Books Noticed concerning the history astrology & cultural astronomy

Books Noticed concerning the history of astrology and cultural astronomy.

Homer's Secret Iliad: The Epic of the Night Skies Decoded, Florence and Kenneth Wood, London: John Murray, 1999, hardback, 294 pp.

The Many Faces of Venus: the Planet Venus in Ancient Myth and Religion, Ev Cochrane, Aeon Press 601 Hayward, Ames, IA 50014, 2001, paperback, 217 pp.

Hengeworld: Life in Britain 2000 BC as revealed by the latest discoveries at Stonehenge, Avebury and Stanton Drew, Mike Pitts, London: Century 2000, hardback, 404 pp, £17.99.

Volume 5 no 1

Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia, Hermann Hunger and David Pingree, Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol. I/44. Leiden: E. Brill, 1999, pp. xviii + 303. HFl 176, $ 104.

Volume 3 no 2

The Tenacious Mars Effect, Suitbert Ertel and Kenneth Irving, Urania Trust, 194 The Butts, Frome, Somerset BA11 4AG, 1996, ISBN 1-871989-159-9, hardback, 180 pp, £9.95.

Cosmic Loom: The New Science of Astrology, Dennis Elwell, Urania Trust, 194 The Butts, Frome, Somerset BA11 4AG, 2000, ISBN 1-871989-09-4, paperback, 288 pp, £15.95.

Aliens in America: Conspiracy Cultures from Outerspace to Cyberspace, Jodi Dean, Cornell University Press 1998, ISBN 0 8014 8468 5, 242 pp., £12.50.

Fire in the Sky: Comets and Meteors, the Decisive Centuries in British Art and Science, Roberta J.M.Olson and Jay M.Passachoff, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999, hardback, pp. 369.

The Diaries of John Dee, ed. Edward Fenton, Day Books, 3 Park Street, Charlbury, Oxfordshire OX PPS, UK., 1998, ISBN 0-9532213-0-X, hardback, pp. 369, £18.99.

Astrologica Gallica, Book Twenty-Two, Directions, Jean-Baptiste Morin, trans James Holden, American Federation of Astrologers, 6535 S. Rural Road, PO Box 22040, Tempe, Arizona 85285-2040, 1994, ISBN 0-86690-425-5, paperback, 290 pp.

Le Recueil des plus Celebres Astrologues de Simon de Phares, ed. Jean-Patrice Boudet, pub. Librairie Honoré Champion, 7 quai Malaquais, 75006 Paris, 1999, 2 Vols. (vol. 1, critical edition, vol. 2, commentary), paperback.

Magic and Divination in the Middle Ages: Texts and Techniques in the Islamic and Christian Worlds, Charles Burnett, Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. (US., Ashgate Publishing Co.), hardback, ISBN 0-86078-615-3, hardback, pp. 382.

The Occult in Early Modern Europe: A Documentary History, edited and translated by P.G.Maxwell-Stuart, Macmillan Press (US., St. Martin’s Press), 1999, £14.99, hardback, pp. 241

Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic, edited by Claire Fanger, Sutton Publishing, Phoenix Mill, Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 2BU, UK, 1998, £40, hardback, pp. 284.

On Solar Revolutions, Part II, Abu Mashar, trans., Robert H.Schmidt, Project Hindsight, Medieval Astrology Track Vol. II, The Phaser Foundation Inc., 532 Washington Street, Cumberland MD 21502, 1999, paperback, 87 pp.

Tetrabiblos, Claudius Ptolemy, Book IV, trans., Robert H.Schmidt, Project Hindsight, Greek Track Vol. XIV., The Golden Hind Press, 532 Washington Street, Cumberland MD 21502, 1998, paperback, pp. 72.

Apotelesmatics, Hephaistio of Thebes, Book II, trans., Robert H.Schmidt, Project Hindsight, Greek Track Vol. XV., The Golden Hind Press, 532 Washington Street, Cumberland MD 21502, 1998, paperback, 107 pp.

Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Measuring Time, James C. Vanderkam, Routledge 1998, £11.99, paperback, 136 pp.

Letters from Priests to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, Steven W. Cole and Peter Machinist, Helsinki University Press 1998, State Archives of Assyria Vol. XIII, 221 pp.

Letters from Assyrians and Babylonian Scholars, ed. Simo Parpola, Helsinki University Press 1993, State Archives of Assyria Vol. X, 421 pp.

Great Stone Circles Aubrey Burl, Yale University Press 1999, £19.95, hardback, 199 pp.

Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland, Clive Ruggles, Yale University Press, 1999, hardback, 285 pp.

Volume 3 no 1

History of the Hour: Clocks and Modern Temporal Orders, Gerhard Dohrn-van Rossum, trans. Thomas Dunlap, University of Chicago Press, 1996, paperback, p 455, £15.95.

Nautical Astronomy in New Zealand: The Voyages of James Cook, Wayne Orchiston, Carter Observatory, PO Box 2909, Wellington, New Zealand, ISBN 0 473 05303 9, paperback, 131 pp., $NZ 29.95 ($NZ 39 UK and Europe, $NZ 38 US and Canada).

The Victorian Amateur Astronomer: Independent Astronomical Research in Britain 1820-1920. Allan Chapman, John Wiley and Sons in association with Praxis Publishing, 1998, hardback, 428 pp., £40.

Measuring the Universe: The Historical Quest to Quantify Space, Kitty Ferguson, Headline Book Publishing, ISBN 0 7472 2132 4, hardback, 306 pp., £14.99.

The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories, J.L.Heilbron, Harvard University Press, 1999, £21.95, hardback, pp. 366.

Gli oroscopi di Cristo, Ornella Pompeo Faracovi, pub Marsilio, Venice 1999, ISBN 88-317-7290-2, paperback, 190 pp., lira 27,000, euro 13.94.

The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer’s View, Mark Kidger, Princeton University Press 1999, £14.50, hardback, 306 pp.

The Birth of Christ: Exploding the Myth, Percy Seymour, Virgin Publishing 1998, ISBN 1 85227 796 3, hardback, 244 pp., £16.99.

Volume 2 no 2

On the Mysteries and Life of Pythagoras, Iamblichus, trans. Thomas Taylor, The Prometheus Trust, 194 The Butts, Frome, Somerset BS11 4AG, UK, 1999, ISBN 1 898910 16 2, hardback, 450 pp., £21.

Stonehenge: Making Space, Barbara Bender, Berg Publishers, 1998, ISBN 1 85973 908 3, paperback, 254 pp., £14.99.

Sun, Moon and Stonehenge, Robin Heath, Bluestone Press, Maes yr Awel, Cwm Degwel, St. Dogmaels, Cardigan, SA43 3JF, UK, 1998, ISBN 0 9526151 7 7, paperback, 239 pp., £12.99.

Stonehenge: Mysteries of the Stones and Landscape, David Souden, Collins and Brown/English Heritage, 1997, ISBN 1 85585 291 8, hardback, 160 pp., £20.00.

Science and Stonehenge, Barry Cunliffe and Colin Renfrew (ed.), Proceedings of the British Academy, 92, Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0 19 726174 4, hardback, 362 pp., £29.50.

The Modern Antiquarian: A Pre-Millennial Odyssey Through Megalithic Britain, Julian Cope, Thorsons, 1998, ISBN 0 72253599 6, hardback, 438 pp., £29.99.

Volume 1 no 2

History of Astronomy: An Encyclopaedia, edited John Lankford, Garland Publishing, New York and London, 1997, 594 pp. Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy, edited Michael Hoskin, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997, 392 pp.

The Abbreviation of the Introduction to Astrology, Abu Ma’shar, edited and translated by Charles Burnet, with technical and historical annotations by Charles Burnett, Graeme Tobyn, Geoffrey Cornelius and Vernon Wells, Arhat Publications, 350 Underpass Road, Box 1750, Brewster, MA 02631, USA, 58 pp., $9.50.

The Man in the Moone, Francis Godwin, with a modern introduction, Logaston Press, Little Logaston, Woonton, Almeley, Herefordshire HR3 6QH, UK, ISBN 1 873827 64 4, 41 pp., £8.95.

The Scientific Invention of Hieroglyphics or Hurrah for Pliny!, Rosalind Park, Azoth Publications, 1997, ISBN 0 9532056 0 6, 39 pp., for further information contact The British Museum Bookshop, 36 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3PP.

Cosmic Influences on Humans, Animals and Plants: An Annotated Bibliography, John T.Burns, Magill Bibliographies, Scarecrow Press Inc, Lanham, Md., and London, Salem Press, Pasadena, CA and Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1997, 203 pp., £32.80.