Penprase B.E. The Power of Stars: How Celestial Observations Have Shaped Civilization

Springer Science+Business Media LLC., 2011. — 360 p. — ISBN: 9781441968029.This book is based on a course which I have taught at Pomona College for nearly 15 years, entitled
“Archaeoastronomy and World Cosmology.” I would like to encourage others to make use of this book as a textbook for a similar course and am happy to provide additional curricular materials on request. The book also can be used as guide to the night sky for anyone interested in learning about how the many cultures on the Earth, ancient and modern, have responded to the star and modeled the universe. Pomona College has been an ideal environment for developing this book and I am grateful to the college and the physics and astronomy department for their support of my course. Pomona College encourages innovation and experimentation in the classroom and offers excellent students who have helped me develop the course and some of the topics covered in the book. I have to thank these students for their questions, their enthusiasm, their projects, and their encouragement. Two students in particular were critical to the book’s completion, David Morrison, who provided some interactive star maps, and Kimberly Aldinger, whose artistry made the sky map constellation figures possible.Our Experience of the Sky and Star Knowledge
A World of Constellations in the Night Sky
Creation Stories from Around theWorld
World Systems: Models of the Universe Throughout Time
Stars That Bind: Civilization, Calendars, and the Sky
Modern Timekeeping and the Development of the Science of Time
Celestial Architecture: Monuments of the Sky
The Archaeoastronomy of Modern Civilization
The Development of Modern Cosmology
Concluding Thoughts