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The Planets - Diane Ackerman

By Diane Ackerman

Release Date: 2026-02-24

Genre: Poetry

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From Marginalian Editions comes a gorgeous reissue of celebrated poet, essayist, and naturalist Diane Ackermanā€™s debut collection: a whimsical and wonderful ode to our solar system, planet to planet, blending science and imagination, astronomy and cosmology, as well as fantasy, satire, myth, confession, and bawdiness galore.

First published in 1973, The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral introduced not only a splendid new poet but a whole new adventure in poetry. With bravura style, unbridled imagination, and a connoisseur's eye for precise scientific detail, Diane Ackerman gives us an unforgettable ode to each of the planets in our solar system, as well as for the moon, the comet Kohoutek, asteroids, and strange voyages to the stars, the bottom of the sea, through the human body, and into the mind.

But The Planets is more than a book of poetry. It is also a major work on the solar system, illustrated with drawings and photographs of the galaxy. Diane Ackerman herself says: ā€œIā€™ve always been baffled by people who write about nature only in terms of, say, junipers and cornfields, eschewing all things so-called ā€˜scientific,ā€™ as if science were, per se, the spoil-sport of feeling. So wonderless a view of nature really doesnā€™t appeal to me; I donā€™t see the Universe divided up that way, into ā€˜The Junipersā€™ on the one hand and ā€˜The Amino Acidsā€™ on the other.ā€ Astronomy, fantasy, satire, myth, confession and bawdiness meet imagination and lyrical sweep to create this enticing collection, the world of The Planets.

The Planets - Diane Ackerman

By Diane Ackerman

Release Date: 2026-02-24

Genre: Poetry

(0 ratings)
Read Download
From Marginalian Editions comes a gorgeous reissue of celebrated poet, essayist, and naturalist Diane Ackermanā€™s debut collection: a whimsical and wonderful ode to our solar system, planet to planet, blending science and imagination, astronomy and cosmology, as well as fantasy, satire, myth, confession, and bawdiness galore.

First published in 1973, The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral introduced not only a splendid new poet but a whole new adventure in poetry. With bravura style, unbridled imagination, and a connoisseur's eye for precise scientific detail, Diane Ackerman gives us an unforgettable ode to each of the planets in our solar system, as well as for the moon, the comet Kohoutek, asteroids, and strange voyages to the stars, the bottom of the sea, through the human body, and into the mind.

But The Planets is more than a book of poetry. It is also a major work on the solar system, illustrated with drawings and photographs of the galaxy. Diane Ackerman herself says: ā€œIā€™ve always been baffled by people who write about nature only in terms of, say, junipers and cornfields, eschewing all things so-called ā€˜scientific,ā€™ as if science were, per se, the spoil-sport of feeling. So wonderless a view of nature really doesnā€™t appeal to me; I donā€™t see the Universe divided up that way, into ā€˜The Junipersā€™ on the one hand and ā€˜The Amino Acidsā€™ on the other.ā€ Astronomy, fantasy, satire, myth, confession and bawdiness meet imagination and lyrical sweep to create this enticing collection, the world of The Planets.

More by Diane Ackerman

The Zookeeper's Wife

The Zookeeper's Wife

A Natural History of the Senses

One Hundred Names for Love

The Human Age

A Natural History of Love

Deep Play

An Alchemy of Mind

Dawn Light

Moon By Whale Light

The Rarest of the Rare

A Slender Thread

I Praise My Destroyer

Jaguar of Sweet Laughter

The Planets

MenedƩk

La femme du gardien de zoo

Die Frau des Zoodirektors

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