The sun's family of planets become a familiar place in this personal account of the lives of other worlds. With her gift for weaving difficult scientific concepts into a compelling story, Sobel explores the planets' origins and oddities through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history.--From publisher description.

Originally published: New York : Viking, 2005.

Model worlds (Overview) -- Genesis (The sun) -- Mythology (Mercury) -- Beauty (Venus) -- Geography (Earth) -- Lunacy (The moon) -- Sci-fi (Mars) -- Astrology (Jupiter) -- Music of the spheres (Saturn) -- Night air (Uranus and Neptune) -- UFO (Pluto) -- Planeteers (Coda).