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Conversing with the Planets: How Science and Myth Invented the Cosmos
Revised and updated, Conversing With The Planets interweaves astronomy, mythology, and anthropology to explore what the universe means to us and what it meant to our ancestors. Aveni also deftly illustrates the influence of our culture and beliefs on the path of scientific discovery, tracing the rise and fall of astronomy as blown by the prevailing winds of religious, philosophical, and political change.
328 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 1992
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About the author
Anthony F. Aveni
39 books14 followersAnthony F. Aveni is Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of Astronomy, Anthropology, and Native American Studies at Colgate University.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 13, 2015
Those interested in the history of astrology will drool over this wide-ranging study that includes Sumerian, Mayan and many more. The author has an engaging style and encyclopedic knowledge. Not really astrology, of course, but rather an anthropological look at various culture's relationship with the sky. Some may be put off by a rather detailed section on Maya astrology, but it's a very small quibble. And you are pre-advised to "Proceed with Caution."
August 31, 2007
Not sure about this one yet. It sounds like a good topic, but it's kind of jumbly writing & hard to absorb. We'll see....
May 24, 2020
Note: This review is for the 1st edition.
Anthony Aveni's ambitious attempt to find commonality in and appreciation for the myraid lenses through which humans in societies ancient and modern have looked at, thought about, pursued knowledge of, and used knowledge of the planets and the Sun and Moon, as they viewed them moving through the heavens, teasing us to create meaning from their choreographed journeys or impartially offering us something interesting to take apart and understand.
At times, Aveni is brilliantly concise and insightful, his honest and straightforward pronouncements pulling the veil off the arrogance of a society that believes in its intellectual superiority. At other times, his writing seems dense, uneven, hastily assembled, and a little self-indulgent - I imagine a good-natured and well-loved professor who regales his audience with complex ideas that he loves to hear himself speak, putting together mountains of lecture material under pressure of academic and editorial deadlines.
I came across several minor but glaring inaccuracies that were hopefully editorial oversights rather than indications of overly confident, rushed research. His grasp of modern astrology also falls a little short. He falls prey to some of the same misconceptions harbored by the hordes of unkind critics that usually populate academe. At one, for instance, he correctly notes that the modern zodiac is anchored to the Earth's seasonal cycles, but later he falls back to conflating it with the stars of the zodiac constellations.
On the other hand, he provides very insightful historical analyses of Mayan and Mesopotamian astronomy and cosmologies, and illuminates interesting distinctions between the ancient mythological roots of astrology and the abstract geometries of the Helenistic period, as well as contrasting the medieval revival of mythology to the growing influence of rationalist science.
It is refreshing for me, who has a graduate degree, but is also a certified, professional astrologer, to read something written by an open-minded academic who earnestly builds bridges of understanding with a ton of detail and an exemplary, though not perfect, effort to lead us step by step through an incredibly diverse set of perspectives and purposes with which cultures from one end of human history to the other have approached conversations with the heavenly wanderers. In the end, we can place each in a more suitable context and appreciate them without unbecoming judgement.
Anthony Aveni's ambitious attempt to find commonality in and appreciation for the myraid lenses through which humans in societies ancient and modern have looked at, thought about, pursued knowledge of, and used knowledge of the planets and the Sun and Moon, as they viewed them moving through the heavens, teasing us to create meaning from their choreographed journeys or impartially offering us something interesting to take apart and understand.
At times, Aveni is brilliantly concise and insightful, his honest and straightforward pronouncements pulling the veil off the arrogance of a society that believes in its intellectual superiority. At other times, his writing seems dense, uneven, hastily assembled, and a little self-indulgent - I imagine a good-natured and well-loved professor who regales his audience with complex ideas that he loves to hear himself speak, putting together mountains of lecture material under pressure of academic and editorial deadlines.
I came across several minor but glaring inaccuracies that were hopefully editorial oversights rather than indications of overly confident, rushed research. His grasp of modern astrology also falls a little short. He falls prey to some of the same misconceptions harbored by the hordes of unkind critics that usually populate academe. At one, for instance, he correctly notes that the modern zodiac is anchored to the Earth's seasonal cycles, but later he falls back to conflating it with the stars of the zodiac constellations.
On the other hand, he provides very insightful historical analyses of Mayan and Mesopotamian astronomy and cosmologies, and illuminates interesting distinctions between the ancient mythological roots of astrology and the abstract geometries of the Helenistic period, as well as contrasting the medieval revival of mythology to the growing influence of rationalist science.
It is refreshing for me, who has a graduate degree, but is also a certified, professional astrologer, to read something written by an open-minded academic who earnestly builds bridges of understanding with a ton of detail and an exemplary, though not perfect, effort to lead us step by step through an incredibly diverse set of perspectives and purposes with which cultures from one end of human history to the other have approached conversations with the heavenly wanderers. In the end, we can place each in a more suitable context and appreciate them without unbecoming judgement.
March 22, 2025
Why is it so boring? Maybe because it was designed as a sleeping pill? Because every time I read it, Morpheus would call to me, my eyelids would close, and sleep would take over. Seriously, for years this magical book would somehow mysteriously bring me sleep until the day I read it to the end. Do I feel better now? Not at all. I got no pleasure or benefit from reading it.
January 19, 2025
Felt like I was just given a key to the universe.
July 1, 2023
Rereading, I am fascinated by the wisdom and insights of this mesa-American civilization and culture. Aveni’s approach is timely and instructive.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews