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Blind Watchers of the Sky, The People and Ideas that
Shaped Our View of the Universe, Rocky Kolb, Addison Wesley 1996
A rather light weight treatment of the history of astronomy and our understanding
of the universe. Sort of a tour of astronomy from Tycho to the big bang.
Skywatchers, Shamans and Kings, E. C. Krupp,
Wiley 1997
The influence of astronomy on archaeology, or perhaps vice versa. Interesting
light reading.
In Search of Planet Vulcan - The Ghost in Newton's
Clockwork Universe, Baum and Sheean, Plenum Trade 1997
This is a nice little book and an easy read about the search for a planet supposedly
causing perturbations of Mercury's orbit. Even though we know the result,
it is a nicely detailed account of the predictions of Le Verrier and the attempt
by his followers to find this elusive planet. The hundred year search
is a study in personalities, factions, fabrication and stubborn refusal to give
up the futile search. There is a large section on W. Watson an astronomer
with connections to the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin who was a diligent
searcher for Vulcan..
Pluto and Charon, Alan Stern and Jacqueline
Mitton, Wiley Interscience 1998
This is a delightful book. It gives a history of the discovery of both
Pluto and Charon, a very detailed and scientific discussion of analyzing the
size and atmosphere of these objects and a nice discussion of the formation
of the planets and our solar system. This is a readable book but
has solid science underlying it.
Starseekers, Colin Wilson, Doubleday and Company 1980. This is a history of mankind and his looking to the stars. Starts with Stonehenge and ends with a whimper sometime in this century. A so so book that adds very little to our understanding of the history of astronomical activities.
The Astronomers, Companion book to the PBS television
series. Donald Goldsmith, St. Martin's Press 1991.
This is a book that defies being categorized. It goes with the television
series. That's it. It's ok if you like the series.
Greenwich Time and the Longitude, Derek Howse,
Philip Wilson Publishers 1997
This is a delightful book for anyone interested in the establishment of time
over the centuries. The emphasis is on the Greenwich observatory and their
roll in setting time standards over the world. The chronicle covers time
measurement from the hourglass to the cesium clock. It is loaded with
information about the technology of time measurements and the lives of
the people who improved the measurement of time over the past several centuries.
This is a very nice book.
The End of the Dinosaurs, Charles Frankel, Cambridge
University Press 1999. This in small but chock full of information book
about the latest theories of how the dinosaurs vanished. It establishes
ties between many known major impact craters on the earth's surface with major
changes in the earth's development. Major astronomical catastrophes seem
to have caused major catastrophic steps in the development of the flora and
fauna of the earth over the past 500 million years. A fascinating book,
well written, authoritative and easy to read. Highly recommended.