The Night Sky : The Science and Anthropology of the Stars and Planets [Hardcover]

Richard Grossinger (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 481 pages
• Publisher: Random House, Inc.; 1ST edition (June 12, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087156288X
• ISBN-13: 978-0871562883
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,561,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Astral ethno-astronomy, August 16, 2000

By 

BlueJay54 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Sky (Paperback)

Best known as the author of the excellent survey of alternative and tribal medicines, *Planet Medicine*, the author here seeks healing from the stars. Why stars?--"The modern materialist universe has no place for us and we would be fools to try to survive in it...but unless we are active in making a new universe [ie, cosmology], it will leave us...ravaged. We must enter the violence and the emptiness...and transform them into something livable [xvi]." Found on sale bins everywhere, this grossly underrated book covers the anthropology of the men who invented modern astronomy & cosmology, comparing well with Timmothy Ferris' *Coming of Age in the Milky Way*. He then uncovers the astral/occult sky, sky myths from many times and places, and the role of the night sky in the human imagination, from pop stars and sci fi to UFOs and post-modern nihilism a la Big Bang. There's really nothing else like it, a great impressionistic tour and re-creation of the cosmos that we, as humans, still seek to live in, in wonder. Recommended for students of cosmology, mythology, anthropology or anyone else who marvels at the night sky above--and within--and who seeks a human place in a scientifically dead universe.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Astral ethno-astronomy, August 16, 2000

By 

BlueJay54 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Sky (Paperback)

Best known as the author of the excellent survey of alternative and tribal medicines, *Planet Medicine*, the author here seeks healing from the stars. Why stars?--"The modern materialist universe has no place for us and we would be fools to try to survive in it...but unless we are active in making a new universe [ie, cosmology], it will leave us...ravaged. We must enter the violence and the emptiness...and transform them into something livable [xvi]." Found on sale bins everywhere, this grossly underrated book covers the anthropology of the men who invented modern astronomy & cosmology, comparing well with Timmothy Ferris' *Coming of Age in the Milky Way*. He then uncovers the astral/occult sky, sky myths from many times and places, and the role of the night sky in the human imagination, from pop stars and sci fi to UFOs and post-modern nihilism a la Big Bang. There's really nothing else like it, a great impressionistic tour and re-creation of the cosmos that we, as humans, still seek to live in, in wonder. Recommended for students of cosmology, mythology, anthropology or anyone else who marvels at the night sky above--and within--and who seeks a human place in a scientifically dead universe.