Five Billion Years of Solitude by Lee Billings (book review)

I finished this book recently, I started it back in January. Needless to say this one was really tough for me to get through. The topic of exoplanets is so interesting, but this author really doesn't tell that story. He tries to... until he tells the reader about the geology of the northeastern US or in another chapter tells me about climate change or the last space shuttle mission or... well you get the idea. I think a history of the discovery of exoplanets would be an interesting read, but this book isn't it. The section on Geoff Marcy was very short, however it is clear the author thought high of Sara Seager. I know the folks at Sky News said this was one of the best books of 2014, while I have tremendous respect for Terry Dickinson and Alan Dyer, this book just didn't do it for me. If you want to read it, wait till it hits your local library or is a dollar or two on the used book market. I may have had too high of hopes for this book being I really like astronomy books similar to this (ex. The Day We Found The Universe by Bartusiak), but Five Billion Years of Solitude is really just meh.

And to be fair. I think a book on the geology of the eastern USA would be interesting. I have read about climate change and it is a problem like the author implies.... oh and I do like Space Shuttles, have read about those too! I just don't need any of this in a book about exoplanets... In the end this should have been about 50 to 100 pages shorter or done in a magazine like National Geographic. Now to be fair this is Mr. Billings first book, but I wonder if this was the first book for the editor as well.