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The Human Cosmos: a Secret History Of the Stars
[Paperback - 2021]
jo marchant
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Category: Science
Sub-category: Astronomy
Additional Category: Popular Science
Publisher: Canongate Uk | ISBN: 9781786894045 | Pages: 368
Shipping Weight: .250 | Dimensions: null
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Description

An historically unprecedented disconnect between humanity and the heavens has opened. Jo Marchant's book can begin to heal it.For at least 20,000 years, we have led not just an earthly existence but a cosmic one. Celestial cycles drove every aspect of our daily lives. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are--our art, religious beliefs, social status, scientific advances, and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. It's a disconnect with a dire cost.Our relationship to the stars and planets has moved from one of awe, wonder and superstition to one where technology is king--the cosmos is now explored through data on our screens, not by the naked eye observing the natural world. Indeed, in most countries modern light pollution obscures much of the night sky from view. Jo Marchant's spellbinding parade of the ways different cultures celebrated the majesty and mysteries of the night sky is a journey to the most awe inspiring view you can ever see--looking up on a clear dark night. That experience and the thoughts it has engendered have radically shaped human civilization across millennia. The cosmos is the source of our greatest creativity in art, in science, in life.To show us how, Jo Marchant takes us to the Hall of the Bulls in the caves at Lascaux in France, and to the summer solstice at a 5,000-year-old tomb at New Grange in England. We discover Chumash cosmology and visit medieval monks grappling with the nature of time and Tahitian sailors navigating by the stars. We discover how light reveals the chemical composition of the sun, and we are with Einstein as he works out that space and time are one and the same. A four-billion-year-old meteor inspires a search for extraterrestrial life. The cosmically liberating, summary revelation is that star-gazing made us human.

About the Author

Jo Marchant is an author and journalist based in London. Her books tackle the story of humanity, from the wonders of ancient civilisations to the mysteries of our bodies and brains. Her upcoming book, The Human Cosmos (to be published in September 2020), tells the story of our intimate relationship with the night sky and the universe beyond.
Jo’s most recent book, the 2016 New York Times bestseller Cure: a journey into the science of mind over body, was shortlisted for the Royal Society science book prize, longlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize and named a book of the year by The Economist and The Sunday Times. Jo’s other books are The Shadow King: The bizarre afterlife of King Tut’s mummy (2013) and Decoding the Heavens: Solving the mystery of the world’s first computer (2009), which was also shortlisted for the Royal Society science book prize.
Jo trained as a scientist: she has a PhD in genetics and medical microbiology from St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in London, and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College London. She previously worked as a senior editor at New Scientist and at Nature, and her articles have appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and Smithsonian magazine.
Her radio and TV appearances include BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week and Today programmes, NPR’s Fresh Air, CNN and National Geographic. She has captivated audiences around the world, including at the World Science Festival in New York, the Royal Institution in London, Hay Festival, Edinburgh Science Festival, the Emirates Literature Festival in Dubai and the Dutch-Flemish Institute in Cairo.

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