Photochemistry of Planetary Atmospheres

Rating:
Summary: Treats the solar system as a unified whole
Review: A spinoff from successful decades of planetary exploration. The missions to the inner planets and the overwhelmingly spectacular Voyager 1 and 2 flybys of the 1970s and 1980s have contributed to the results presented here.

The overall theme treats the various atmospheres of the planets as part of a coherent picture of the entire solar system. A unifying idea that the authors use is that of the formation of the solar nebula and its condensation into the planets, comets and asteroids. The lengthiest discussion is about Earth and the crucial (to us!) ways it differs from its siblings. Along the way, the authors give a good explanation of the greenhouse effect on a planet.

An undergraduate background in chemistry should suffice nicely to understand the book. You should be thoroughly familiar with rate equations.