News Release

'The Sun's Heartbeat' by Bob Berman

"Consistently as entertaining as it is informative." --Publishers Weekly

Book Announcement

Little, Brown and Company

Bob Berman used to look at the Sun with disdain. It was the enemy of inky night that allowed him to gaze at the stars in the distance. But over time Berman came to respect and love our closest star, which offers up its secrets in exquisite detail to those who care to look. THE SUN'S HEARTBEAT: AND OTHER STORIES FROM THE LIFE OF THE STAR THAT POWERS OUR PLANET [Little, Brown and Company; July 13, 2011; $25.99; Hardcover] is the result of three decades of growing fascination with the Sun, by one of America's most engaging popular science writers, Bob Berman.

Even the basics of the Sun are astonishing. It weighs the same as 333,000 planet Earths. It loses 4 million tons of itself every second, but even that won't visibly affect it for another 5 billion years. At its core, it sustains a temperature of 27 million degrees Fahrenheit, essentially the same as a hydrogen bomb. It delivers a kilowatt of energy to each square yard of the Earth's sunlit surface every second. In 1.1 billion years, the Sun will be 10% hotter than it is today—it doesn't seem like much, but it's going to boil the oceans away and stabilize global temperatures at a toasty 710 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Sun affects every one of us. It determines how much we pay for things, and where we may ultimately choose to live, and whether our next flight will divert from its intended polar route, and even whether humans will ever colonize other worlds. Its mutating behavior manipulates us much more than our own volcanoes and earthquakes, ocean currents, and human moods. Its most recent cycles have even altered the realities of climate change.

THE SUN'S HEARTBEAT presents the compelling story of how the nearest star works, as it creates all that is interesting and animated in our neighborhood. It's a stellar voyage that surprises at every turn. And most of all, it's a story of laughable errors, egotistical battles, brilliant inspirations, genius technology, and nature at its quirkiest. This is the story of our long ascent to understanding that terrifying, life-giving ball of nuclear fire.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bob Berman, one of America's top astronomy writers, wrote the popular "Night Watchman" column for Discover for seventeen years. He is currently a columnist and contributing editor for Astronomy, a host on the Northeast Public Radio network, and the astronomy editor of The Old Farmer's Almanac. He lives in Willow, NY.

To request review copies of THE SUN'S HEARTBEAT, or to arrange an interview with Bob Berman, please contact Carolyn O'Keefe at (212) 364-1464 or carolyn.okeefe@hbgusa.com

"Often nature's greatest marvels are sitting right in front of you—or right overhead. Science writer…Bob Berman directs your attention to our neighborhood ball of nuclear fire, telling its story with charm and wit....Berman makes a compelling case for putting on a wide-brimmed hat, stepping outside, and giving a second thought to the star that illuminates and powers our planet." —Shannon Palus, Discover

"We won't take the Sun for granted any longer if astronomy popularizer Berman…has anything to say about it….Berman explores every possible aspect of solar physics, from stellar life cycles and solar neutrinos…to future ice ages.…Eclipses, the aurora, and rainbows, all generated by the Sun, come vividly alive through the author's enthusiastic explanations. Best of all, he does this with a conversational style that is consistently as entertaining as it is informative. 'Everything about the Sun is either amazing or useful,' Berman writes, and then proves it, without a doubt." —Publishers Weekly

"Whether the topic is the distance between earth and sun, sunspots, sunburn, or solar eclipses, Berman couches scientific data in stories that are sometimes historical, sometimes journalistic, and always include wisecracks. His method banishes blithe indifference toward the sun, replacing it with appreciation for the nearest star's profound influence on terrestrial phenomena.…Readers remaining blasé should finally be converted when Berman extols the sun's aesthetic effects—most spectacular of them, the total solar eclipse, rivaled, perhaps, by the northern lights, with rainbows as second bananas. An engaging consciousness-raiser that entertains as it informs about our neighborhood nuclear furnace." —Gilbert Taylor, Booklist

"A quick, smart and colorful biography of 'yon flaming orb.'" —Kirkus Reviews

"This might be the last book you ever read—afterward, you can't help but stare, in wonder, directly into that fiery ball in the sky. From ancient sun worship to the latest in Sol science, Bob Berman makes The Sun's Heartbeat shine." —Sam Kean, author of the New York Times bestseller The Disappearing Spoon

"Bob Berman's The Sun's Heartbeat glitters and skips with the joy and excitement of science at its best. He explains things I always wondered about without diminishing the stargazer's sense of awe." —Mark Kurlansky, author of the New York Times bestsellers Salt and Cod

"Bob Berman's look at our sky's most important star is as dazzling as the Sun itself. The man can write! He is one of those rare authors whose prose is as delightful to read as it is pleasing to learn from. Having read this book, I will never be able to regard the Sun—nor the future beneath it—in quite the same way." —James M. Tabor, author of the New York Times bestseller Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth

"From Coronal Mass Ejections to eclipses to sunspots to sunburns, Bob Berman writes of all things solar with inescapably contagious delight. The Sun's Heartbeat reminds us that the star we take for granted, the star that we accept with little thought, is both central to our lives and wonderfully complex. Berman's book, fun and informative, shows us how to see our flaming orb in a new light." —Bill Streever, author of the New York Times bestseller Cold


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THE SUN'S HEARTBEAT: And Other Stories from the Life of the Star That Powers Our Planet
Bob Berman
Little, Brown and Company
July 13, 2011
978-0-316-09101-5
$25.99/Hardcover/6"x 9¼ "
304 pages with 20 b/w illustrations
www.skymanbob.com
www.HachetteBookGroup.com


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