The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral [Hardcover]

“Stunning . . . it is spectacularly good poetry, clear, lyrical and soaring . . . One of the triumphs of Ackerman’s pastoral is the demonstration of how closely compatible planetary exploration and poetry, science and art really are.” —Carl Sagan,The New Republic

From Marginalian Editions comes a gorgeous reissue of celebrated poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman’s debut: a soaring ode to our solar system, planet to planet, blending science and imagination, astronomy and cosmology, as well as fantasy, satire, myth, and reflection.

First published in 1973,The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoralintroduced not only a splendid new poet but a whole new adventure in poetry. With bravura style, unbridled imagination, and a connoisseur's eye for precise scientific detail, Diane Ackerman’s debut brought us an unforgettable ode to each planet in our solar system, not to mention the moon, the comet Kohoutek, and the asteroid belt, as well as strange voyages to the stars, the bottom of the sea, through the human body, and into the mind.

Diane Ackerman herself says: “I’ve always been baffled by people who write about nature only in terms of, say, junipers and cornfields, eschewing all things so-called ‘scientific,’ as if science were, per se, the spoil-sport of feeling. So wonderless a view of nature really doesn’t appeal to me.”The Planetsis a rare fusion of art and science—one of the great poetic works of cosmic imagination.

“Diane Ackerman has produced a stunning book of poetry in The Planets, the result of a year’s immersion in the recent findings in planetary astronomy. The work is scientifically accurate and even a convenient introduction to modern ideas on the planets, but much more important, it is spectacularly good poetry, clear, lyrical and soaring . . . One of the triumphs of Ackerman̵