Thank you for the opportunity to read this; I thought it was going to be fun and fascinating - but I'm sorry, I found it intensely boring. I did not finish; and I am not rating or reviewing this book. (Star rating with this review is required to send by Netgalley)

This book really was interesting. It had more of an "NAS Field Guide" feel to it with the abundance of images, but was fairly short on the written text. The overall effect was that it was more of a visual identification guide to show the difference between terrestrial items and actual micrometeorites. I liked that about this book...it didn't feel like a textbook. That was what I probably found most intriguing. The suspected distribution of micrometeorites in urban areas was really interesting as well.

This encyclopedia of micrometeorites takes the reader through an intergalactic portal detailing not only their history but showing their formation via numerous photos taken and submitted to author Jon Larsen. Starting with how The Stardust Project came about, and for each photo, Larsen adds a very detail analysis of it's composition. This "How-To" manual can also give the steps needed to give a novice Stardust hunter, a good adventure. In addition to the clear and amazing photos and detailed descriptions, I love the fact that Larsen thanks everyone by name who has contributed to this mini textbook of the Cosmos.

It is an extremely disappointing book.
I was excited about the subject because the possibility to discover micrometeorites everywhere is a real breakthrough and it makes also a great people science opportunity.
But, after reading the book I was puzzled and a bit frustrated. What is the scope of the volume? Presenting the impressive author's collection? Being a field manual for micrometeorites wannabe collectors?
If it is the first, it lacks a number of data to make it somewhat adequate and complete. If it is the second, it lacks a section (possibly the most important one) on the method the author used to find the micrometeorites,
and clear instructions on how to distinguish real ones from terrestrial material. I mean, just looking at the photos it is impossible for me to distinguish from, for instance, the meteorite classified as NMM 6 and some of
those type-I magnetic spherules of terrestrial origin.
The lack of an how-to section in the book is even more felt since the instructions are already available on the Facebook page of the author, and if collected in a easy-to-peruse format it would be a real boon for the stardust enthusiast.

A very cool collection of professional photography and scientific analysis.

The author does an excellent job covering the science of MM and giving examples of ET and terrestrial MM. The author does neglect to note where fine sieves can be purchased and what magnets to use for MM searching..