Every invention changes the world a little bit, but the telescope did far more than thatóit changed the way we perceive the universe. Panek (Waterloo Diamonds, 1995) takes as his starting point the year 1609, when Galileo first turned his telescope skyward and recorded what he saw. The instrument itself, two small lenses in a metal tube, could have been built two or three centuries earlier. But what Galileo saw through it brought a revolution. Light and dark spots on the moon were mountains, valleys, plains. The planets displayed discs like the moon. The obvious conclusion was that they were worlds like Earth—and thus Earth must be a planet like the others. The philosophical implications that led to Galileo’s confrontation with the Church are well known. But Panek also shows how the future of astronomy was changed. Increased use of the telescope brought home the need for a new standard of accuracy in measurements. At the same time, improvements were made in the telescope itself, improving both its magnifying power and its ability to gather dim light. Until modern times, the single greatest improvement was Newton’s replacement of the primary lenses by mirrors, which led to a huge jump in the size of instruments. With each improvement, the universe grew and changed—from Herschel’s discovery of the first new planet to the 40 billion new galaxies discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1996. Panek shows the philosophical implications of each wave of discoveries, especially their effect in removing the human race from the center of the universe. The relationship between the growing body of astronomical data and the theoretical apparatus needed to explain it—here again, Newton’s contribution is seminal—also receives due attention. A good brief history of scientific astronomy, with the focus where it belongs—on the instruments that have brought us the knowledge of the stars.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-87628-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1998
In a whirlwind tour of 13 archaeological sites around the world, Fagan's sleepy, fact-heavy narrative fails to present major scientific discoveries as much more than the sum of their plodding details. Fagan (Quest for the Past, 1994, etc.) has a solid grasp of the complexities and innovations of the discipline's techniques. Nevertheless, his central point, that archaeologists are now using advanced scientific technology and have transformed themselves from ``diggers to time detectives,'' should come as no surprise to anyone with even a mild interest in science. The book is compelling in those sections where Fagan details the highly specific conclusions that archaeologists draw from mundane bits of evidence (bone-fragment analysis reveals the prehistoric Anasazi of the American Southwest practiced cannibalism) and the use of high-technology instruments to explain the mysteries of ancient civilizations (the use of NASA satellites to determine how the Maya fed their large population). But Fagan undermines his stated purpose by discussing several major discoveries that were based on low-technology innovations (the flotation tank that separates out prehistoric seeds from a site on the Euphrates river) and no technology (the interpretation of Mayan glyphs by creative linguists). Nowhere does the book explain why these particular discoveries were profiled, and not all chapters include explanatory illustrations beyond a map. As such, Time Detectives is plagued by a general sense of incoherence, which is heightened by overgeneralizations, absurd arguments (the ``similarity'' between violent conflict among the pre-Columbian Chumash Indians and present-day homicide statistics), and glaringly obvious statements: ``No single genius `invented' agriculture.'' The most serious flaw is Fagan's failure to communicate the excitement of archaeological research. We are left with a detailed but superficial review of the important findings of several modern archaeologists. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen; 26 line drawings)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-671-79385-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1994
In this eloquent memoir, on the eve of his 80th birthday, Hay (The Bird of Light, 1991) reviews the lessons of a life lived close to nature. Widely recognized as the dean of modern nature writing, Hay divides his retirement between Cape Cod and Maine. Here he cultivates a deepening connection to nature, whether in reading the wild grasses to understand the land that lies beneath or observing in trees the stages of growth that parallel his own. As a child in Manhattan, he was first enchanted with nature in a diorama of timber wolves chasing deer across the moonlit snow at the American Museum of Natural History. There is much to be said for the ``eye of a child,'' Hay recalls, as it conveys a wonder that does not seek to control or define what it sees. Adults miss that wonder when they rush to explain rather than appreciate such mysteries as why pilot whales strand themselves on a beach. He laments the distance that the introduction of technology has opened up between humankind and nature. In the fishing industry, dragnets and radar have encouraged grossly wasteful harvesting that has destroyed entire marine ecosystems. When we repeatedly cut ourselves off from the realities of nature by viewing fish in terms of profit and loss rather than as essential food, we risk ``casting ourselves into a limbo, a darkness of our own making.'' Everywhere around him, Hay sees our desecration of nature, from the death of the Chesapeake Bay to the Dust Bowl of the Great Plains. Both his point and his examples are less than fresh, but he compellingly presents his argument that ``we ignore a deeper reality that the land is better known through respecting its mysteries than putting it on a shopping list.'' This memoir shows no diminution in Hay's genius for expressing a powerful and contagious appreciation of nature.
Pub Date: Jan. 23, 1995
ISBN: 0-8070-8532-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1994
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