 Plait's first book received generally favorable reviews within the academic and astronomy communities and was the first volume in the "Bad Science" series by John Wiley & Sons Publishing.Inspired by the author's web site, "Bad Astronomy," the book attempts to explore twenty-four common astronomical fallacies and explain the scientific consensus concerning these topics within the field of astronomy.The book explains and corrects many ideas relating to space that, according to Plait, are mistaken but nevertheless often portrayed in popular movies.