Customer Reviews

Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography (Springer Praxis Books / Popular Astronomy)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nick Kanas's Star Maps is perhaps the most comprehensive book on astronomical cartography to be published in the last 50 years. It is an inch-thick mass of well-illustrated information and is worth its weight in gold just for the mini-biographies of astronomers spanning three millenia and four continents. Its content belies its very modest price. Star Maps will likely become the standard reference on astronomical cartography for many years to come.
Kevin J Kilburn FRAS.
Secretary, the Society for the History of Astronomy

I'm starstruck with delight! Whoever wants to verify how the stars have been perceived for many millennia across the globe will be very satisfied as well as inspired in reading this star history by Kanas. Thorough, erudite, amply documented with many clear appendices yet also accessibly written for general readers, STAR MAPS is a cartographer's dream. The high quality of the many images (over 80 in color, over 125 in black and white) is first rate as well. Kanas has been very careful in presenting the compendium of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Islamic and other cultures who have contributed as much to our knowledge of constellations and astronomy as the more familiar Classical scientists. Major historical persons like Aristarchus of Samos and Claudius Ptolemy are balanced with the later Copernicus, Kepler, Brahe, Galileo and less known astronomers such as Al-Khwarizmi, Sacrobosco and the polymath Thomas Young. As a valuable resource tool for stargazers and academics alike, this book sets the bar very high as the best available history of astronomy.

I received this book as a gift in the fall, and just finished it. It's terrific. I am just a casual observer of astronomy, but this is not really just an astronomy book -- it's about the art and science of mapping the sky from the very beginning. The author has taken a topic out of the reach of many of us and turned it into one fascinating read. This makes a great present. The maps and the history presented are terrific.

"Star Maps" is a new milestone in books about the history of celestial maps. It is in my opinion one of the best works ever written on the subject. Being a collector myself I consider "Star Maps" an unvaluable reference for any enthusiast.

Wow.Wow.Wow,this book is gorgeous,filled with beautiful images of maps. This guy obviously knows his stuff but succeeds in making it understandable.

It is interesting to see the comments, mostly favourable, from other reviewers. The concept of Kanas's Star Maps is truly enormous and can only be compared with other similar books on the subject. From my perspective, it probably has only one peer, 'Astronomical Atlases, Maps and Charts; An Historical & General Guide', by Basil Brown. This was originally published in 1932 and reprinted in 1968 by Dawsons of Pall Mall, London. SBN: 7129 0131 0 . This is the reference work most often quoted on the subject of astronomical cartography but is itself incomplete in its description of some star atlases.

With a subject as specialised as astronomical cartography, rarely discussed outside of a limited field of expertese, the scope of Star Maps is to be applauded. It isn't perfect, what is? But if republished to take account of relatively minor quibbles, it will stand the test of time. I cannot believe that anyone else is likely to tackle astronomical cartography in the foreseeable future.

Regarding star names and star lore, there are more comprehensive books on this subject but this in no way detracts from Nick Kanas's work any more than any book on astronomical history can ever be regarded as being all-encompassing.

KJ Kilburn FRAS
Secretary, the Society for the History of Astronomy

A very readable book with a lot of relevant images.
Covers the past two millenium very well. Had hoped for a bit more of the very early maps.

This is a very good book for the arm chair astronomer. It has great pictures of old star maps and a lot of information about the astronomers that created them. The history is refined and starts from the beginning of the first maps to some of the latest. It is a great hand book if you plan to collect star maps. I would definitely recommend it for the book shelf.

PRO'S:

1) Great coverage, great details, great illustrations, great bio's, a lot of information crammed in, very well structured, very dense.

CONS'S:
1) Reads more like an encyclopedia reference and/or field guide to star map history. I am very ok with that approach it is pure, here is a fact, here is another fact, here is another fact, etc...not a story teller.
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If you are looking for a more authored personalized writing style the books doesnt flow that way, it is a very rich and dense information dump that goes from one page to another, it does feel more like an encyclopedia style of writing and a very very good one.

So if you like your information to the point, lots of it and very fast then you will like this book. It is outstanding as a compilation of data, I am sure Kepler would have bought one of these, it is his style of information processing.....if you are a "Once upon a time"...tell me a story reader, this might be too tight and crisp.

It is really more about star map makers and that evolution and the author is in and out and on to the next topic, so if you collect or need to come up to speed or have a history interest there is no peer to this outstanding reference work.

If you want to linger on a topic with a lot of story telling and deep dives this is not written that way, it is a shotgun, tied to a machine gun approach, almost a compliation of factoid bullets, and just enough to cover the topics and keep within the context of trying to encompass centuries of information in a very concise and succinct writing format.

It has all the coverage you need to kick start and then enough referential pointers if you wanted more on a specific topic. The encyclopedia writing style is actually beneficial as you get just the information you need, this is a lot of information, about a lot of information distilled into the most essential facts.

Illustrations are great and a lot of them.

Part book, part encyclopedia, part field guide, part art book, part almanac, part history book, part collector reference, part science textbook, part buying guide, part biography book, and in a style that Sherlock Holmes or Joe Friday would appreciate. It has it all. One stop shopping for information.

If you are looking for some New Age Cosomology spin within the stars, this is not that kind of book at all. This is a serious reference not unlike what a print collector, antique collector, etc, would use as a reference. Any story telling supports the facts, the facts arent used to tell a story. It may be more like a history book at a scholastic level as well.



Great piece of work, you will not regret it.

Very good history of the evolution of mapping the stars with plenty of colourful images of important maps, as well as plenty of good references for further study by map collectors and others.