Nature's Third Cycle

"""Choudhuri gives us a condensed history of the study of the sun and of sunspots over the past few centuries back to Galileo Gailiei, whose discovery of the Sun's 27-day rotation marked the serious start of solar physics... The remarkable tale includes skilled amateurs as well as professional academics, the rivalries between the main players, and a probable husband-wife murder-suicide thrown into the mix. Yes, there is a lot in the story of studying the sun, and the author does a masterful job of making it a fascinating read."" -- Simon Constable, Forbes ""A fascinating, engaging and enjoyable book."" -- Contemporary Physics ""This captivating book immerses the readers in the development of solar physics as though they were participating in a theatre play. Many personal memories provide fascinating links to the historical development of solar science. It is a book hard to put down once started!"" -- Pascal Demoulin, Observatoire de Paris ""Going through Nature's Third Cycle - A Story of Sunspots by Arnab Rai Choudhuri is equivalent to having a ringside view of the gradual unveiling of one of the abiding mysteries associated with the Sun ... In the academic community, Rai Choudhuri is known as a wonderful teacher and a brilliant scientist. He uses his expertise as a teacher to take the readers effortlessly through the complexities of solar physics."" -- Sushan Konar, Resonance ""This [book] establishes new (unprecedentedly high) standards of scientific writing ... Already in the beginning, the reviewer has to tell that this book is among the best he has ever taken in his hands ... It should be stressed that reading this book will be easy for geoscientists ... [and] will attract more young people to science."" -- Dmitry A. Ruban, Zentralblatt fuer Geologie und Palaeontologie"