Grinspoon, David H.

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Grinspoon, David H.
(David Grinspoon, David Harry Grinspoon)

PERSONAL:

Male; married Tory Read (a documentary photographer). Hobbies and other interests: Music.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Box 391, Boulder, CO 80309-0391. E-mail—david@boulder/swri.edu.

CAREER:

University of Colorado at Boulder, Southwest Research Institute, Department of Space Studies, principal scientist and adjunct professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences. Popular lecturer on astronomy and space exploration.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Los Angeles Times book prize finalist citation, for Venus Revealed: A New Look below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet.

WRITINGS:

Venus Revealed: A New Look below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet, Addison-Wesley (Reading, MA), 1997.

Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life, Ecco Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor of popular-science articles to periodicals, including Sciences, Planetary Report, Natural History, Astronomy, Nature, Science, and Scientific American. Creator and webmaster, Funky Science Web Site.

SIDELIGHTS:

David H. Grinspoon infuses his popular-science works with a youthful sensibility and a conversational tone that help general readers to follow his philosophical ponderings about life on other planets and the possibility of encountering other sentient beings in the universe. A NASA-funded research scientist who has studied the surface of Venus and the evolution of planetary atmospheres, Grinspoon "asks provocative questions about modern science's unyielding rigidities," to quote Wook Kim in Entertainment Weekly. As Clark R. Chapman put it in the Planetary Report, science for Grinspoon "is a process of discovery which involves a constant testing of our assumptions and attempts to transcend our Earth-oriented prejudices to see new worlds for what they are in their own right."

Grinspoon's Venus Revealed: A New Look below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet uses the planet Venus as a case study for a meditation on how planets differ, how their atmospheres form and change over time, how they work geologically, and how they could promote, export, and sustain life forms. The author describes how information on Venus has been gathered and analyzed by American and Russian scientific teams, frankly discussing the mistakes and blind alleys in the interpretation of data along the way. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Venus Revealed an "exemplary work … great fun as well as greatly informative." Gilbert Taylor in Booklist likewise declared the work "a fascinating presentation sure to be instantly popular with the space set," and a Kirkus Reviews critic concluded that the book offers "a solid, thoroughly enjoyable presentation of almost everything a layman might find useful about one of the strangest planets in our solar system."

In Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life, Grinspoon, a working scientist, ventures into a realm once considered more suitable for science fiction—the practical search for other solar systems that may support organic life. Grinspoon explores the history of the debate on the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe and brings readers up to date on the conclusions being drawn from the newest astronomical data. Employing equal doses of humor and hard science, Grinspoon "comes across like a buddy in a bar, trying out ideas over a beer or few," to quote Frieda Murray in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly critic concluded that Lonely Planets provides "a personable chat on life, the universe and everything."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 1997, Gilbert Taylor, review of Venus Revealed: A New Look below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet; November 1, 2003, Frieda Murray, review of Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life, p. 466.

Entertainment Weekly, November 14, 2003, Wook Kim, review of Lonely Planets, p. 134.

Kirkus Reviews, February, 1997, review of Venus Revealed.

Planetary Report, July, 1997, Clark R. Chapman, review of Venus Revealed.

Publishers Weekly, December 30, 1996, review of Venus Revealed; October 27, 2003, review of Lonely Planets, p. 56.