达娃•索贝尔（Dava Sobel）曾担任《纽约时报》科学专栏的记者，是《经度》、《伽利略的女儿》和《致父亲的信》等书的作者。她在三十年的科学新闻记者生涯中，多次为《奥杜邦》（Audubon）、《发现》、《生活》和《纽约客》等几家杂志撰稿，并担任过《哈佛杂志》和《全知》（Omni）的特约编辑，还与人合著了六部著作，其中包括与天文学家弗兰克•德雷克（Frank Drake）合著的《那里有人吗？》（Is Anyone Out There ?）以及与威廉•安德鲁斯（William J. H. Andrewes）合著的《经度图解》（The Illustrated Longitude）。

索贝尔女士长期致力于增进民众对科学的理解，因此荣获了美国国家科学委员会享有崇高声誉的 “个人公众服务奖”、波士顿科学博物馆颁发的布拉德福德•沃什波恩奖（Bradford Washburn Award）以及钟表商名家公会授予的哈里森奖章。为了表彰她在天文写作方面的成就，小行星30935就是以她命名的。她的个人主页是 http://www.davasobel.com/。

With her blockbuster New York Times bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter , Dava Sobel used her rare and luminous gift for weaving difficult scientific concepts into a compelling story to garner rave reviews and attract readers from across the literary spectrum. Now, in The Planets , Sobel brings her full talents to bear on what is perhaps her most ambitious subject to date-the planets of our solar system.

The sun's family of planets become a familiar place in this personal account of the lives of other worlds. 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. A perfect gift and a captivating journey, The Planets is a gorgeous study of our place in the universe that will mesmerize everyone who has ever gazed with awe at our night sky.