Minding the Heavens: The Story of Our Discovery of the Milky Way

Rating:
Summary: Great book for laymen
Review: Minding the Heavens is written in an easy to understand style, a super book for all stargazers. Wonderful biographies of seven astronomy greats plus surprising final words on the structure of the Milky Way.

Rating:
Summary: Our place in the galaxy
Review: This is an account of how astronomers gradually came to realize that we inhabit a galaxy, one of many in the universe. It begins in the mid-eighteenth century and ends in the twentieth, tracing the work of seven selected astronomers. Their task was to puzzle out, from inside the structure, our rather undistinguished position in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. Belkora presents not only the science but the scientists - for example, how the loss of a young child inhibited one observer's creativity for a time. Long ago (in a galaxy far, far away) I edited writings by Dr. Belkora. I'm pleased to say that she's just as clear and accessible in this longer form. Her book is about how science works and also contributes to the history of ideas. This is an interesting volume that should appeal to professional and lay astronomers alike.