EARTH FROM SPACE by Amy Leventer...

EARTH FROM SPACE by Amy Leventer and Geoffrey Seltzer and PLANETS AND THEIR MOONS by Gary Mechler with Steven Kent Croft, Melinda Hutson and Robert Marcialis (Knopf: $7.99, each; 192 pp., illustrated, paperback original). This new series of nature guides from the National Audubon Society combines well-organized, readable texts with stunning photographs. “Earth From Space” offers basic explanations of plate tectonics and the effects of wind and water on the continents. The swirling clouds in a photograph of Hurricane Inki resemble a giant thumbprint over Kauai; two Landsat pictures of the Missouri-Mississippi confluence before and during the 1993 floods reveal the extent of the disaster more effectively than on-site news photographs or television reports. “Planets” challenges the reader’s imagination with images from recent space probes: channels and mountains on Venus and Mars; the swirling atmosphere of Jupiter; the weird landscapes of the Jovian satellites. Other titles in this noteworthy series include “Clouds and Storms,” “Constellations,” “Galaxies” and “The Sun and the Moon.”