You may be aware that I’m in the process of picking up a second undergraduate degree, this time in the natural sciences with a focus on astronomy and planetary science, from the Open University of the United Kingdom. Mostly this is just to round out everything I’ve learned on the subject informally across a long lifetime. I’ve also got some notion of teaching the subject myself at the undergraduate level after I retire. I expect to finish my second BSc about 2028 or so, and maybe move on to pick up an MSc if I have the resources and the world hasn’t gone utterly insane by then.

So far I’m about a third of the way through my undergraduate work. At first, a lot of the course-work was nothing but review, time-consuming but not much of a challenge.

This year’s course on “Planetary science and the search for life,” on the other hand, has decidedly not been all review. It digs into details of planetary science and astrobiology that I’ve never picked up before. I’m already picking up bits and pieces that might (for example) make their way into a second edition of Architect of Worlds.

In particular, I’m becoming quite fond of the course’s first textbook, written by a trio of Open University instructors: An Introduction to the Solar System (Third Edition), from Cambridge University Press. It’s still at the undergraduate level, but it’s very meaty. Highly recommended for anyone else who is interested in picking up a solid grounding in planetary science.

Watch this space – I may have some more recommended texts as I work through this process.