Sun Moon Earth

One of Amazon's Best Science Books of 2016 Tyler Nordgren's Sun Moon Earth: The History of Solar Eclipses from Omens of Doom to Einstein and Exoplanets is a charming and informative primer on the subject... As the title suggests, the book is more than a generic guide to next year's eclipse...it is a philosophical, historical, and speculative meditation on the roots of scientific thinking and the development of astronomical theory and practice --Wall Street Journal On 21 August 2017, the United States will experience its first total solar eclipse in 40 years. Astronomer Tyler Nordgren's primer maps essentials for that event, contextualized by a fascinating history that sweeps us from Anaxagoras' explanation of eclipses in the fifth century BC to Arthur Eddington's test of Einstein's theory of general relativity during the May 1919 total eclipse. Nordgren is a wonderful guide to both the science and the sensory thrills. --Nature Few books have been as valuable to eclipse chasers as this one. In Sun Moon Earth: The History of Solar Eclipses from Omens of Doom to Einstein and Exoplanets, astronomer Tyler Nordgren delivers a comprehensive history of the science and cultural fascination with these almost magical events... It is a niftily written narrative that will entertain, inform, and get your juices flowing for next year's big event. --Astronomy.com Tyler Nordgren's Sun Moon Earth shows the excitement of observing a total solar eclipse better than any other source I have seen. In addition to enveloping readers in his very readable descriptions, he explains a wide range of fascinating science in a way accessible to all. I highly recommend this book to all 300 million Americans who will be under the moon's shadow on August 21, 2017--and hope that it can make tens of millions of them join the original ten million in the path of totality. --Jay Pasachoff, Williams College, Chair of the International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Eclipses Nordgren's appealing work covers the history of man's varied reactions to both solar and lunar eclipses, from the Mayan mention of these phenomena in codices to the current clique of coronaphiles who chase eclipses around the world... [An] enthusiastic and informative guide. --Booklist A breezy yet substantive appreciation of a rare and beautiful celestial phenomenon, ideal for astronomy nuts and fans of popular science. --Library Journal Nordgren...lyrically relates the long, fascinating history of the human relationship with eclipses... He sprinkles his history and scientific explanations with delightful comments and personal anecdotes that highlight his joy in his work. --Publishers Weekly Astronomer Nordgren illustrates how this apparently unnatural phenomenon was transformed from a fearsome omen to a tourist attraction. Traveling through history, he shows how different cultures interpreted these dramatic events. --Publishers Weekly, Fall Announcements A charming natural history of eclipses and a guide to witnessing the awe-inspiring event yourself. --Kirkus Reviews When the moon clips our view of the sun or our own shadow blots out our satellite, we experience it with the benefit of millennia of knowledge. We know years in advance when an eclipse will happen, where on the planet it will be visible and, perhaps most importantly, that the world will not end because of it. Our ancestors were not so well-prepared. Astronomer and physicist Nordgren charts the path our species has taken from terror to scientific understanding, and he's done it with and clarity. --Discover Tyler Nordgren's book takes you on a journey of discovery by telling the tales of astronomers who sailed the world to witness and measure eclipses--and the fierce arguments that shaped scientific theory. Nordgren, an astronomer himself, carefully explains some of the most awesome astronomical discoveries with a clarity that anyone can understand. It covers everything from Christopher Columbus to modern-day methods of measuring transit stars. With a huge solar eclipse set to cover the U.S. in 2017, now would be a good time to bone up on your space knowledge. --Popular Mechanics