Ever wondered what it would be like to float around near Saturn’s rings? Explore distant asteroids? Check out Pluto and see (for yourself) whether or not it should be a planet? A new book by York Professors John Moores (of the Lassonde School of Engineering) and Jesse Rogerson (of the Faculty of Science) — and illustrated by York biology student Michelle Parsons — invites you to take a fascinating and scientifically accurate trip to all these locations, and more.
Published this year, Daydreaming in the Solar System promises to “boldly take you where no living being has gone before,” according to its dust jacket flap. Each chapter of the book is about a hypothetical trip to a different location in the solar system, from those aforementioned,to other planets, moons, and celestial objects.
“We had read science fiction and we had read a lot of the science reporting out there, and science fiction has always had that engagement piece that is really fantastic, but sometimes they might gloss over something in the real world to make a better story,” co-author Moores tells Excalibur. “On the science side of things, you always have that real factual accuracy, but sometimes the story isn’t able to grab the audience in quite the same way.”
Moores explains that he and Rogerson “tried to merge those two things together” to “create a product that we couldn’t find out there in the world.”
That final product also benefited from illustrations by York student Michelle Parsons. Parsons created 16 watercolour paintings — one for each chapter — as well as other diagrams to help the reader connect to the stories. She also sells prints and stickers based on the book on her website. “It worked really nice because she’s a watercolour artist and we wanted something that was a little softer,” Moores comments about Parsons’ work.
That “soft” tone also comes out in the writing. “[The stories] are written in a way that’s almost like guided meditation, really. They’re not heart-pumping action,” says Moores. He also explains that the stories should make you feel as if you’re walking around in a national park. “We designed it to be accessible to anybody at the high school level or [higher].”
Moores considers the primary audience those who enjoy popular science and space exploration.” And with a foreword by well-known Toronto-based science fiction artist Robert J. Sawyer, Moores says the book may appeal to those who would typically read science fiction. The dust jacket reiterates this, calling Daydreaming in the Solar System an “interplanetary journey powered by hard science.”
Moores concludes by inviting those who want to “dive deeper” to look into the scientific explanations throughout the book: “Here’s why the stories work and here’s why [they were] written in this way.”
To pick up a copy of Daydreaming in the Solar System, interested readers can visit the York University Bookstore, Indigo, Amazon, or Parsons’ website.
Thrilled to have written the introduction for this wonderful book!