Mask of the sun the science, history, and forgotten lore of eclipses
What do Virginia Woolf, the rotation of hurricanes, Babylonian kings and Einstein's General Theory Relativity all have in common? Eclipses. Always spectacular and, today, precisely predicable, eclipses have allowed us to know when the first Olympic games were played and, long before the first space...
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|---|---|
| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Pegasus Books,
2017.
|
| Edition: | First Pegasus Books edition. |
| Subjects: | |
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| LEADER | 00000cam a2200000Ii 4500 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | ocn951925837 | ||
| 003 | OCoLC | ||
| 005 | 20170412103600.0 | ||
| 008 | 160617t20172017nyuabf b 001 0 eng d | ||
| 020 | |a 9781681773308 |q (hbk.) | ||
| 020 | |a 1681773309 |q (hbk.) | ||
| 035 | |a (OCoLC)951925837 | ||
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| 050 | 4 | |a QB541 |b .D846 2017 | |
| 082 | 0 | 4 | |a 523.7/809 |2 23 |
| 100 | 1 | |a Dvorak, John |q (John J.), |e author. | |
| 245 | 1 | 0 | |a Mask of the sun : |b the science, history, and forgotten lore of eclipses / |c John Dvorak. |
| 250 | |a First Pegasus Books edition. | ||
| 264 | 1 | |a New York : |b Pegasus Books, |c 2017. | |
| 264 | 4 | |c Ã2017 | |
| 300 | |a xxvii, 272 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : |b illustrations (some color), maps ; |c 24 cm | ||
| 336 | |a text |b txt |2 rdacontent | ||
| 337 | |a unmediated |b n |2 rdamedia | ||
| 338 | |a volume |b nc |2 rdacarrier | ||
| 504 | |a Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-264) and index. | ||
| 505 | 0 | |a New York, 1925 -- The heretic and the Pope -- The invisible planets of Rahu and Ketu -- Saros and the substitute king -- Measuring the world -- The waste of yin -- A request to the curious -- The annulus at Inch Bonney -- A simple truth of nature -- Eclipse chasers -- Keys and kettledrums -- The Crucifixion and the Concorde -- Einstein's error -- The glorious corona -- Illinois, 2017 -- An eclipse primer. | |
| 520 | 0 | |a What do Virginia Woolf, the rotation of hurricanes, Babylonian kings and Einstein's General Theory Relativity all have in common? Eclipses. Always spectacular and, today, precisely predicable, eclipses have allowed us to know when the first Olympic games were played and, long before the first space probe, that the Moon was covered by dust. Eclipses have stunned, frightened, emboldened and mesmerized people for thousands of years. They were recorded on ancient turtle shells discovered in the Wastes of Yin in China, on clay tablets from Mesopotamia and on the Mayan "Dresden Codex." They are mentioned in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and at least eight times in the Bible. Columbus used them to trick people, while Renaissance painter Taddeo Gaddi was blinded by one. Sorcery was banished within the Catholic Church after astrologers used an eclipse to predict a pope's death. In Mask of the Sun, acclaimed writer John Dvorak the importance of the number 177 and why the ancient Romans thought it was bad to have sexual intercourse during an eclipse (whereas other cultures thought it would be good luck). Even today, pregnant women in Mexico wear safety pins on their underwear during an eclipse. Eclipses are an amazing phenomena-unique to Earth-that have provided the key to much of what we now know and understand about the sun, our moon, gravity, and the workings of the universe. Both entertaining and authoritative, Mask of the Sun reveals the humanism behind the science of both lunar and solar eclipses. With insightful detail and vividly accessible prose, Dvorak provides explanations as to how and why eclipses occur-as well as insight into the forthcoming eclipse of 2017 that will be visible across North America. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a Solar eclipses |x History. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a Total solar eclipses |x History. | |
| 650 | 0 | |a Saros cycle. | |
| 690 | 0 | |a Stein, Sylvia tribute. | |
| 938 | |a Brodart |b BROD |n 117094927 | ||
| 938 | |a Baker and Taylor |b BTCP |n BK0018997665 | ||
| 938 | |a YBP Library Services |b YANK |n 13039344 | ||
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| 949 | |a schlow |b SANON |c 523.7809 DVO |d i |e 39635103691293 |f 617571 |g ddc |j 03/29/2017 | ||
| 999 | |a 399875 | ||
