COSMIC INFLUENCES ON HUMAN BEHAVIOR

by Michel Gauquelin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1973

Gauquelin, a French empiricist grounded in statistics, has little in common with the purveyors of ""pop astrology"" and the ""superstitious pap"" of horoscopes and zodiacs currently in vogue. Instead, he seeks rigorously scientific, quantifiable data and after a quarter century of hit-and-miss investigations into possible corollaries between the phases of the moon, the positions of planets, and birth records of the humble and great he thinks he's found the ""gold nugget"" among all the stardust. He calls it ""planetary heredity"" -- the mathematically demonstrable tendency of exceptionally successful professionals to be born at that moment when Jupiter, Mars, the moon or Saturn is just rising or reaching its meridian. Gauquelin has found that a statistically significant number of politicians and actors were born under the influence of Jupiter; sports figures and soldiers under Mars; and scientists when Saturn is just appearing over the horizon or reaching its highest point in the sky. From this the author extrapolates possible ""planetary personalities"" -- e.g., a Mars temperament will be courageous, determined, assertive, combative, and adventurous. (Just like the ancient Chaldeans thought!) Gauquelin has computed and verified these findings based on a minute analysis of some 27,000 birth records, 16,000 of them representing men and women of special fame and distinguished achievement, and Professor J. Allen Hynek (Astronomy, Northwestern Univ.) who supplies the introduction is impressed -- even at the risk of ostracism from the scientific community. You might not he quite as impressed but certainly it's something -- perhaps the start of separating the earthling baby from the cosmic bathwater.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1973

ISBN: 094335823X

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION