History of Astronomy

• Ashbrook, Joseph The Astronomical Scrapbook: Skywatchers, Pioneers, and Seekers in Astronomy Eighty three of the best of Joe Ashbrook's Astronomical Scrapbookseries in Sky and Telescope. Covers history, anecdotes, biographical snippets, equipment and ideas, all of it written in a lively manner. An excellent bedside "dip-in" book.

• Aveni, Anthony F. Conversing With the Planets: How Science and Myth Invented the Cosmos Anthony Aveni takes the reader on a fascinating journey which begins with pure observation and progresses through mythology to the science of astronomy as we understand it today. A fascinating book.

• Caspar, Max Kepler THE definitive biography of Kepler, bar none.

• Dreyer, J.L.E. A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler A masterpiece of historical insight and scientific accuracy. If you are only going to get one book on pre-telescopic astronomy, get this one.

• Gingerich, Owen The Great Copernicus Chase: And Other Adventures in Astronomical History A selection of Professor Gingerich's articles, mostly (but not excluseively) from Sky and Telescope, dealing with intersting episodes in the history of astronomy. Highly recommended.

• Heath, Sir Thomas L Greek Astronomy Translations ofwritings by or about ancient astronomers from Thales to Plutarch. An excellent sourcebook for those of us who don't read ancient Greek!

• Hetherington, B. A Chronical of Pre-Telescopic Astronomy A chronological arrangement of discoveries, events, and biographies -- from the earliest times and many nations.

• 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 qualtiies of both shione through this highly recommended work.

• Koestler, Arthur The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe A compulsive examination and analysis of the development of astronomy up to the time of Kepler, drawing on primary source material. The large section on Galileo punctures a few modern myths. Highly recommended.

• Krupp, E.C. Skywatchers, Shamans, & Kings: Astronomy and the Archaeology of Power Readers of Sky and Telescope will already be aware of E.C.Krupp's depth of knowledge and understanding of ancient astronomy. He shows how an understanding and interpretation of sky phenomena brought an understanding – and power – to ancient peoples.

• Leverington, David A History of Astronomy from 1890 to the Present This book charts the explosion of knowledge in the century from which we have progressed from Newtonian physics to modern ideas.

• Moore, Patrick Eyes on the Universe: The Story of the Telescope A history of the telescope from Digges to Space Telescopes. Packed with interesting snippets of information.

• North, John Stonehenge : A New Interpretation of Prehistoric 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. Hightly recommended.

• Pannekoek, A A History of Astronomy A well-written classic with remarkable detail of the subject from ancient civilisations, through Kepler and Newton, to Eddington and stellar composition.

• 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.

• Thurston, Hugh Early Astronomy A history from the earliest beginnings all over the world up to the time of Kepler.