Return to Answer

Men of Other Planets by Kenneth Heuer, published in 1951.

From a review by P. Schuyler Miller in Astounding Science Fiction, December 1951 (available at the Internet Archive):

This handsome little book by a lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium in New York, well illustrated with block prints by R. T. Crane and numerous charts of the solar system and its planets, should have had a much handsomer text.

The author forestalls criticism by admitting his indebtedness to the French writer of the last century, Camille Flammarion — indeed, in places the style of the book reads like pure Flammarion, and the concepts of the intelligent "men" who, it is suggested, may inhabit the various planets are in the Victorian-romantic tradition — e.g. the "thinking and talking trees" of Venus. On the credit side, the author describes many or most of the latest findings as to the physical conditions on each planet, and has added a table which describes the telescopic and naked-eye appearance of each to a terrene observer.

Men of Other Planets by Kenneth Heuer, published in 1951.

From a review by P. Schuyler Miller in Astounding Science Fiction, December 1951 (available at the Internet Archive):

This handsome little book by a lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium in New York, well illustrated with block prints by R. T. Crane and numerous charts of the solar system and its planets, should have had a much handsomer text.

The author forestalls criticism by admitting his indebtedness to the French writer of the last century, Camille Flammarion — indeed, in places the style of the book reads like pure Flammarion, and the concepts of the intelligent "men" who, it is suggested, may inhabit the various planets are in the Victorian-romantic tradition — e.g. the "thinking and talking trees" of Venus. On the credit side, the author describes many or most of the latest findings as to the physical conditions on each planet, and has added a table which describes the telescopic and naked-eye appearance of each to a terrene observer.

On p. 156 there is a table which I haven't seen anywhere else. The first of three columns lists 20 worlds of the solar system: the nine planets, the four main asteroids, and seven moons. The second column gives the surface area of each world in square miles, and the third column gives the population:

On p. 156 there is a table which the likes of which I haven't seen anywhere else. The first of three columns lists 20 worlds of the solar system: the nine planets, the four main asteroids, and seven moons. The second column gives the surface area of each world in square miles, and the third column gives the population: