I'm not a professional author or journalist but I enjoy writing and I used to write quite a bit. I have had several books published, not surprisingly, they are all about space and astronomy. Here are some details about them. Click here for a list of some of the magazine articles I have written (I don't remember them all!)
by John Davies. Published by 4th Estate Ltd, London 1986 ISBN 0947795-20-0. 197 pages with 8 pages of black and white photographs.
Cover painting by David Hardy.
Cosmic Impact is about asteroid and meteor impacts on the Earth in both historical and prehistoric times. It describes some well known meteorite falls such as those at Tunguska in 1908 and the formation of the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. There is an extensive discussion of the evidence that the dinosaurs were killed by the fallout after an asteroid impact and of the proposal that prehistoric "mass extinctions" occurred over regular cycles due to some astronomical phenomenon. It also looks at how humanity might protect itself against future impacts. Although the dinosaur section is a bit dated now that a likely crater has been found off the coast of Mexico, the discussion of the cosmic cycles in vogue during the mid 1980's is still a good read.
by John Davies. W and R Chambers Ltd. Edinburgh 1992 ISBN 0 550 17013 8. With 275 pages and about 100 black and white photographs.
by John K Davies. Ellis Horwood Ltd, Chichester, 1988. ISBN 0-7458-02320-X. With 198 pages and many black and white photographs. Out of print now and replaced by its successor edition
by John K Davies. Praxis publishing, Chichester 1997. ISBN 0-471-96258-9 and 0-471-96018-7. With 317 pages and lots of black and white photographs.
These two books provide a comprehensive overview of how astronomical satellites are designed, built and operated. Just about every satellite ever used for astronomy from space is described and for most of the major missions there are descriptions of the major scientific highlights. Tables provide launch dates and orbital parameters for easy reference. The second one is a greatly expanded and updated edition with many more pages, better photographs and new information added throughout the text.
by John Davies. Cambridge University Press. 19 July 2001
Around 225 pages and about 50 black and white photographs and diagrams. Click on title above for more details from CUP web-site
John Keith Davies
Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill,
Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ
j.davies@roe.ac.uk
tel: (44) 0131 668 8348 /
fax: (44) 0131 662 1668/
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