Historical Astronomy
Top Recommendations
Hoskin, Michael (ed.): The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy
A thorough and highly readable account, from antiquity to the present day. Hoskin is an historian and
astronomer, and the best qualities of both shine through this highly recommended work.
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Clark, Stuart: The Sky's Dark Labyrinth
This is an historical novel, in which Stuart Clark does a superb job of bringing to life the characters (primarily Kepler and Galileo) and their work,
set against the turbulence of the religious conflicts that ravaged parts of Europe in the early 17th Century. It is this
historical background that enables the reader to develop a deep understanding of the people involved and the resistance to their ideas. Clark has
the combined gifts of being a very good story-teller and having a thorough understanding of the astrophysical relevance of the work
(and follies) of the protagonists of this tale, and uses both to good effect. If you ever imagined that a novel about the history of science
would be dull, think again. This book has the compulsion of a good adventure novel; it would make an excellent film. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the trilogy, The Sensorium of God, which is set in the time of Isaac Newton.
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Kindle Edition
North, John: Stonehenge: Neolithic Man and the Cosmos
This
remarkable book is the culmination of 15 years research and is considered to
have solved the riddle of this megalithic site, as well as many other neolithic
sites in Britain, including chalk figures, long barrows, henges, and
ditch-and-bank monuments. It also makes good companion reading to Bernard
Cornwell's excellent novel, Stonehenge.
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Caspar, Max: Kepler
THE definitive biography of Kepler, bar none.
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Cornwell, Bernard: Stonehenge
This is an historical novel and not, strictly speaking, history. However, for anyone
interested in Stonehenge it will be an excellent read, combining as it does
recent ideas (such as John North's (see above) with Cornwell's
natural skill as a story teller.
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Dreyer, J.L.E.: A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler
A masterpiece of historical insight and scientific accuracy. If you're going to get only one
history of pre-telescopic astronomy, get this one!
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Heath, Sir Thomas L: Greek Astronomy
Translations of writings by or about the ancient astronomers from Thales to
Plutarch who laid the basis of scientific astronomy. An excellent sourcebook for those of us who don't read ancient Greek! (significantly cheaper in the US)
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Moore, Patrick: Eyes on the Universe
A history of the telescope from Digges to Space Telescopes. Packed with
interesting snippets of information that Sir Patrick has accumulated over his many decades as an astronomer.
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Saliba, George: A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories
During the Golden Age of Islam
A series of articles detailing the influence of mediaeval Islamic astronomy on that of the European
Renaissance. Extremely interesting.
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