by Richard Rhodes
Simon & Schuster, 1987
886 pp. $22.95
by Marvin Minsky
Simon & Schuster, 1987
339 pp. $19.95
Edited
and introduced by Sian Miles. Weidenfeld
& Nicolson, 1987. 290 pp. $8.95
By Neil Postman. Penguin,
1987. 184 pp. $6.95
By Bertram Wyatt-Brown.
Oxford, 1987. 270 pp. $7.95
What are stars? Why do those tiny points of light sparkle with different colors? How far away are they?
Astronomers use physics and mathematics to create new images
of stars. For them, the delight of seeing stars on a clear, dark night is
enhanced by searching for a unified understanding of the universe.
Key discoveries opened the study of the universe as a whole. At the beginning of this century, astronomers had a limited sense of the size of the universe. Then, in 1924, Edwin Hubble (1889-1953)...
You see then, studious reader, how the subtle mind of Galileo, in my opinion the first philosopher of the day, uses this telescope of ours like a sort of ladder, scales the furthest and loftiest walls of the visible world, surveys all things with his own eyes, and, from the position he has gained, darts the glances of his most acute intellect upon these petty abodes of ours-the planetary spheres I mean,-and compares with keenest reason- ing the distant with the near, the lofty with the deep.
From D...
Kenneth Brecher and Michael Feirtag, expand on astronomy's archaeological aspects. In addition to describing ancient Egyptian and Babylonian astronomy, Comell ex- plains the relevance of specific ancient observatories in the Far East and Africa; Brecher's and Feirtag's collection of eight essays leading archaeoastrono- mers focuses on such matters as the first scientific instruments and the medicine wheels of the Plains Indians. Providing a close look at particular cultures, Native American Astronomy...