Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> For all civilizations the night sky – vast beautiful and inaccessible-has been a source of mystery and fascina- tion. In every ancient religion there was a belief that the stars were deities or spirits inhabiting a higher plane of being. The heavens were thought of as a spiritual realm as well as a physical reality exercising a fateful power over human life. Yet alongside this sense of mystery observers recognized a regularity and precision in the movements of the stars that was unlike anything on earth. These movements were seen to be cyclical and could be pre- dicted. They formed the basis of all calendars. The con- stellations so well-known to us today were devised as an imaginary landscape in which people could measure both time and direction. Throughout history people have sought ways in which to ‘map’ the heavens. These have often been very beauti- ful documents. From the twin sources of mythology (the figures from legend imposed on the sky by Egyptians Babylonians and Greeks) and mathematics (the Greek concept of the celestial sphere) sprang the classical star chart the finest examples of which are both a scientific document and a minor art form. In this superbly illustrated book Peter Whitfield reveals some of the many ways in which the underlying structure of the universe has been conceived and explained. He shows how the study of the mechanism of the universe has led inevitably to a wider search for its creator and ruler. With examples ranging from the Stone Age to the Space Age ancient observatories the angelic visions of Dante images from the Copernican Revolution the ratio- nalized heavens of Newton and Flamsteed through to modern deep space photography he offers a challeng ing and entertaining exploration of the tension between rigorous scientific knowledge and the continuing search for cause certainty and harmony in the universe. (MP)