|
| Title | Astronomy Fred Hoyle |
| Author | Hoyle, Fred |
| Asset Number | 00595 |
| Publisher | Macdonald & Co. |
| ISBN | |
| Published Date | 1962 |
| Edition | 1 |
| Printing | 1 |
| Description | Blue cloth hardcover with unclipped dustjacket.
This old book is a bit dated, at least in its later sections on modern discoveries, but it holds up surprisingly well. After all, the past hasn't been changing as quickly as the present. This book, by the astronomer Fred Hoyle, is also very well written with good, clear explanations and a good sense of motivation and narrative drive.
It starts with the ancients and gives a feel for how people first started to understand the regularities of the heavens. It starts with sundials and standing stones and simple observational gear for measuring the declination and right ascension of stars, though Hoyle avoids cluttering things with technical vocabulary. The story continues with the triumph of the geocentric system and its challenges. Eventually, the heliocentric system takes over and the age of optical instruments leads to new data, new models and new understanding. The mathematics are minimal, but important concepts are introduced nicely.
Written in the 1960s, there is a good discussion of spectroscopy, radio astronomy, stellar evolution and the fusion reactions that power the stars. Even better, Hoyle explains how we learned what we know. A lot has happened since the 1960s. We have telescopes of immense size on earth and in orbit. Our sensors cover a much broader range of the spectrum. We have sent probes to explore the planets and their moons. This book doesn't cover any of that, but in some ways that is a strength. Hoyle presents a good history, taking the reader up to a modern era, but before the great explosion of discoveries of the last few decades. It's a comprehensible story. The giants' shoulders weren't quite as tall as they seem these days. |
| Category | Space Science |
| Epoch | Vintage |
| Date Acquired | 19/11/2022 |
| Condition | (3) Good |
