BIBLIOGRAPHY

This is a brief list of books I have found useful in researching my talks on the history of astronomy. It is arranged into sections, GENERAL HISTORIES, SPECIALIST HISTORIES AND BIOGRAPHIES, MYTHOLOGY, MAPS AND ATLASES and SOURCES. I hope to add to this bibliography in the future.

Dreyer, J.L.E. ‘A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler’, Dover, 2^nd edition 1953, ISBN 0486600793

Hoskin, Michael (ed.) ‘Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy’, CUP, 1997, ISBN 0521411580

Kolb, Rocky ‘Blind Watchers of the Sky’, OUP, 1999, ISBN 0192862030 (a very good read, places the history of astronomy in a contemporary context).

North, John ‘The Fontana History of Astronomy and Cosmology’, Fontana, 1994 (solid history of astronomy).

Pannekoek, A. ‘A History of Astronomy’ Dover, 1961, ISBN 0486659941

Pedersen, Olaf ‘Early Physics and Astronomy’, CUP, 1993 (revised ed.) ISBN 0521408997 (covers more than just astronomy, but contains an exteremely good biographical appendix).

Reichen, Charles-Albert ‘A History of Astronomy’ Editions Rencontre and Erik Nitsche International, 1962 (nicely illustrated)

Tester, Jim ‘A History of Western Astrology’, Boydell Press, 1987, ISBN 0851152554 (useful for the periods when astrology and astronomy were the same thing)

Thurston, Hugh ‘Early Astronomy’, Springer, 1994, ISBN 0387948228

Walker, Christopher (ed.) ‘Astronomy before the Telescope’, British Museum, 1996 (contains series of chapters on history of astronomy, good sections on the astronomy of other cultures)

Aveni, Anthony ‘Stairways to the stars: skywatching in three great ancient cultures’, Cassell, London, 1997, ISBN 0304351903 (Covers, Maya, Inca and Megalithic astronomy)

Burl, Aubrey 'Prehistoric astronomy and ritual', Shire Archaeology, Second Edition 2005, ISBN 0747806144 (Covers astronomical alignments of prehistoric monuments in Britain, Ireland and Brittany. Makes link to celtic and later christian festivals. Nice photographs of burial mounds, stone circles and standing stones)

Gingerich, Owen ‘The Great Copernicus Chase and other adventures in Astronomical History’, Sky Publishing Corp. 1992, ISBN 0521326885 (Famous for the tracking down of surviving copies of Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus)

Grant, Edward ‘Planets, Stars, & Orbs: The Medieval Cosmos 1200-1687’, Cambridge, 1994, ISBN 052156509X (solid, scholarly account of the medieval minds influenced by the cosmology of Aristotle)

Hearnshaw, J.B. 'The analysis of starlight: one hundred and fifty years of astronomical spectroscopy', Cambridge, 1986, ISBN 0521399165

Heath, Thomas L. ‘Aristarchus of Samos: The Ancient Copernicus’, Dover, 1913, ISBN 0486241882

Heath, Thomas L. ‘Greek Astronomy’, Dover, 1932, ISBN 0486266206

McCluskey, Stephen C. ‘Astronomies and Cultures in Early Medieval Europe’, CUP, 1998, ISBN 0521778522

Moore, Patrick ‘The great astronomical revolution: 1534-1687 and the space age epilogue’, Albion Publishing, Chichester, 1994, ISBN 1898563195

Pullin, V.E. ‘Sir Isaac Newton’, Benn’s Sixpenny Library No.140, London, 1927.

Heath, Thomas L. ‘Archimedes’, SPCK, London, 1920

Allen, Richard Hinckley ‘Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning’, Dover, 1963 (the classic book on this subject and packed full of fascinating information).

Bulfinch, Thomas ‘Myths of Greece and Rome’, Penguin, 1981 (illustrated with pictures of paintings and works of art).

Cornelius, Geoffrey ‘The Starlore Handbook’, Mitchell Beazley, 1997 (short introductions to the myths behind the stars by an astrologer).

Kunitzsch, Paul and Smart, Tim ‘Short Guide to Modern Star Names and their Derivations’, Otto Harrassowitz, Weisbaden, 1986 (makes available in English the results of Paul Kunitzsch’s study of star names, this is the most reliable recent work on the subject but is not easy to obtain).

Ridpath, Ian ‘Star Tales’, Lutterworth Press, 1988 (gives myths behind constellations and also has a good section on constellations no longer in use)

Ridpath, Ian ‘Night Sky’, HarperCollins, 1985 (a handy pocket star atlas)

Stott, Carole ‘Celestial Charts’, Studio Editions, 1995, ISBN 1858911982 (reproduces many colour plates from old star atlases)

Wellesz, Emmy ‘An Islamic Book of Constellations’, Bodleian Picture Book No. 13, 1965

Whitfield, Peter ‘The Mapping of the Heavens’, The British Library, 1995, ISBN 0712345396 (draws on historical atlases in the British Library collection)

Aratus ‘Phaenomena’, translated by G.R. Mair, 1955. Loeb Classical Library No.129

Aristotle ‘The Metaphysics’, Translated by Hugh Lawson-Tancred, Penguin Books, 1998 ISBN 0140446192

Aristotle ‘Minor Works’, translated by W.S. Hett, Loeb Classical Library No. 307, 1936 ISBN 0434983077

Aristotle ‘Meteorologica’, translated by H.D.P. Lee, Loeb Classical Library No. 397, 1952 ISBN 0434993972

Aristotle ‘On the Heavens’, translated by W.K.C. Guthrie, Loeb Classical Library No. 338, 1939 ISBN 0434993387

Hesiod. Banks, J. (trans.) ‘The Works of Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis’, Bell & Sons, London, 1901

Lucretius ‘On the Nature of Things’, translated by H.A.J. Munro, date?, Routledge, London

Manilius ‘Astronomica’, translated by G.P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library No. 469, 1977 ISBN 0674995163

Ovid ‘Metamorphoses’ translated by M.M. Innes, Pengiun, 1955 (contains the stories behind many of the classical constellations).

Ptolemy ‘Almagest’, translated by G.J. Toomer, Duckworth, 1984 (excellent English translation of Ptolemy’s great work).

Ptolemy ‘Tetrabiblos’, translated by F.E. Robbins, Loeb Classical Library No. 435, 1940 ISBN 0674994795