This A to Z children's pictorial covers topics such as the planets, craters, comets, orbits, and telecopes. Each word related to our galaxy or to space is introduced with a simple poem for younger readers and also includes detailed expository text for older readers.

Through spaceships, aliens, ray guns and other familiar trappings, science fiction uses the future (and sometimes the past) to comment on current social, cultural and political ideologies; the same is true of science fiction in children's film and television. This collection of essays analyzes the confluences of science fiction and children's visual media, covering such cultural icons as Flash Gordon, the Jetsons and Star Wars, as well as more contemporary fare like the films Wall-E, Monsters vs. Aliens and Toy Story. Collectively, the essays discover, applaud and critique the hidden--and not-so-hidden--messages presented on our children's film and TV screens.

Each night, we are able to gaze up at the night sky and look at the thousands of stars that stretch to the end of our individual horizons. But the stars we see are only those that make up our own Milky Way galaxy—but one of hundreds of billions in the whole of the universe, each separated by inconceivably huge tracts of empty space. In this book, astronomer James Geach tells the rich stories of both the evolution of galaxies and our ability to observe them, offering a fascinating history of how we’ve come to realize humanity’s tiny place in the vast universe. Taking us on a compelling tour of the state-of-the-art science involved in mapping the infinite, Geach offers a first-hand account of both the science itself and how it is done, describing what we currently know as well as that which we still do not. He goes back one hundred years to when scientists first proved the existence of other galaxies, tracking our continued improvement in the ability to collect and interpret the light that stars in faraway galaxies have emitted through space and time. He discusses examples of this rapidly accelerating research, from the initial discovery that the faint “spiral nebulae” were actually separate star systems located far beyond the Milky Way to the latest observations of the nature of galaxies and how they have evolved. He also delves into the theoretical framework and simulations that describe our current “world model” of the universe. With one hundred superb color illustrations, Galaxy is an illuminating guide to the choreography of the cosmos and how we came to know our place within it that will appeal to any stargazer who has wondered what was beyond their sight.

Since its first appearance in 1962, the impact of The Gutenberg Galaxy has been felt around the world. It gave us the concept of the global village; that phrase has now been translated, along with the rest of the book, into twelve languages, from Japanese to Serbo-Croat. It helped establish Marshall McLuhan as the original 'media guru.' More than 200,000 copies are in print. The reissue of this landmark book reflects the continuing importance of McLuhan's work for contemporary readers.

The Milky (nurturing) Galaxy is a combination of two related novellas set in the same small, unregarded corner of the multiverse. In the first novella, in the 24th century, the Earth is ruined. Bio-diversity is gone. What is left is foul air, poisoned soil, filthy water, and a greatly reduced population of Humans struggling to survive in the dystopian environment. The wondrous beauty of a living globe more than four billion years old perfectly suited to support millions of diverse species is no more. Only the Rich live comfortably in geodesic domes five miles high which selfishly preserve some of the former glorious wonder, the clean air, water, and healthy food of the now collapsing Earthly biosphere. In the fragmented slums between the Domes, descendents of the former Working Class — whose livelihoods were usurped by robots mid-21st century — cling to a precarious secret existence in old buildings sealed against the raw, polluted, unfiltered air and water of ruined Earth. Living in peace with the ultra-privileged Dome dwellers, except as slaves whose lives would be worth nothing, is clearly impossible. Large, green, ameboid Aliens come to Earth and take away members of the former Working Class to settle them on healthy planets elsewhere in the Galaxy. The Aliens accidently leave an Alien child behind. Zee (the ameboid Aliens have only one gender) struggles to survive outside the Domes and find a way to Reproduce, to save hir memories for the future of hir species. In the second novella, a wastrel young man belonging to a Rich Dome family is sent against his will by his authoritarian father out into space to find a suitable, un-ruined planet where the Rich Families of Earth can transfer their “civilization:” their food animals, their enslaved women, and their capitalist economy. Past the worm-hole in the alpha Centauri star-system, the young man finds a thriving Anarkhist society of Human beings — living with green, ameboid aliens and others — inhabiting a star system with three suns. To his surprise, he falls in love with a free-Human female; and yet he still intends to conquer the planet and bring to it the “blessings” of Capitalism, because it will make him a Rich Earthman. Disaster ensues.

A coherent introduction for researchers in astronomy, particle physics, and cosmology on the formation and evolution of galaxies.

It Was a Dark Time for the Galaxy In the late 1980s, Star Wars was becoming a fading memory. The movie trilogy had concluded. The comic books and novels were winding down. The action figures had run their course. As the franchise celebrated its tenth anniversary, there was a new ride at Disneyland and ... not much else. Not until a small hobby game company released Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and The Star Wars Sourcebook. And suddenly the galaxy began to expand.This is the story of how a group of dedicated fans and gaming professionals helped pave the way for the Star Wars Expanded Universe - as told by one of the original architects! This book explains how material created for roleplaying games helped shape the Star Wars universe - and continues to influence it to the current day.