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Further Adventures of the Celestial Sleuth: Using Astronomy to Solve More Mysteries in Art, History, and Literature
From the author of "Celestial Sleuth" (2014), yet more mysteries in art, history, and literature are solved by calculating phases of the Moon, determining the positions of the planets and stars, and identifying celestial objects in paintings. In addition to helping to crack difficult cases, these studies spark our imagination and provide a better understanding of the skies. Weather archives, vintage maps, tides, historical letters and diaries, military records and the assistance of experts in related fields help with this work. For each historical event influenced by astronomy, there is a different kind of mystery to be solved. How did the changing tides affect an army's battle plans? How did the phases of the moon affect how an artist painted a landscape? Follow these exciting investigations with a master “celestial sleuth” as he tracks down the truth and helps unravel mysteries as far back as the Middle Ages and as recent as the iconic 1945 photograph of a kiss in Times Square on VJ Day. Topics or "cases" pursued were chosen for their wide public recognition and intrigue and involve artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet; historical events such as the campaigns of Braveheart in Scotland and battles in World War II and the Korean War; and literary authors such as Chaucer, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Byron, and Edgar Allan Poe.
348 pages, Paperback
Published February 12, 2018
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 25, 2024
As the title suggests, this simply more of the same. If you liked Olson's Celestial Sleuth, you'll like this one too.
The topics he deals with are, for the most part, truly interesting and there's something for everyone: military history, Claude Monet (again), Caspar David Friedrich, J. M. W. Turner (again), Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins (probably my favourite part of the book), Shakespeare... Although the focus is on astronomy, several questions are solved not with celestial but with terrestrial methods.
The problems are also the same as in the first book: the texts work if you read them one at a time and have a long break between them, but if you read several chapters at one go the repetition is simply infuriating. The structure of the chapters is always the same, and the questions too. Obviously the methodology is always essentially the same too. And he explains every single time what an azimuth is. Awful.
I've got Olson's third book in my bookshelf, but because of the style I need to wait a while before getting into that one. I really can't understand why anyone didn't bother to edit these books (structure and style-wise I mean; there aren't any typos and the index is good so in that sense they are edited), because a little effort would have made these much more readable.
3.5/5
The topics he deals with are, for the most part, truly interesting and there's something for everyone: military history, Claude Monet (again), Caspar David Friedrich, J. M. W. Turner (again), Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins (probably my favourite part of the book), Shakespeare... Although the focus is on astronomy, several questions are solved not with celestial but with terrestrial methods.
The problems are also the same as in the first book: the texts work if you read them one at a time and have a long break between them, but if you read several chapters at one go the repetition is simply infuriating. The structure of the chapters is always the same, and the questions too. Obviously the methodology is always essentially the same too. And he explains every single time what an azimuth is. Awful.
I've got Olson's third book in my bookshelf, but because of the style I need to wait a while before getting into that one. I really can't understand why anyone didn't bother to edit these books (structure and style-wise I mean; there aren't any typos and the index is good so in that sense they are edited), because a little effort would have made these much more readable.
3.5/5
Displaying 1 of 1 review