Helen Plum Library

"A young planetary scientist intimately details the search for life on Mars, tracing our centuries-old obsession with this seemingly desolate planet. Mars was once similar to Earth, but today there are no rivers, no lakes, no oceans. Coated in red dust, the terrain is bewilderingly empty. And yet multiple spacecraft are circling Mars, sweeping over Terra Sabaea, Syrtis Major, the dunes of Elysium, and Mare Sirenum-on the brink, perhaps, of a staggering...

Simple text and photographs describe the planet Neptune

A look at why Earth is so comfortable for plants, animals, and people

"We've all asked ourselves the question. Looking up at the night sky, it's almost impossible NOT to wonder: Are we alone in the universe? In [this book], Space.com senior writer Dr. Michael Wall treats that question as merely a jumping-off point. He considers, for instance, the myriad of questions that would arise once we do discover life beyond Earth (an eventuality which, top NASA officials told Dr. Wall, is only drawing closer). From the unexpected--do...

It has a dark past - one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself Murderbot. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a research transport vessal named ART (you don't want to know what the A stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks ..

"In this groundbreaking book, world-renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson tackles the world's thorniest philosophical conundrums, armed with wit, wisdom, and cutting-edge science. Together with distinguished physicist James Trefil, Tyson presents questions that have preoccupied humanity for millennia. Then, using the latest theories, from the Big Bang to string theory and the multiverse, he explores the answers, bolstered with stunning images...

Zoë Boutin-Perry travels to the fledgling colony world of Roanoke with her adoptive parents, John Perry and Jane Sagan, who have accepted positions as administrators. When her biological father develops the technology to give the Obin consciousness and self-awareness, she suddenly becomes the center of a critical but endangered treaty between the Obin and the Colonial Union

Strange visitors throw a planet of refugees into chaos in this science fiction adventure by the author of New York Times bestseller The Uplift War. Book One in the Uplift Storm Trilogy Centuries ago, the Buyur race abandoned Jijo. Now off-limits to settlers, it's warded by guardian machines who will protect the planet until the Institutes of the Five Galaxies declare Jijo ready-in another million years-for new civilization. But mere laws and guardians...

On their second mission to find another habitable planet, the four mutant animals, LaserShark, AstroWolf, SmartHawk, and StinkBug, splash land on the Water Planet, run by some suspiciously friendly clams, who are very eager to swap planets--and if the AstroNuts can stop arguing among themselves they may find out why before it is too late

Psychiatrist Gene Brewer doesn't have a diagnosis for the mysterious new patient who calls himself "prot" (rhymes with goat). But, this strange and likeable man cannot be, as he claims, from the planet K-PAX. Or, can he? Prot knows facts about space that are confounding the experts. He is soon revealing Dr. Brewer's own deepest pains and most sublime longings. And, his tales of K-PAX have other patients competing to go along with him when he heads...