Download or read book Astronomy and the Imagination written by Norman Davidson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1985 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Astronomy and the Imagination written by Norman Davidson and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Romantic Imagination and Astronomy written by Dometa Wiegand Brothers and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-12-11 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the nineteenth century the beauty of the night sky is the source of both imaginative wonder in poetry and political and commercial power through navigation. The Romantic Imagination and Astronomy examines the impact of astronomical discovery and imperial exploration on poets including Barbauld, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, and Rossetti.
Download or read book Science and Imagination written by Marjorie Hope Nicolson and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The new Astronomy and English Literary Imagination written by Marjorie Nicolson and published by . This book was released on 1935 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book imagining the unimaginable written by Ladina Bezzola Lambert and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-09-20 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How is it possible to imagine what is unknown and therefore unimaginable? How can the unimaginable be represented? On what materials do such representations rely? These questions lie at the heart of this book. Copernican theory redefined the role and importance of the imagination even as it implied the moment of its crisis. Based on this claim, Ladina Bezzola Lambert analyzes seventeenth-century astronomical texts – particularly descriptions of the moon and treatises written in support of the theory of the plurality of worlds – to show how early modern astronomers questioned the role of the imagination as a tool to visualize the unknown, but also how, pressed by the need to support their theories with convincing descriptions of other potential worlds, they sought to overcome the limitations of the imagination with a sophisticated rhetoric and techniques more commonly associated with poetic writing. The limitations of the imagination are at once a problem that all of the texts discussed struggle with and their recurrent theme. In the first and last chapter, the focus shifts to a more explicitly literary context: Ariosto’s Orlando furioso and the work of Italo Calvino. The change of focus from science to literature and from the narratives of the past to contemporary ones serves to emphasize that the issues relating to the imagination, its limitations and creative means, are basically the same both in science and literature and that they are still relevant today.
Download or read book Astronomy and Spiritual Science written by Elisabeth Vreede and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 2007-12 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Rudolf Steiner was in fact not merely a phenomenally educated and articulate philosopher but also a Man of Destiny.... By comparison, not only with his contemporaries but with the general history of the Western mind, his stature is almost too excessive to be borne." --Owen Barfield The New Essential Steiner is an illuminating, completely new introduction to the philosophy and essential writings of Rudolf Steiner, introduced and edited by Robert McDermott, who also edited the now-classic Essential Steiner. This new volume offers selections from a wide variety of Steiner's published works, presenting a broad, accessible overview of Anthroposophy. In his introduction, McDermott recounts Steiner's life and work, from his childhood and education to his work as a natural scientist, philosopher, scholar, educator, artist, interpreter of culture, and seer. He places Steiner in relation to major traditions of thought and explores the genesis and development of Anthroposophy. Although Rudolf Steiner is considered by many to be the greatest spiritual seer and philosophical thinker of the twentieth century and is credited with major cultural contributions such as the worldwide Waldorf school movement and the ever-growing biodynamic agricultural movement, he nevertheless remains relatively unknown to both academics and the public. The purpose of this volume is to redress that situation by introducing Steiner's work to a broader audience and making his name more universally recognized. Includes selections from Steiner's writings, which are grouped into chapters that demonstrate the breadth of his thinking and spiritual accomplishments. The New Essential Steiner is an invaluable compendium and introduction to the works that form the foundation of Anthroposophy.
Download or read book Imagining Other Worlds written by Nicholas Campion and published by . This book was released on 2018-05-16 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology presents chapters from astronomers, historians and writers who are inspired by the sky. Its topics range from the representation and exploration of the sky in the arts, architecture and literature, and from the ancient world to the digital age.
Download or read book The Secret Doorway written by Paul Hutchins and published by Imagination Publishing. This book was released on 2008-11 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pictorial drama of the creation of Heaven and Earth based upon the awe-inspiring photo images from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. Author, Paul Hutchins uncovers a grand drama on a universal scale that has been playing out since the invention of the telescope. He poses the question, is this grand drama merely in response to an ancient invitation recorded in the Book of Isaiah? It states in Isaiah 40:26, ""Look up into the heavens."" Who created all the stars? Through the use of his imagination and the invention of the telescope, man has discovered a once secret doorway to a world beyond imagination. He has now, in this age of cutting edge technology developed flying space telescopes in his quest to know, how did we get here? What he has found has astounded him. Hutchins farther poses the question; if it took over 400 years of man’s imagination from when the telescope was invented, and countless other inventions including the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, to merely take photo images of the universe, then who’s imagination is responsible for the reality those photo images represent? As we peer through this doorway to the heavens and look upon these heavenly cosmic bodies, we find ourselves awed by their grandeur. The pressing question becomes too large to ignore. Who is responsible for all these things? Could it be that we are now peering into the mind of a supreme architect with an imagination far beyond that of mere mortals? Could we be peering into the mind of imagination supreme? Could it be that we have been brought to this point in history unbeknownst to ourselves and given this technology by the one who extended that ancient invitation recorded by Isaiah 2700 years ago?
Download or read book Celestial Sleuth written by Donald W. Olson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-10-02 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For a general audience interested in solving mysteries in art, history, and literature using the methods of science, 'forensic astronomy' is a thrilling new field of exploration. Astronomical calculations are the basis of the studies, which have the advantage of bringing to readers both evocative images and a better understanding of the skies. Weather facts, volcano studies, topography, tides, historical letters and diaries, famous paintings, military records, and the friendly assistance of experts in related fields add variety, depth, and interest to the work. The chosen topics are selected for their wide public recognition and intrigue, involving artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, and Ansel Adams; historical events such as the Battle of Marathon, the death of Julius Caesar, the American Revolution, and World War II; and literary authors such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Joyce, and Mary Shelley. This book sets out to answer these mysteries indicated with the means and expertise of astronomy, opening the door to a richer experience of human culture and its relationship with nature. Each subject is carefully analyzed. As an example using the study of sky paintings by Vincent van Gogh, the analytical method would include: - computer calculations of historical skies above France in the 19th century - finding and quoting the clues found in translations of original letters by Van Gogh - making site visits to France to determine the precise locations when Van Gogh set up his easel and what celestial objects are depicted. For each historical event influenced by astronomy, there would be a different kind of mystery to be solved. As an example: - How can the phase of the Moon and time of moonrise help to explain a turning point of the American Civil War - the fatal wounding of Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville in 1863? For each literary reference to astronomy, it was determined which celestial objects were being described and making an argument that the author is describing an actual event. For example, what was the date of the moonlit scene when Mary Shelley first had the idea for her novel “Frankenstein?” These and more fun riddles will enchant and delight the fan of art and astronomy.
Download or read book The Moon and the Western Imagination written by Scott L. Montgomery and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Moon is at once a face with a thousand expressions and the archetypal planet. Throughout history it has been gazed upon by people of every culture in every walk of life. From early perceptions of the Moon as an abode of divine forces, humanity has in turn accepted the mathematized Moon of the Greeks, the naturalistic lunar portrait of Jan van Eyck, and the telescopic view of Galileo. Scott Montgomery has produced a richly detailed analysis of how the Moon has been visualized in Western culture through the ages, revealing the faces it has presented to philosophers, writers, artists, and scientists for nearly three millennia. To do this, he has drawn on a wide array of sources that illustrate mankind's changing concept of the nature and significance of heavenly bodies from classical antiquity to the dawn of modern science. Montgomery especially focuses on the seventeenth century, when the Moon was first mapped and its features named. From literary explorations such as Francis Godwin's Man in the Moone and Cyrano de Bergerac's L'autre monde to Michael Van Langren's textual lunar map and Giambattista Riccioli's Almagestum novum, he shows how Renaissance man was moved by the lunar orb, how he battled to claim its surface, and how he in turn elevated the Moon to a new level in human awareness. The effect on human imagination has been cumulative: our idea of the Moon, and therefore the planets, is multilayered and complex, having been enriched by associations played out in increasingly complicated harmonies over time. We have shifted the way we think about the lunar face from a "perfect" body to an earthlike one, with corresponding changes in verbal and visual expression. Ultimately, Montgomery suggests, our concept of the Moon has never wandered too far from the world we know best—the Earth itself. And when we finally establish lunar bases and take up some form of residence on the Moon's surface, we will not be conquering a New World, fresh and mostly unknown, but a much older one, ripe with history.
Download or read book The Astrological Imagination written by Brad Hiljanen Kochunas and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2008-10-02 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many books today simply widen the field of astrology by promoting newly created techniques or championing older historical methods for investigating every possible nook and cranny of a horoscope. In contrast, this award winning writer points the reader in a new direction toward deepening the way that we approach and think about astrology in these post modern times. Drawing upon the archetypal perspectives of Mircea Eliade, James Hillman, and Thomas Moore, the author presents a truly psychological astrology, an astrology of soul that can plumb the depths of our being, sounding out our centers in a manner that enriches our struggle to fully engage what it means to be human.
Download or read book New Worlds New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-02-04 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Driven by discoveries, and enabled by leaps in technology and imagination, our understanding of the universe has changed dramatically during the course of the last few decades. The fields of astronomy and astrophysics are making new connections to physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science. Based on a broad and comprehensive survey of scientific opportunities, infrastructure, and organization in a national and international context, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics outlines a plan for ground- and space- based astronomy and astrophysics for the decade of the 2010's. Realizing these scientific opportunities is contingent upon maintaining and strengthening the foundations of the research enterprise including technological development, theory, computation and data handling, laboratory experiments, and human resources. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics proposes enhancing innovative but moderate-cost programs in space and on the ground that will enable the community to respond rapidly and flexibly to new scientific discoveries. The book recommends beginning construction on survey telescopes in space and on the ground to investigate the nature of dark energy, as well as the next generation of large ground-based giant optical telescopes and a new class of space-based gravitational observatory to observe the merging of distant black holes and precisely test theories of gravity. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics recommends a balanced and executable program that will support research surrounding the most profound questions about the cosmos. The discoveries ahead will facilitate the search for habitable planets, shed light on dark energy and dark matter, and aid our understanding of the history of the universe and how the earliest stars and galaxies formed. The book is a useful resource for agencies supporting the field of astronomy and astrophysics, the Congressional committees with jurisdiction over those agencies, the scientific community, and the public.
Download or read book Mars written by Eric S. Rabkin and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2005-06-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is Mars? From the ancients to the present, we have imagined Mars repeatedly and studied it longingly. As scientific knowledge of Mars has changed, so has the cultural imagination of this celestial neighbors. The earth-centered beginnings of astronomy connected the blood-red planet with the God of War. The Copernican Revolution and a later, simple mistranslation from Italian supported fantastic visions of distant Mars as the abode of life variously bizarre, ideal, or malignant. In the work of H. G. Wells and Orson Welles, in books, films, radio, and television, Mars reflected not only eternal hopes and fears but then-current political realities. In recent years, NASA-fication has brought Mars home, imagining the Red Planet almost as an eighth continent of Earth, a candidate for exploration and exploitation both in fiction and in fact. Rabkin weaves a chronological tale of many threads, including mythology, astrology, astronomy, literary criticism, and cultural studies.
Download or read book Apollo s Fire written by Michael Sims and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lighthearted tour of the developmental synergies of life throughout the course of a single day touches on a broad variety of cultural and natural topics, from the color of the sky and the course of the sun to the iconography of prehistoric Egyptian sculpture and the circadian rhythms of Japanese moon imagery. By the author of Adam's Navel. Reprint.
Download or read book Creation Stories written by Anthony Aveni and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible exploration of how diverse cultures have explained humanity’s origins through narratives about the natural environment Drawing from a vast array of creation myths—Babylonian, Greek, Aztec, Maya, Inca, Chinese, Hindu, Navajo, Polynesian, African, Norse, Inuit, and more—this short, illustrated book uncovers both the similarities and differences in our attempts to explain the universe. Anthony Aveni, an award-winning author and professor of astronomy and anthropology, examines the ways various cultures around the world have attempted to explain our origins, and what roles the natural environment plays in shaping these narratives. The book also celebrates the audacity of the human imagination. Whether the first humans emerged from a cave, as in the Inca myths, or from bamboo stems, as the Bantu people of Africa believed, or whether the universe is simply the result of Vishnu’s cyclical inhales and exhales, each of these fascinating stories reflects a deeper understanding of the culture it arose from as well as its place in the larger human narrative.
Download or read book Astronomy for Entertainment written by Y. Perelman and published by The Minerva Group, Inc.. This book was released on 2000-04 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Astronomy is a fortunate science; it needs no embellishments, said the French savant Arago. So fascinating are its achievements that no special effort is needed to attract attention. Nonetheless, the science of the heavens is not only a collection of astonishing revelations and daring theories. Ordinary facts, things that happen, day by day, are its substance. Most laymen have, generally speaking, a rather hazy notion of this prosaic aspect of astronomy. They find it of little interest, for it is indeed hard to concentrate on what is always before the eye.Everyday happenings in the sky are the contents of this book, free from professional terminology with easy reading. Its purpose is to initiate the reader into the basic facts of astronomy. Ordinary facts with which you may be acquainted are couched here in unexpected paradoxes, or slanted from an odd and unexpected angle solely to excite the imagination and quicken your interest. The daily aspect of the science of the skies, its beginnings, not later findings that mainly form the contents of Astronomy for Entertainment. The purpose of the book is to initiate the reader into the basic facts of astronomy. Ordinary facts with which you may be acquainted are couched here in unexpected paradoxes, or slanted from an odd and unexpected angle. The theme is, as far as possible, free from "terminology" and technical paraphernalia that so often make the reader shy of books on astronomy.Books on popular science are often rebuked for not being sufficiently serious. In a way the rebuke is just, and support for it can be found (if one has in mind the exact natural sciences) in the tendency to avoid calculations in any shape or form. And yet the reader can really master his subject only by learning how to reckon, even though in a rudimentary fashion. True, he has taken care to present them in an easy form, well within the reach of all who have studied mathematics at school. It is his conviction that these exercises help not only retain the knowledge acquired; they are also a useful introduction to more serious reading.This book contains chapters relating to the Earth, the Moon, planets, stars and gravitation. The author has concentrated in the main on materials not usually discussed in works of this nature. Subjects omitted in the present book, will, he hopes, be treated in a second volume. The book, it should be said, makes no attempt to analyze in detail the rich content of modern astronomy.Unfortunately Y. Perelman never wrote the continuation he had planned for this book, as untimely death in war bound Leningrad in 1942 interrupted his labours.
