Beyond Earth: Mapping the Universe [Hardcover]

National Geographic Society (Author), David Devorkin (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2002

What's out there? Through prehistory and history, humankind has assessed the all-encompassing universe in many different ways. Every culture and era develops its particular vision and devises its own cosmology to depict and explain what it perceives to be true. Why and how do the Sun and Moon move, the planets and the stars? How does Earth fit into the grand plan? This volume of 15 essays - written by prominent scholars in various fields and colored by the authors' personal experiences - explores both the art and astronomy of various cosmologies. The first seven essays deal with historical perspectives: the cosmologies of East and West, from ancient Babylonia, Greece, and China through classical Western astronomy into the 20th century. The next four essays look at the personal side: cosmologies as portrayed through the art and architecture of Mesoamerica and other Native American communities, of African tribal societies and European cultures. The final four essays focus on various aspects of modern astronomy and cosmology: How do we perceive the universe today? How does this still-evolving vision interpret the major astronomical discoveries of our time: dark matter and hidden mass, the Big Bang and the very shape of space? Throughout, the book seeks to comprehend the universe in terms of art as well as science, imagination as well as logic, observation as well as technology.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A historical survey of cosmology, this appealing set of essays benefits from the authors' diverse careers. Some are historians of science, and some are astrophysicists, lending a split personality to the overall volume, yet that does not detract from its appeal. One author specializes in "applied historical astronomy" as he matches Chinese records of supernovae with their visible remnants. A seemingly dull exegesis on Copernicus' De revolutionibus brightens when Harvard historian Owen Gingrich dangles a true-crime angle--his effort led him to pilfered copies of the work. More conventionally, an author explains the serendipity that often characterizes discovery: looking to measure the velocity of the Milky Way's luminous edge, Vera Rubin describes how she instead found the initial clues to the existence of "dark" matter, whose nature is one of the great contemporary mysteries. Jammed with pictures, this browser's delight is augmented by its tightened focus on instrumentation as it improved from the naked eye to today's sensitive detectors. Highly library friendly. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic; 1st Edition. edition (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792264673
• ISBN-13: 978-0792264675
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #273,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Earth: Mapping the Universe, April 10, 2002

By 

Thomas W. Stern (Bethesda, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Earth: Mapping the Universe (Hardcover)

With the opening of "The Explore the Universe" gallery at The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in September 2001, David DeVorkin (Editor) has assembled an impressive volume,"Beyond Earth: Mapping the Universe". In full color thirteen specialists have written chapters dealing with "The Classical Universe", "The Modern Universe Emerges" and "The Current Universe". Using present day tools astronomers are now attacking the same old unsolved problems.
This volume should be in the library of all Physical Scientists.

4.0 out of 5 stars Breath-taking, May 1, 2009

By 

Valentina Lopez (New Mexico, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Earth: Mapping the Universe (Hardcover)

By National Geographic - that says it all! Great color, images, angles. It also goes into some details concerning the technical and historical side of scientific discoveries. Best of all, its not eurocentric. It's balanced and gives credit wherever it's due. It gives 2 whole pages to Meg Nath Saha. I take off 1 star because, for the price tag, the book should have more pages.