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elementarymydear 's review for:
I was very excited to pick this one up as it combines two of my interests – astronomy, and anthropology!
This was a fascinating book about the evolving relationship of humanity with the night sky. Starting with the dawn of humanity, Stuart Clark looks at how humans have used the night sky for navigation, for marking the passage of time, for religious inspiration, and more. I particularly enjoyed the chapter about the zodiac. While I don’t believe in astrology, I found it really interesting to find out how far back our ideas about the zodiac go, and how important they were in Greek philosophy.
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I also really enjoyed the later chapters which discussed how our scientific understanding has altered our relationship with the night sky. I really got a sense for how monumental early scientific discoveries would have been at the time.
As interesting as this book was, though, it was painfully focussed on Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. For a book that claimed to be about humanity’s relationship with the night sky, it was almost entirely centred on Western society, with no mention of the Chinese zodiac, South American traditions, and much more. I would have preferred a much more comprehensive view which could have afforded links to be drawn between different cultures.
Ultimately, this book didn’t quite deliver what I was hoping, but was still a fascinating read.
This was a fascinating book about the evolving relationship of humanity with the night sky. Starting with the dawn of humanity, Stuart Clark looks at how humans have used the night sky for navigation, for marking the passage of time, for religious inspiration, and more. I particularly enjoyed the chapter about the zodiac. While I don’t believe in astrology, I found it really interesting to find out how far back our ideas about the zodiac go, and how important they were in Greek philosophy.
📚Blog📖YouTube📖Instagram📚
I also really enjoyed the later chapters which discussed how our scientific understanding has altered our relationship with the night sky. I really got a sense for how monumental early scientific discoveries would have been at the time.
As interesting as this book was, though, it was painfully focussed on Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. For a book that claimed to be about humanity’s relationship with the night sky, it was almost entirely centred on Western society, with no mention of the Chinese zodiac, South American traditions, and much more. I would have preferred a much more comprehensive view which could have afforded links to be drawn between different cultures.
Ultimately, this book didn’t quite deliver what I was hoping, but was still a fascinating read.