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Une histoire du ciel
Que savons-nous de la naissance de l’Univers ? Qu’en disaient les Grecs ? La mythologie chinoise ? Les Aztèques ? Et Einstein ? La Terre est-elle plate ? Carrée ? Ronde ? Tourne-t-elle autour du Soleil, ou est-ce l’inverse ?
Avec ses histoires extraordinaires et ses illustrations spectaculaires, ce livre explore la fascination de l’humanité pour les mystères du ciel. Traversant le temps et les civilisations, dévoilant mythes, croyances et théories scientifiques, il brosse une magnifique chronique de l’imaginaire et de la découverte du cosmos. Edward Brooke-Hitching est un écrivain et documentariste anglais. Touche à tout, il est également journaliste et a réalisé des documentaires audios et télévisés pour la BBC. Passionné de cartes géographiques en tout genre, il en a fait le sujet principal de ses dernières publications. Son travail est caractérisé par l’attention qu’il porte à l’articulation entre cartes et mythologies, entre les représentations spatiales et les récits qui les remplissent. Une histoire du ciel est à ce jour un best-seller au Royaume-Uni.
Avec ses histoires extraordinaires et ses illustrations spectaculaires, ce livre explore la fascination de l’humanité pour les mystères du ciel. Traversant le temps et les civilisations, dévoilant mythes, croyances et théories scientifiques, il brosse une magnifique chronique de l’imaginaire et de la découverte du cosmos. Edward Brooke-Hitching est un écrivain et documentariste anglais. Touche à tout, il est également journaliste et a réalisé des documentaires audios et télévisés pour la BBC. Passionné de cartes géographiques en tout genre, il en a fait le sujet principal de ses dernières publications. Son travail est caractérisé par l’attention qu’il porte à l’articulation entre cartes et mythologies, entre les représentations spatiales et les récits qui les remplissent. Une histoire du ciel est à ce jour un best-seller au Royaume-Uni.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2019
142 people are currently reading
1967 people want to read
About the author
Edward Brooke-Hitching
16 books249 followersEdward Brooke-Hitching is a writer and award-winning documentary filmmaker. The son of an antiquarian book dealer, he read English and Film at the University of Exeter before entering independent film production. ‘Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports’ is his first book. He lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
July 6, 2024
WYSIWYG
What is clear to me is that we mammals have succeeded, in part, because of our ability to see patterns. So it is not a surprise that when us humans have looked up at the night sky filled with tiny lights, that we have found patterns there and that those patterns have become very useful. This is a deep dive into the history of astronomy accompanied by great graphics and photos in an oversized format.
Early history:
"Of particular interest was the drawing of a bull, a bird and a bird-man on the wall of the Shaft of the Dead Man. This has been interpreted by Dr Michael Rappenglueck of the University of Munich, and others, to be the earliest existing star map, the three figures representing the stars Vega, Deneb and Altair in a grouping known today as the Summer Triangle. These three are among the brightest objects discernible in the night sky during the middle months of the northern summer. Elsewhere in the cave, in the Hall of the Bulls, another diagram appeared to depict the Pleiades star cluster, sometimes called the Seven Sisters."
Building a star “catalog:”
"The most famous of the turn-of-the-century rooms of ‘human computers’ was to be found at Harvard University, where a team of skilled female calculators and data gatherers was assembled by the university’s director, Edward C. Pickering (1846–1919) following the death of the astronomer and pioneering astrophotographer Henry Draper in 1882. ‘Pickering’s women’, as they were nicknamed, were to take on the enormous challenge of continuing Draper’s work, building a new catalogue of stellar classification."
Discoveries:
"The British-American astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1979), who upturned conventional thinking in 1925 with her doctoral thesis that the constitution of stars was directly linked to the abundance of hydrogen and helium in the universe. At the time it was thought that there were no noteworthy differences between the elemental composition of the Sun and Earth."
Theories:
"Space, according to Einstein’s theory, is not separate from matter but rather is a material itself, an entity that is bent, flexed and curved by the mass of celestial bodies, explaining everything from why objects fall to the ground to the planetary motions. Our massive Sun warps the space around it, causing Earth to hurtle around it like the marble rolling around the inclined wall of trampoline fabric. Einstein summarized the idea in a set of field equations, but essentially the idea in summary is this: space-time curves where there is matter. An idea beautiful in its simplicity."
And the continuing quest:
"The story of the sky continues to unfold. For us, arguably the most rewarded generation of our explorer species, it is impossible not to be swept up in the momentum of scientific progress and the excitement of boundless possibility."
4*
What is clear to me is that we mammals have succeeded, in part, because of our ability to see patterns. So it is not a surprise that when us humans have looked up at the night sky filled with tiny lights, that we have found patterns there and that those patterns have become very useful. This is a deep dive into the history of astronomy accompanied by great graphics and photos in an oversized format.
Early history:
"Of particular interest was the drawing of a bull, a bird and a bird-man on the wall of the Shaft of the Dead Man. This has been interpreted by Dr Michael Rappenglueck of the University of Munich, and others, to be the earliest existing star map, the three figures representing the stars Vega, Deneb and Altair in a grouping known today as the Summer Triangle. These three are among the brightest objects discernible in the night sky during the middle months of the northern summer. Elsewhere in the cave, in the Hall of the Bulls, another diagram appeared to depict the Pleiades star cluster, sometimes called the Seven Sisters."
Building a star “catalog:”
"The most famous of the turn-of-the-century rooms of ‘human computers’ was to be found at Harvard University, where a team of skilled female calculators and data gatherers was assembled by the university’s director, Edward C. Pickering (1846–1919) following the death of the astronomer and pioneering astrophotographer Henry Draper in 1882. ‘Pickering’s women’, as they were nicknamed, were to take on the enormous challenge of continuing Draper’s work, building a new catalogue of stellar classification."
Discoveries:
"The British-American astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1979), who upturned conventional thinking in 1925 with her doctoral thesis that the constitution of stars was directly linked to the abundance of hydrogen and helium in the universe. At the time it was thought that there were no noteworthy differences between the elemental composition of the Sun and Earth."
Theories:
"Space, according to Einstein’s theory, is not separate from matter but rather is a material itself, an entity that is bent, flexed and curved by the mass of celestial bodies, explaining everything from why objects fall to the ground to the planetary motions. Our massive Sun warps the space around it, causing Earth to hurtle around it like the marble rolling around the inclined wall of trampoline fabric. Einstein summarized the idea in a set of field equations, but essentially the idea in summary is this: space-time curves where there is matter. An idea beautiful in its simplicity."
And the continuing quest:
"The story of the sky continues to unfold. For us, arguably the most rewarded generation of our explorer species, it is impossible not to be swept up in the momentum of scientific progress and the excitement of boundless possibility."
4*
March 30, 2020
Incredible!
My infant brain: History. Space. Science. Pictures. Oooooooooooo.
After pursuing a career in art I forgot my LOVE of space astronomy (I backed out of the amount of maths and lack of story physics would give me) but this book just won the medle of favourite books so far. Funny, enthralling, mindblowing stories of galactic breakthroughs. Puts into perspective the immense amount of time it's taken us to understand the life around us which still has so many unanswered questions. We are ants. The universe is large. We are fish in a fish pond trying to jump out of it. And how some of the scientists and astronomers and mathmetitians actually figured out these theories is beyond me. Sitting in a room just thinking "how can I calculate the motion of the moon, sitting here in my Greek house without a telescope" 'oh I know!' ????????????? How they got from Q to A. Is a genius that dwarfs my understanding.
My infant brain: History. Space. Science. Pictures. Oooooooooooo.
After pursuing a career in art I forgot my LOVE of space astronomy (I backed out of the amount of maths and lack of story physics would give me) but this book just won the medle of favourite books so far. Funny, enthralling, mindblowing stories of galactic breakthroughs. Puts into perspective the immense amount of time it's taken us to understand the life around us which still has so many unanswered questions. We are ants. The universe is large. We are fish in a fish pond trying to jump out of it. And how some of the scientists and astronomers and mathmetitians actually figured out these theories is beyond me. Sitting in a room just thinking "how can I calculate the motion of the moon, sitting here in my Greek house without a telescope" 'oh I know!' ????????????? How they got from Q to A. Is a genius that dwarfs my understanding.
May 1, 2023
Odporúčam : ak sa chcete dozvedieť viac o najväčších astronomických objavoch ľudstva
Neodporúčam : ak hľadáte knihu iba o hviezdach. Publikácia obsahuje aj veľa rôznych historických, geografických, matematických či fyzikálnych poznatkov
Mesiac, planéty, hviezdy a vesmír. Vždy ma toto všetko fascinovalo, pretože je to stále neprebádaná oblasť rovnako, ako najhlbšie miesta dnov oceánov. Som veľký fanúšik oblohy a pokiaľ ste aj vy, táto kniha by vám nemala uniknúť .
Atlas oblohy je kniha, ktorá vás zláka už len svojou prenádhernou obálkou s lesknúcimi sa hviezdami. Ale ani vnútro knihy nezaostáva. Okrem naozaj bohatého textu sa tu nachádzajú rôzne ilustrácie, maľby či fotografie z histórie a súčastnosti.
Tato kniha je veľmi obšírna zbierka toho, čo už bolo o hviezdach a vesmíre vyskúmané. Spája historické poznatky s legendami, kultúrami, mýtmi, rozprávkami s novodobým faktami. Tie sú zoradené chronologicky podla času a zároveň aj geograficky podla krajiny. S knihou sa tak vydáme do Grecka, Činy, Egypta, či do starovekého Babylonu.
Atlas hviezd je nádherne spracovaná náučná kniha o oblohe, vďaka ktorej sa dozviete naozaj veľa a ak už mnohé viete, určite si ďalšie vedomosti doplníte.
Neodporúčam : ak hľadáte knihu iba o hviezdach. Publikácia obsahuje aj veľa rôznych historických, geografických, matematických či fyzikálnych poznatkov
Mesiac, planéty, hviezdy a vesmír. Vždy ma toto všetko fascinovalo, pretože je to stále neprebádaná oblasť rovnako, ako najhlbšie miesta dnov oceánov. Som veľký fanúšik oblohy a pokiaľ ste aj vy, táto kniha by vám nemala uniknúť .
Atlas oblohy je kniha, ktorá vás zláka už len svojou prenádhernou obálkou s lesknúcimi sa hviezdami. Ale ani vnútro knihy nezaostáva. Okrem naozaj bohatého textu sa tu nachádzajú rôzne ilustrácie, maľby či fotografie z histórie a súčastnosti.
Tato kniha je veľmi obšírna zbierka toho, čo už bolo o hviezdach a vesmíre vyskúmané. Spája historické poznatky s legendami, kultúrami, mýtmi, rozprávkami s novodobým faktami. Tie sú zoradené chronologicky podla času a zároveň aj geograficky podla krajiny. S knihou sa tak vydáme do Grecka, Činy, Egypta, či do starovekého Babylonu.
Atlas hviezd je nádherne spracovaná náučná kniha o oblohe, vďaka ktorej sa dozviete naozaj veľa a ak už mnohé viete, určite si ďalšie vedomosti doplníte.
September 9, 2023
I found my Love for Ancient Astronomy because of this book. I was always interested in this particular topic but never gave it much thought but this book helped me understand everything clearly. This book is phenomenal. The artwork is exquisite. I found myself staring at the artwork as if I was lost in it. It had brief history of astronomy from ancient times till the present. It was very informative. I Love this book so much ❤
January 25, 2022
A Triumph .... splendid...a marvellous book full of wonders...a must-have for every dreamer and astronomy buffs...a treasure of a book. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
September 25, 2021
The real kind of reading experience. A joy to hold, touch and absorb.
Anyone with an interest in life should enjoy this. A triumph!
Anyone with an interest in life should enjoy this. A triumph!
March 5, 2021
A very cool and well illustrated history of how long all we humans have been looking up at the night sky and then drawing our interpretations of what we see.
April 27, 2023
velmi pekne spracovana historia pozorovania hviezd. Krasne mapy, obrazky ....ponorte sa a uzite si to, ze kedysi sme este nemali ani napisanu rovnicu e=mc2 na tabuli, a uz prisli obrovske objavy. Prakticky od praveku az do dnes. A mimochodom, chce niekto ist pozorovat hviezdy?
September 21, 2024
SPACE!!!
Reading things like this makes me want to put energy into something. LOOK AT THESE ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
Reading things like this makes me want to put energy into something. LOOK AT THESE ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
June 9, 2024
Gorgeous book
This would make a great coffee table book if published in extra large size, I only have the e-book, which I wish the resolution was better as details blur out of you zoom in. Loaded with history and trivia to balance out the amazing images.
This would make a great coffee table book if published in extra large size, I only have the e-book, which I wish the resolution was better as details blur out of you zoom in. Loaded with history and trivia to balance out the amazing images.
August 25, 2023
„Priestor podľa Einsteinovej teórie nie je oddelený od hmoty, ale je materiálom, entitou, ktorú ohýbajú, preliačujú a zakrivujú hmotnosti nebeských telies. To vysvetľuje všetko: od pádu objektov na zem, po pohyb planét. Einstein zhrnul myšlienku do súboru zložitých rovníc gravitačného poľa, no v podstate je hlavná myšlienka toto: časopriestor sa zakrivuje tam, kde je hmota. Je to nádherná myšlienka vo svojej jednoduchosti.“
Atlas oblohy je hodnotná publikácia pre všetkých milovníkov nebeskej klenby. Či už vás fascinujú historicky mylné predstavy o oblohe, ktoré pretrvávali po stáročia, alebo sa zaujímate o novodobé vesmírne objavy či kuriózne príbehy excentrických objaviteľov - toto všetko nájdete v tejto knihe.
Hoci sa po prečítaní Atlasu necítim oveľa múdrejšia, než som bola, môže za to moja neschopnosť poňať všetky fakty a komplexnosť, ktorou dejiny oblohy disponujú. Skláňam sa pred všetkými objaviteľmi a vedcami, ktorí svoj život zasvätili niečomu pre mňa tak abastraktnému ako je obloha - vo viere, že to raz pochopia a o svoje poznatky sa podelia s celým ľudstvom. Táto kniha je priam prešpikovaná neuveriteľnými príbehmi, ktoré budete čítať s údivom a rešpektom. Pomerne vysoká náročnosť knihy je odľahčená prekrásnymi ilustráciami, fotografiami a kópiami historických máp, vďaka čomu má kniha taký ten starodávny nádych magickej učebnice. Pri čítaní som sa cítila ako v škole mágie na hodine astronómie!
Či už po knihe siahnete, pretože vás zaujíma obloha, alebo hľadáte pre niekoho darček, či dekoračnú coffee-table knihu, Atlas oblohy bude skvelou voľbou v každom prípade.
Atlas oblohy je hodnotná publikácia pre všetkých milovníkov nebeskej klenby. Či už vás fascinujú historicky mylné predstavy o oblohe, ktoré pretrvávali po stáročia, alebo sa zaujímate o novodobé vesmírne objavy či kuriózne príbehy excentrických objaviteľov - toto všetko nájdete v tejto knihe.
Hoci sa po prečítaní Atlasu necítim oveľa múdrejšia, než som bola, môže za to moja neschopnosť poňať všetky fakty a komplexnosť, ktorou dejiny oblohy disponujú. Skláňam sa pred všetkými objaviteľmi a vedcami, ktorí svoj život zasvätili niečomu pre mňa tak abastraktnému ako je obloha - vo viere, že to raz pochopia a o svoje poznatky sa podelia s celým ľudstvom. Táto kniha je priam prešpikovaná neuveriteľnými príbehmi, ktoré budete čítať s údivom a rešpektom. Pomerne vysoká náročnosť knihy je odľahčená prekrásnymi ilustráciami, fotografiami a kópiami historických máp, vďaka čomu má kniha taký ten starodávny nádych magickej učebnice. Pri čítaní som sa cítila ako v škole mágie na hodine astronómie!
Či už po knihe siahnete, pretože vás zaujíma obloha, alebo hľadáte pre niekoho darček, či dekoračnú coffee-table knihu, Atlas oblohy bude skvelou voľbou v každom prípade.
January 18, 2024
A nicely thorough account of the charting of our skies, from very early examples to quite recent events, with many wonderful images to accompany it all. Even though I was quite a while reading it, I found this quite easy to read, and enjoyed what I learned from it.
April 26, 2020
Absolutely beautiful. The perfect coffee table book to dip in and out of.
July 12, 2020
A book of beautiful maps of the stars through the centuries. Informative and interesting, but the maps themselves are, if you will pardon the pun, the stars.
February 4, 2024
Review title: Introduction to the infinite
After being alerted to Brooke-Hitching's most recent book The Madman's Gallery: The Strangest Paintings, Sculptures and Other Curiosities from the History of Art through a Delancey Place email (daily excerpts of books that have proven a great source for my reading wish list), I went on to his previous on a similar theme, The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities from History. The Sky Atlas follows similar format, with high-quality reproduction of art, photography, and books accompanying Brooke-Hitching's concise and readable history of the sky. In this case, his text and artwork serves as a beautiful introduction to the history of astronomy and a vivid reminder of the wonder and mystery of the universe beyond us.
Before the invention of the telescope, the sky and space above it extended only as da as the naked eye could see and the mind's-eye of philosophy and religion could project. Human beings saw stars as constellations we grouped into common objects, mythical beings, and zodiac signs. The Greeks before Christ identified an unknown god as the prime mover behind the Cosmos, and the apostle Paul in the book of Acts chapter 17 identified this unknown god as the God of the Jewish and Christian bibles (p. 58).
When ancient Greek and recently rediscovered and translated Arabic astronomy observations and theories fed into the rise of science in Renaissance Europe, astronomers began to question the geocentric theory of the universe that had persisted for a thousand years. Copernicus proposed a new "model of the cosmos [that] placed the Sun at the centre, with Earth now a planet, the Moon its satellite, and the six planets arranged in order." (p. 120). What seems to us a proven and observable fact was at that time and place a shocking concept as well as a heretical one as it removed man from the center of God's creation. Dedicated scientists and devoted Christians Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler struggled to square their theories with their orthodoxies; Brahe proved the fallacy of the theory of concentric celestial spheres in a universe of constrained size, while Kepler began to construct scientific theories of planetary movement based on physics instead of unknown gods. (p. 128-133). When Edmond Halley proposed based in these new theories and his studies of past records of comet sightings that comets had huge but regular and calculable orbits, he assembled a meeting in Cambridge with Isaac Newton, Christopher Wren, and Robert Hooke (p. 159), a scientific hall of fame demonstrating the science of the sky!
Halley's comet will make it's next appearance June 18, 2061, the day before my 102nd birthday. You can Google and read the comet's path and best viewing times and locales. The science is proven. But Brooke-Hitching also reminds that scientific speculation can go astray, quoting leading 18th-century astronomer William Herschel writing in the Royal Society's transactions journal of his belief in life on the moon and the sun (p. 193) and including a chapter on Percival Lowell's belief in the 20th century of canals and intelligent life on Mars (p. 210-215). Lowell also performed the calculations predicting the existence of the planet Pluto that was only found after his death.
As he brings the history to the present of amazing findings confirming the most bizarre theories, it is hard to discredit those philosophers, theologians, speculators, and scientists of the past. The universe which was once thought to consist of the solar system and then the Milky Way galaxy is now projected to contain 500 billion galaxies scattered across a truly infinite universe. When it was once hard to credit the possibility of an eternal God creating an infinite universe, the accumulated knowledge of our God-given intelligence has proven it. This opportunity to wonder and ponder based the pictures and text in The Sky Atlas is why I'm giving it a five-star classic rating.
After being alerted to Brooke-Hitching's most recent book The Madman's Gallery: The Strangest Paintings, Sculptures and Other Curiosities from the History of Art through a Delancey Place email (daily excerpts of books that have proven a great source for my reading wish list), I went on to his previous on a similar theme, The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities from History. The Sky Atlas follows similar format, with high-quality reproduction of art, photography, and books accompanying Brooke-Hitching's concise and readable history of the sky. In this case, his text and artwork serves as a beautiful introduction to the history of astronomy and a vivid reminder of the wonder and mystery of the universe beyond us.
Before the invention of the telescope, the sky and space above it extended only as da as the naked eye could see and the mind's-eye of philosophy and religion could project. Human beings saw stars as constellations we grouped into common objects, mythical beings, and zodiac signs. The Greeks before Christ identified an unknown god as the prime mover behind the Cosmos, and the apostle Paul in the book of Acts chapter 17 identified this unknown god as the God of the Jewish and Christian bibles (p. 58).
When ancient Greek and recently rediscovered and translated Arabic astronomy observations and theories fed into the rise of science in Renaissance Europe, astronomers began to question the geocentric theory of the universe that had persisted for a thousand years. Copernicus proposed a new "model of the cosmos [that] placed the Sun at the centre, with Earth now a planet, the Moon its satellite, and the six planets arranged in order." (p. 120). What seems to us a proven and observable fact was at that time and place a shocking concept as well as a heretical one as it removed man from the center of God's creation. Dedicated scientists and devoted Christians Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler struggled to square their theories with their orthodoxies; Brahe proved the fallacy of the theory of concentric celestial spheres in a universe of constrained size, while Kepler began to construct scientific theories of planetary movement based on physics instead of unknown gods. (p. 128-133). When Edmond Halley proposed based in these new theories and his studies of past records of comet sightings that comets had huge but regular and calculable orbits, he assembled a meeting in Cambridge with Isaac Newton, Christopher Wren, and Robert Hooke (p. 159), a scientific hall of fame demonstrating the science of the sky!
Halley's comet will make it's next appearance June 18, 2061, the day before my 102nd birthday. You can Google and read the comet's path and best viewing times and locales. The science is proven. But Brooke-Hitching also reminds that scientific speculation can go astray, quoting leading 18th-century astronomer William Herschel writing in the Royal Society's transactions journal of his belief in life on the moon and the sun (p. 193) and including a chapter on Percival Lowell's belief in the 20th century of canals and intelligent life on Mars (p. 210-215). Lowell also performed the calculations predicting the existence of the planet Pluto that was only found after his death.
As he brings the history to the present of amazing findings confirming the most bizarre theories, it is hard to discredit those philosophers, theologians, speculators, and scientists of the past. The universe which was once thought to consist of the solar system and then the Milky Way galaxy is now projected to contain 500 billion galaxies scattered across a truly infinite universe. When it was once hard to credit the possibility of an eternal God creating an infinite universe, the accumulated knowledge of our God-given intelligence has proven it. This opportunity to wonder and ponder based the pictures and text in The Sky Atlas is why I'm giving it a five-star classic rating.
March 10, 2021
I don't even know where to begin with this stunning book. I'd tell you the illustrations are best part, but as good as they are I think that undersells the text itself. Wow! This is the book I was looking for when I thought I was looking for something entirely different. The history in this book covers just the attempt to understand the cosmos, but it covers multiple cultures running from prehistory to modern times. Everything you can imagine is included here - and probably a few things you never would have imagined. For example, on page 11 the caption for the illustration mentions an obscure idea about the origin of Saturn's rings that I never would have considered, and I will never be able to look at Saturn again without remembering.
The illustrations are stunning and cover everything from hand-drawn maps, to ceremonial clothing with representations of constellations and the Milky Way, to letters, illustrations, and objects like Sumerian boundary stones, an elaborate ancient astrolabe, and a hand-painted globe of Mars. There really is too much here to do justice with a short list. Don't skip over the captions here, because much of this material is not touched on in the text.
The first section of the text, The Ancient Sky, starts with prehistoric attempts to understand the world above the Earth, including what we believe is the earliest existing star map in the Lascaux caves of France. It covers cultures all over the globe, including Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the northern parts of Africa. In the second section, The Medieval Sky, the focus shifts to primarily Islamic and European astronomy, although it does briefly cover developments in Mesoamerica (Inca, Maya, Aztec). The next section, The Scientific Sky, covers material most people with an interest in astronomy have some familiarity with - the Copernican Revolution, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Newton. The last section, The Modern Sky, attempts to trace developments from about the mid-1800s to recent developments using the Hubble Space Telescope, InSight (currently still exploring Mars), the Parker Solar Probe (currently shrinking its orbit to get closer to the Sun), New Horizons (currently exploring the Kuiper Belt), and the planned James Webb Space Telescope (launch delayed from March to October of 2021).
I highly recommend the hardcover edition. I just can't imagine the Kindle edition doing any justice to this stunning volume.
The illustrations are stunning and cover everything from hand-drawn maps, to ceremonial clothing with representations of constellations and the Milky Way, to letters, illustrations, and objects like Sumerian boundary stones, an elaborate ancient astrolabe, and a hand-painted globe of Mars. There really is too much here to do justice with a short list. Don't skip over the captions here, because much of this material is not touched on in the text.
The first section of the text, The Ancient Sky, starts with prehistoric attempts to understand the world above the Earth, including what we believe is the earliest existing star map in the Lascaux caves of France. It covers cultures all over the globe, including Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the northern parts of Africa. In the second section, The Medieval Sky, the focus shifts to primarily Islamic and European astronomy, although it does briefly cover developments in Mesoamerica (Inca, Maya, Aztec). The next section, The Scientific Sky, covers material most people with an interest in astronomy have some familiarity with - the Copernican Revolution, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Newton. The last section, The Modern Sky, attempts to trace developments from about the mid-1800s to recent developments using the Hubble Space Telescope, InSight (currently still exploring Mars), the Parker Solar Probe (currently shrinking its orbit to get closer to the Sun), New Horizons (currently exploring the Kuiper Belt), and the planned James Webb Space Telescope (launch delayed from March to October of 2021).
I highly recommend the hardcover edition. I just can't imagine the Kindle edition doing any justice to this stunning volume.
October 7, 2025
ما دمت قد قرأت كتاب The Sky Atlas: The Greatest Maps, Myths and Discoveries of the Universe، يمكننا أن نصوغ مراجعة ونبذة شاملة تعكس تجربة القراءة المميزة لهذا العمل الفني والمعرفي الفريد.
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مراجعة وتقييم كتاب The Sky Atlas
نبذة عن الكتاب
"The Sky Atlas" ليس مجرد أطلس فلكي، بل هو رحلة بصرية وفكرية عبر تاريخ البشرية وعلاقتها بالسماء. يأخذنا الكتاب في جولة تمتد لآلاف السنين، مستعرضاً كيف رأت الحضارات المختلفة — من البابليين والإغريق إلى عصر التلسكوب الحديث — الكون والمجموعات النجمية، وكيف تطورت نظرتهم من الأساطير إلى العلم.
يرتكز الكتاب على ثلاثة محاور رئيسية:
1. أعظم الخرائط التاريخية: عرض وتحليل لمجموعة نادرة من الخرائط السماوية والمخطوطات القديمة، توضّح تطور فهم الإنسان للسماء عبر العصور.
2. الأساطير والرموز:استعراض للأساطير والقصص التي ارتبطت بالنجوم والكوكبات، كاشفاً الجانب الإنساني والثقافي لعلم الفلك.
3. الاكتشافات الكبرى: توثيق للمنعطفات الفلكية التي غيّرت نظرتنا لموقعنا في الكون، بدءاً من ثورة كوبرنيكوس وصولاً إلى صور تلسكوب هابل.
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تقييم الكتاب وتجربة القراءة
:الإيجابيات
1. جودة فنية مذهلة: تصميم الكتاب وإخراجه البصري يجعلان منه عملاً فنياً بامتياز؛ جودة الورق والطباعة وإعادة إنتاج الخرائط القديمة تضفي عليه طابعاً فاخراً ومبهراً.
2. منظور إنساني شامل: يدمج المؤلف بين العلم والتاريخ والفن بأسلوب متوازن، مما يجعل القارئ يدرك أن استكشاف السماء كان دوماً انعكاساً لشغف الإنسان بالمعرفة والجمال.
3. تنوع ثقافي غني: يقدم الكتاب منظوراً عالمياً لا يقتصر على الغرب، بل يسلط الضوء على مساهمات حضارات متعددة في رسم خريطة السماء.
4. سهولة في العرض: رغم عمق محتواه، إلا أن السرد سلس ومباشر، مدعوم بصور وخرائط توضيحية تجعل المفاهيم المعقدة أقرب للقارئ العام.
السلبيات
1. اختصار في التفاصيل العلمية الحديثة (ممكن تكون ايجابية للبعض) : تركيز الكتاب على الجوانب التاريخية والأسطورية يأتي أحياناً على حساب التوسع في المفاهيم العلمية الدقيقة الحديثة.
أنصح بقراءته بشدة لكل من:
يهتم بتاريخ العلم والفكر الإنساني.
يعشق علم الفلك ويريد فهم جذوره الثقافية والأسطورية.
يبحث عن كتاب أنيق وملهم يزيّن مكتبته ويثري خياله.
إنه كتاب يجعل القارئ ينظر إلى السماء بعين جديدة، يراها ليس فقط كفضاء من النجوم، بل كمرآة تعكس رحلة الإنسان في فهم الكون.
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مراجعة وتقييم كتاب The Sky Atlas
نبذة عن الكتاب
"The Sky Atlas" ليس مجرد أطلس فلكي، بل هو رحلة بصرية وفكرية عبر تاريخ البشرية وعلاقتها بالسماء. يأخذنا الكتاب في جولة تمتد لآلاف السنين، مستعرضاً كيف رأت الحضارات المختلفة — من البابليين والإغريق إلى عصر التلسكوب الحديث — الكون والمجموعات النجمية، وكيف تطورت نظرتهم من الأساطير إلى العلم.
يرتكز الكتاب على ثلاثة محاور رئيسية:
1. أعظم الخرائط التاريخية: عرض وتحليل لمجموعة نادرة من الخرائط السماوية والمخطوطات القديمة، توضّح تطور فهم الإنسان للسماء عبر العصور.
2. الأساطير والرموز:استعراض للأساطير والقصص التي ارتبطت بالنجوم والكوكبات، كاشفاً الجانب الإنساني والثقافي لعلم الفلك.
3. الاكتشافات الكبرى: توثيق للمنعطفات الفلكية التي غيّرت نظرتنا لموقعنا في الكون، بدءاً من ثورة كوبرنيكوس وصولاً إلى صور تلسكوب هابل.
---
تقييم الكتاب وتجربة القراءة
:الإيجابيات
1. جودة فنية مذهلة: تصميم الكتاب وإخراجه البصري يجعلان منه عملاً فنياً بامتياز؛ جودة الورق والطباعة وإعادة إنتاج الخرائط القديمة تضفي عليه طابعاً فاخراً ومبهراً.
2. منظور إنساني شامل: يدمج المؤلف بين العلم والتاريخ والفن بأسلوب متوازن، مما يجعل القارئ يدرك أن استكشاف السماء كان دوماً انعكاساً لشغف الإنسان بالمعرفة والجمال.
3. تنوع ثقافي غني: يقدم الكتاب منظوراً عالمياً لا يقتصر على الغرب، بل يسلط الضوء على مساهمات حضارات متعددة في رسم خريطة السماء.
4. سهولة في العرض: رغم عمق محتواه، إلا أن السرد سلس ومباشر، مدعوم بصور وخرائط توضيحية تجعل المفاهيم المعقدة أقرب للقارئ العام.
السلبيات
1. اختصار في التفاصيل العلمية الحديثة (ممكن تكون ايجابية للبعض) : تركيز الكتاب على الجوانب التاريخية والأسطورية يأتي أحياناً على حساب التوسع في المفاهيم العلمية الدقيقة الحديثة.
أنصح بقراءته بشدة لكل من:
يهتم بتاريخ العلم والفكر الإنساني.
يعشق علم الفلك ويريد فهم جذوره الثقافية والأسطورية.
يبحث عن كتاب أنيق وملهم يزيّن مكتبته ويثري خياله.
إنه كتاب يجعل القارئ ينظر إلى السماء بعين جديدة، يراها ليس فقط كفضاء من النجوم، بل كمرآة تعكس رحلة الإنسان في فهم الكون.
November 6, 2021
I picked this up on a whim when I was browsing at my library, and the selling point for me was the illustrations and pictures, which might sound childish but was exactly what my brain needed. And the star charts were really lovely!
This was a crash course in astronomy through the ages, filled with fun facts and curiosities. The content was rather abbreviated, but I gathered that was kind of the intention. So, this serves well as a good "starting off" text that can point you in other directions regarding which historical figures or theories are key to understanding how the stars have shaped peoples since the beginning of time (or, at least, documented time).
It shied away from a lot of the juicy stuff, though, and by that I mean there's always drama when the minds clash—and we got none of it. Vague mentions of our man Copernicus vs. the Church, and Brahe losing his nose was a very minimal footnote. Or even the Herschel boy making up the "Great Moon Hoax" and leaving Victorians terrified. That felt glossed over. Again, this book was trying to cover a lot of content and did a solid job of doing a summary of a long timeline. I simply felt we could have been given a bit more depth.
This was a crash course in astronomy through the ages, filled with fun facts and curiosities. The content was rather abbreviated, but I gathered that was kind of the intention. So, this serves well as a good "starting off" text that can point you in other directions regarding which historical figures or theories are key to understanding how the stars have shaped peoples since the beginning of time (or, at least, documented time).
It shied away from a lot of the juicy stuff, though, and by that I mean there's always drama when the minds clash—and we got none of it. Vague mentions of our man Copernicus vs. the Church, and Brahe losing his nose was a very minimal footnote. Or even the Herschel boy making up the "Great Moon Hoax" and leaving Victorians terrified. That felt glossed over. Again, this book was trying to cover a lot of content and did a solid job of doing a summary of a long timeline. I simply felt we could have been given a bit more depth.
April 20, 2023
Ak ste čítali na túto knihu príspevky od ostatných bookstagramerov, tak budem znieť otrepane, no inak sa nedá.
Táto publikácia je naozaj vizuálne mimoriadne nádherná a okrem toho z môjho laického pohľadu výborne spracovaná, no čítala som, aj názory dvoch astronómov a tí ju tiež chválili.
Čakalo ma komplexné dielo o skúmaní oblohy. Rozdelenie poznatkov na chronologické, geografické. Nazrieme do mýtov, legiend a porovnáme ich s dnešnými poznatkami.
Táto kniha vám umožní pochopiť a možno aj oceniť a precítiť ten obrovský pokrok, ktor. sme, ako spoločnosť v tomto smere dosiahli.
Ak vás (ako mňa) odjakživa fascinoval vesmír, pohľad na nočnú oblohu napĺňal zvláštnym pocitom úžasu alebo si len chcete rozšíriť obzory v tomto smere kvalitne spravovanou literatúrou, táto kniha vás už čaká.
5*/5*
Nedôležitý a nepodstatný funfact. Ako decko som milovala školské výlety do planetáriá, a to až tak, že som tam bola 3. roky po sebe. Všetko bolo super až na týpka, ktorý sa tváril strašne cool a nad vecou a tri roky po sebe dával vždy ten istý fór o slepej Esmeralde (a áno vieme aj bez neho, že do slnka sa priamo nepozerá). 🙄
Táto publikácia je naozaj vizuálne mimoriadne nádherná a okrem toho z môjho laického pohľadu výborne spracovaná, no čítala som, aj názory dvoch astronómov a tí ju tiež chválili.
Čakalo ma komplexné dielo o skúmaní oblohy. Rozdelenie poznatkov na chronologické, geografické. Nazrieme do mýtov, legiend a porovnáme ich s dnešnými poznatkami.
Táto kniha vám umožní pochopiť a možno aj oceniť a precítiť ten obrovský pokrok, ktor. sme, ako spoločnosť v tomto smere dosiahli.
Ak vás (ako mňa) odjakživa fascinoval vesmír, pohľad na nočnú oblohu napĺňal zvláštnym pocitom úžasu alebo si len chcete rozšíriť obzory v tomto smere kvalitne spravovanou literatúrou, táto kniha vás už čaká.
5*/5*
Nedôležitý a nepodstatný funfact. Ako decko som milovala školské výlety do planetáriá, a to až tak, že som tam bola 3. roky po sebe. Všetko bolo super až na týpka, ktorý sa tváril strašne cool a nad vecou a tri roky po sebe dával vždy ten istý fór o slepej Esmeralde (a áno vieme aj bez neho, že do slnka sa priamo nepozerá). 🙄
August 27, 2024
This is a brief history of cosmology, complete with many maps and other illustrations. It starts out with early beliefs on the sky and the cosmos, progressing through the development of astronomy and more modern discoveries. It's not that in-depth, but it gives a good overview of various topics and different concepts of the known universe, including the Ptolemaic model and the crystal spheres in which planets were thought to reside. One chapter focuses on the concept of a sea thought to be above the sky, inspired by the references in the Bible to waters above the firmament. It mentions the fantastic country of Magonia, where magicians sail through the sky and create weather. Percival Lowell's belief in oceans on Mars, John Hershel's hoax about animals on the Moon, and the possibility of another planet closer to the Sun than Mercury are also here. I don't think I'd heard before of the ancient Jain model of the universe, which is often depicted as a man with wide arms and a narrow waist. And Athanasius Kircher's 1665 map of the Sun with a sea and mountain ranges is pretty fascinating.
January 1, 2021
I devoured this book in one day and will surely return to it. It's beautiful from cover to cover and the text provides a fast-moving account of astronomy's history.
My only complaint is that sometimes I would have enjoyed more detail about the featured historical sources. For example, Brooke-Hitching introduced me to lunar observer Johannes Hevelius and described his seminal lunar map, but he doesn't picture it. Instead he pictures a subsequent map that was drawn by someone else using Hevelius as a source.
Likewise, he displays a single frame of Julius Schiller's quirky and quixotic atlas that sought to recast the constellations as Christian saints. But this work is beautiful and just the type of curiosity that would warrant further discussion.
Still, I enjoyed this book very much. It's an excellent, fascinating, beautiful work that left me wanting more.
My only complaint is that sometimes I would have enjoyed more detail about the featured historical sources. For example, Brooke-Hitching introduced me to lunar observer Johannes Hevelius and described his seminal lunar map, but he doesn't picture it. Instead he pictures a subsequent map that was drawn by someone else using Hevelius as a source.
Likewise, he displays a single frame of Julius Schiller's quirky and quixotic atlas that sought to recast the constellations as Christian saints. But this work is beautiful and just the type of curiosity that would warrant further discussion.
Still, I enjoyed this book very much. It's an excellent, fascinating, beautiful work that left me wanting more.
October 1, 2022
Since the humans looked up to the sky for the first time, they were apparently fascinated by what could possibly lay beyond. Throughout the ages theories were proposed and promoted, myths slowly giving way to science. And yet, even today, too much of what lies beyond the Earth seems impossible, unbelievable, or simply out of the grabs of our minds. In this gorgeously illustrated book, Edward Brooke-Hitching leads the reader gently on the thousands-of-years journey, with his characteristic good humor, including indigenous and non-Western peoples, and giving attention also to women in the field. As Rajesh from The Bing Bang theory would say: "Thank you for taking a journey with me, through the stars." :D
September 20, 2021
I appreciate the labor of love that this book is, and it does include some beautiful maps. The content is also arranged in a helpful, logical format by timeframe and school of thought.
I just found it incredibly dry, particularly compared to the author's other works. It reads like a high school textbook and tries to condense too much complex, often scientific, material into layman's terms in a limited space. I had to keep Googling bits and pieces to make sense of the information.
While lovely, the maps are very detailed. I needed a magnifying glass to appreciate them. They need to be printed in a large coffee table book vice this format.
January 12, 2022
Beautiful images, engaging and informative writing that takes you through millennia of astronomy. The book does not dive deep into any single culture, but gives a bird's eye view of how ancient cultures regarded the skies. Closer to modernity, it takes familiar and unfamiliar names that have drastically impacted this scientific field, including those who contributed but are not generally celebrated, such as women and BIPOC. I was intrigued to learn that one particularly important discovery made by Edwin Hubble was in fact discovered and published one year earlier, and with greater accuracy than Hubble. Tidbits like that abound in this inspiring book.
February 22, 2023
Táto knižka prebudí vašu dávno zabudnutú LÁSKU k vesmíru a astronómii 🥰
História, veda, obrázky, príbehy - má všetko🤗 Priblíži vám, ako vnímali vesmír starovekí Grékovia, ako vyzerala obloha nad stredovekými loďami na mori a ako ľudia kedysi čítali tajné správy skryté vo svetle hviezd. Krásna vecička, ak ste zaťažení na históriu a záhady vesmíru. Pre mňa plná inšpirácii do svojich ďalších príbehov.
Vnútri nájdete najvýznamnejšie mapy oblohy, ale aj informácie o najznámejších objavoch vo vesmíre.
História, veda, obrázky, príbehy - má všetko🤗 Priblíži vám, ako vnímali vesmír starovekí Grékovia, ako vyzerala obloha nad stredovekými loďami na mori a ako ľudia kedysi čítali tajné správy skryté vo svetle hviezd. Krásna vecička, ak ste zaťažení na históriu a záhady vesmíru. Pre mňa plná inšpirácii do svojich ďalších príbehov.
Vnútri nájdete najvýznamnejšie mapy oblohy, ale aj informácie o najznámejších objavoch vo vesmíre.
October 31, 2024
Another beautiful and educational book by one of my favorite authors. I love how he takes a topic and brings together history, science and art. The history and science are written in such an accessible and interesting way. The art is as always just gorgeous. I would say the art is maybe a little less perfectly paired than some of his other books and I wish there had been more space photographs included. I’m sad I’m getting to the end of his catalog of books. I tried to read this slowly but always found myself looking at a few more pages.
December 6, 2022
The book I wanted
I’m teaching a high school block astronomy class for the first time and I wanted an anecdotal, cultural history of astronomy over many cultures. This book hit the mark! It was well written and easy to read for a science history buff. The photos of artifacts and deep space are great but in black and white if that matters.
The kindle does seem to have some missing sentences in multiple places but it is still readable.
I’m teaching a high school block astronomy class for the first time and I wanted an anecdotal, cultural history of astronomy over many cultures. This book hit the mark! It was well written and easy to read for a science history buff. The photos of artifacts and deep space are great but in black and white if that matters.
The kindle does seem to have some missing sentences in multiple places but it is still readable.
April 13, 2021
One of my favourite books of all time. Really well written, absolutely stunning art (printed in extremely high quality), and so interesting. I loved that it covered the origins of astronomy and the roles that the stars played in developing myths in various different cultures, as so few other books on astronomy do that. A super unique book that is a must have for anyone interested in astronomy!
December 4, 2022
One of the coolest books I've ever read. I thought it would be a bunch of cool sky maps throughout history, but really it's a very well done complete history of astronomy, inspired by and accompanied by a lot of cool sky maps and other astronomical artifacts. I can't recommend this book highly enough, it is so informative with tons of great pictures.
June 9, 2024
當初會買這本除了是內附精美彩圖之外，更進一步是想知道古代的天空跟現代的天空是否真的不同。本書沒有特別提及占星相關資訊與文獻，它是一本名副其實的天文學史。
本書收羅了各種宇宙圖、故事、繪畫與器物，勾勒出人類對於頂上天空與天空之外的想像與發現。 從古巴比倫的創世神話《天之高兮》、托勒密的天文學，到中世紀時期伊斯蘭學者發明了星盤，再經科學革命，改變了人們對於天際的想像，直至今日人類飛上太空⋯，還搭配了各種天體彩圖，讓讀者一窺從古至今偉大的天文發現。
自人類第一次仰望星空以來，人們對天空之外可能存在的事物感到雀躍。經由多年來的觀測，歷代天文學者提出多項理論，最一開始對於天空的各種神話與傳說也慢慢讓位給科學繼續探索。直到今天，地球之外的一切似乎看不到盡頭或者根本超出了我們的思考能力。
我想，從數千年以來編織的星空神話，至今仍未完待續。
本書收羅了各種宇宙圖、故事、繪畫與器物，勾勒出人類對於頂上天空與天空之外的想像與發現。 從古巴比倫的創世神話《天之高兮》、托勒密的天文學，到中世紀時期伊斯蘭學者發明了星盤，再經科學革命，改變了人們對於天際的想像，直至今日人類飛上太空⋯，還搭配了各種天體彩圖，讓讀者一窺從古至今偉大的天文發現。
自人類第一次仰望星空以來，人們對天空之外可能存在的事物感到雀躍。經由多年來的觀測，歷代天文學者提出多項理論，最一開始對於天空的各種神話與傳說也慢慢讓位給科學繼續探索。直到今天，地球之外的一切似乎看不到盡頭或者根本超出了我們的思考能力。
我想，從數千年以來編織的星空神話，至今仍未完待續。
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