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Recentering The Universe: The Radical Theories Of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, And Newton (2013)

by Ron Miller(Favorite Author)

3.29 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0761358854 (ISBN13: 9780761358855)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Twenty-First Century Books (CT)

review 1: This is an interesting brief look into the history of early cosmology and the men who risked persecution or death because of their beliefs and teachings about a heliocentric universe, when church doctrine dictated a geocentric one. I enjoyed sharing this book with my daughter but was a bit frustrated that Kepler was listed in the title as a scientist being covered, when his name was only mentioned a couple of times. Since we are learning about scientists in school this book got set aside for a lot longer than I would have after our studies of Galileo because I was waiting until it was time to cover Kepler. Perfect for middle/high school age students.
review 2: I was all set to give this 4 stars but I had a rather blatant misprint jump out at me. A caption to th... moree photo on p. 41 uses Kepler instead instead of Galileo. Since the text clearly said opposite the caption that it was Galileo, it really bothered me. Mostly besides this error I found the book quite well done. It covers the works of the 4 early greats of modern Astronomy: Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton. There was a nice little side panel that mentions other scientists who worked at about the same time as Newton and some of the discoveries they made then. I found the emphasis on cults that still do not accept the heliocentric theory rather perplexing. The author never quite made his point clear. I assume that he was rather lamenting the persistence of scientific ignorance and how enslaved we still are to religion even when it contradicts current scientific knowledge. Or perhaps he was trying for much the opposite effect: to show how broadminded the author is in noting there is still opposition to what most scientists consider well established scientific law? That contributed to the drop to 3 stars as well. It mostly does a very good job at explaining some of the science these people developed. I had a few problems with some of it but mostly that was my lack of scientific understanding as opposed to any lack in the author's text. Finally, considering the spectacular photos in the author's seven wonders series, I am rather appalled at the poor quality of photos used in this book. Good for the science shelves in a public library but only as supplemental material. less

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