The Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy

I enjoyed this book immensely, because it combines two of my favorite topics, history and science, and shows how one makes the other. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs of stone tablets, astronomical instruments, original sketches, and drawings to underpin its narrative of history of astronomy. The book takes the reader from antiquity thru Copernicus to Hobble in a narrative that is gripping as the quest for knowledge and understanding of the universe unfolds. As a scientist in microelectronics, I appreciated how people of different ages developed a concept of the universe based on their sometimes incomprehensible observational data; how that concept changed due to the ever increasing accuracy of observation; and how the need for more accurate observation drove the need for improvements in instrumentation. Unlike a typical astronomy (or engineering) textbook that lists facts that is perhaps a culmination of a thoughtprocess of many generations, this book tries to answer the even more important question, how did they figure that? - outlining breakthrough concepts and how and why they were arrived at but not dragging the reader down in detail. The history of astronomy is the history of people (and not that of a single genius), and how scientists and astronomers built on the results of the previous generation, sometimes tearing concepts down, but ever improving our view. There have been some very smart people in the past in astronomy and in other sciences; and it is incredible what they accomplished with what little they had. The book pays respect to these individuals, as we all should, as we all stand on the shoulders of these giants.

When you see a "coffee table" book like this, you sometimes wonder about whether the writing is going to match the pictures, but with people like Michael Hoskin, Christopher Cullen and Owen Gingerich writing the text, you know that this one is going to be a winner even before you open it. Let me just say that the pictures and the desing in fantastic, and that the writing is at a level suitable for the general public without being "dumbed down". Trust me, you're going to enjoy this one!

Although this appears to be in a coffee-table format, this book covers both history and technical aspects of the subject without oversimplification. Side issues are explained in detail. Illustrations are well-presented, clear and in color when appropriate; very useful in this largely visual subject. The very best history of astronomy I have found.

This is the single best history of astronomy I've ever encountered. Not only is the narrative interesting, the pictures--from William Herschel's journal pages describing his discovery of Uranus to full-page illuminations of the Cartesian cosmology--enhance the experience even more than one might expect. At less than ( ), this book is a must for any astronomy buff.

An excellent survey with both breadth and depth, covering non-European astronomy (for example the Dresden Codex - a Mayan calendar), the difficulties of the Geo-centric model, the development of the telescope, modern astrophysics, up to the Hubble Space Telescope. Includes a great many sidebars with much peripheral information (I did not know that Herschel was an organist by trade).