Anthony F. Aveni

So I am going to tell you something unsurprising right now; I have never observed an actual eclipse. Lunar or Solar take your pick, I haven’t seen it. The next best thing does exist though. Through the book titled In The Shadow of The Moon by Anthony Aveni, we can live vicariously and discover the wonders of nature.

In the book, Aveni discusses the cultural and historical significance of eclipses. Some of this information is interesting, other bits of it raise questions on the reliability show more of human memory. For instance, the Ancient Greeks were a superstitious bunch when they were at war with other nations and city-states. Although the Ancient Greeks did have some knowledge of what caused eclipses and how they didn’t really mean anything, many people stuck to the old ways of irrationality and soothsaying. This may have caused Athens a war in at least one case.

However, our science-minded guide points out the inconsistencies in these accounts of the events. Since astronomical bodies like planets and the sun and so on follow set rules that are predictable, we can also go back several centuries or even several millennia to catch them in their lies. For instance, there was something about a battle foretold by the Persians and they lost the battle of Thermopylae or something. But the battle was one date and the only viable eclipses didn’t happen on those days.

Now you may argue something about different calendars, but these people are scientists. They took that into account. You may also argue that I got the prediction details incorrect, but you don’t seem to realize that it doesn’t really matter. Even to this day, there are people that believe in Astrology, that the sky holds meaningful information for us on this planet.

So Aveni goes through various cultures and how they related to eclipses. The Mayans seem to have been able to predict eclipses, and Stonehenge might have been some kind of eclipse prediction device. The Ancient Chinese people loved eclipses since they seemed to predict things, typically omens of disaster. This has changed somewhat, though we still have Astrology as I mentioned, and people who believe in spaceships that follow in the tails of comets. When it comes to all of that though, I suppose truth really is about the same as fiction. All in all, the book was okay. It was interesting in that it introduced me to a new field of study, where people connect Astronomy to Archaeology. It also showed that some people don’t realize that eclipses happen periodically. show less

I chose this book because I have been looking for a good book about different Native American cultures. This book appealed to me because it is broken up into sections about different Native American tribes, with many pictures, diagrams and inserted information. It is also written in plain language to try and help the reader understand and relate to distant cultures.
While reading this book I began to ask myself, is it ok to cater to young readers so much as to ignore controversy in history, show more and to make up stories up individuals that could have potentially happened? After reading Witchunt by Aronson, I am now very critical of books that don't ask the reader to also put their historian hat on and understand that we don't know everything.
The other issue I had was that this book lends towards sensationalism, with plenty of exclamation marks and catchy lines.
However, aside from these drawbacks, the book has many of great supporting details, and pictures of artifacts which make the topic come to life. Further, the authors tone is in explaining the accomplishments of Native Americans, and debunks misconceptions held by colonizers of the time, and people today.
I am really interested in the sections where the author explains the archealogical process and finidings. This gives the reader context for understanding how this information has been discovered over time, and archeology is just plain fascinating. show less

Anthony Aveni, a professor of astronomy and anthropology, examines the astronomy of various ancient cultures, most specifically the Inca, the Maya, and the people who constructed Stonehenge. He goes into considerable detail about what is known or speculated about how these people observed the sun, moon, planets, and stars, how they kept track of their motions, how these motions were reflected in structures they built, and what role these observations may have played in their cultures. He show more puts a lot of stress on that last thing, by the way, repeatedly warning that it's easy to project our own modern scientific worldview on people who didn't necessarily think of the universe the same way we do. Which is a point worth making, although perhaps not as relentlessly as he does so.

The writing is pretty dry. And it goes into a lot of detail about the calculations that are used to track the motions of heavenly bodies, keep accurate calendars, predict eclipses, and so forth. These calculations are fundamental to the subject matter, but I have to admit, they inevitably made my eyes glaze a little bit. I'd say this book is probably great for anyone who wants to really get into those nitty-gritty details -- it even provides exercises in the back of the book if you want to try it yourself! -- but is less appealing for someone with a more casual interest in astronomy or archeology.

I did learn some interesting things from it, though, such as the fact that Stonehenge as we know it today actually took shape over something like a thousand years, and the fact that the ancient Mayans used a base-20 counting system. show less

Study of the stars has until recently been practical knowledge: "Good for learning about the seasons, how to navigate, keep time, and so on", according to one of Socrates' brighter lights [8]. This book emphasizes the "astral mythology" drawn from the primal world of skywatching to show its historical roots. Every culture with its astronomers. The poet-farmer Hesiod suggests, "When you notice the daughters of Atlas, the Pleiades, rising, start on your reaping, and on your sowing when they show more are setting." [20] He understood them as harbingers of rain, the weeping daughters.

The earliest notational record of celestial events is a 32,000 BC carved eagle bone depicting the cycles of the moon, found in the Dordogne Valley (France).

Excellent chapters on the contributions of astronomers all over the planet. Especially good with the Arabians, who have given us the nomenclature used by English speakers [67]. Most of the constellations are old Arabic inventions [64, 68], although ironically, much of the astrology, the astrolabe (invented by Greeks), and the astral mathmetics were suppressed by Mohammad [69]. show less