slim volumes are packed with facts and great illustrations. I can hardly wait to welcome Bruce to a live conversation about them in early January.

Want to join the club? Join The Planetary Society! All of our members have access to our rich online member community that hosts the book club. You’ll be with us as we read “The Giant Leap” by astronomer Caleb Scharf in January, and then pick up “The Launch of Rocket Lab” in February of 2026. That month will climax as we greet Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck. Happy reading!