Night Has a Thousand Eyes: A Naked-Eye Guide to the Sky, Its Science and Lore [Paperback]

Arthur Upgren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

Do you sometimes wonder why the sky at dusk is filled with color, or how the moon controls the tides? Why do stars twinkle and planets don't? Filled with science and lore, with references to myths, legends, and "high" and popular culture, this "naked-eye" guide (no telescope required) demystifies the celestial in accessible, instructive, and entertaining prose.Upgren tells us why werewolves only come out at night and how to find Betelgeuse. He discusses twilight, the seasons and their causes, our solar system, light and darkness, weather, stars and latitude, the moon, light pollution, and the planets. Night Has a Thousand Eyes is the perfect resource for amateur astronomers and meteorologists of all ages who pause to enjoy sunsets and identify constellations on a starry night.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Less a practical guide than an informative, inspirational look into the night sky, this books begins with a survey of the visible stars and constellations through each of the seasons. Upgren, an astronomer at Yale University, follows with discussions of the visible and invisible objects in the solar system, light pollution, and other atmospheric particulars, plus the progression of cosmological models and calendars based on celestial observation since ancient times. Always accessible, the book balances its scientific content with appropriate cultural, historical, and mythological details. A good introduction for those wanting more background to their night viewing, it would work well in conjunction with a source featuring fully illustrated sky charts, such as David Levy's Skywatching (LJ 10/15/95). Recommended for public libraries.?Patrick Dunn, Spokane
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Scientific American

American artist James McNeill Whistler was invited one sparkling night to step outside and view the panoply of stars. No, he said, "There are far too many of them and they are so very poorly arranged." Upgren, an astronomer at Yale and Wesleyan universities, sets out to make star viewing easier for everyone else who feels as Whistler did and for those who admire the beauty of the night sky but know little about what they see there. He does it clearly and smoothly, describing first the principal stars and constellations as they appear in each season of the year and then the sun, moon and planets. Along the way he supplies an abundance of related facts (the Big Dipper is properly called an asterism, "a name for an easily noticeable group of stars that does not make up a full constellation"; the stars Mizar and Alcor in the Dipper have "long been recognized as a test for good eyesight in many cultures"), discusses Stonehenge and the mysterious Old Stone Mill in Newport, R.I., takes a dig at astrology ("Your horoscope is two thousand years out of date" because the astrological arrangement of the signs of the zodiac was keyed to the celestial alignment of Roman times), and makes a plea for reducing the glare of urban lights that impedes star viewing by astronomers as well as by Whistler types. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073820322X
• ISBN-13: 978-0738203225
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,623,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Star gazing the warm way!, April 4, 2000

By 

T.W.CURMI - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Has a Thousand Eyes: A Naked-Eye Guide to the Sky, Its Science, and Lore (Hardcover)

An end to the lonely ameteur astronomer on the top of a hill with only a thermos and a telescope for company, The night has a thousand eyes... is a brilliant source of not only cold faced fact but eye popping stories and history. It is hard not to be impressed by the light from a star seventy billion years old, and this book keeps you enthralled. I have just finished reading it and I want to read it again. You don't need a degree in astronomy to appreciate this book, nor is it 'dumbed down'for popularity. The only problem, and its a small one, is the book's tendency to wander into territory not enirely connected with the subject. On the whole, though, it beats the thermos any day.

2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fairly informative and useful, January 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Night Has a Thousand Eyes: A Naked-Eye Guide to the Sky, Its Science and Lore (Paperback)

This is a pretty good book for astronomy buffs, etc. There was one paragraph, though, where the author falls into bad science.

Buying into the religion hates science paradigm, the author makes sure the reader knows that no one "held Copernicus and his theory [heliocentrisim] in lower esteem" than Martin Luther. The author claims this theory was a competing worldview on "somewhat equal ground" to Christianity. He goes on to say one [science] is based on "testing and questioning" while the other [Christianity] is based on "blind faith."

It is obvious, the author, Arthur Upgreen, has never studied the science versus religion debate closely. If he had, he would have never made such claims right after quoting the
works of Christians like Kepler, Galileo and Copernicus. Nor does he detail the errors that led to the geocentrisim interpretation/theory to begin with. Nor the fact that
Christianity has never been based upon "blind faith."

If geocentrisim and the Galileo Affair of centuries past continue to be such authors' best evidences for their belief, then they don't have much ground to stand on. Compare these and what few other "antiscience" events one finds in orthodox, rational Christianity to its pro-science history and scholars,
one finds the former doesn't even show up on the charts.

Why write all this all on one paragraph? Because there is so much bad science out there as there is, and so many don't like science, simply because people like this don't test what they believe.