This essential guide for every amateur astronomer explores the entire universe in one practical, easy-to-use, beginner-friendly handbook.​ The Astronomy Handbook, by award-winning astronomy writer Govert Schilling, is the indispensable, go-to guide to everything you ever wanted or need to know about space, including: the stars and the constellations planets comets eclipses galaxies black holes exoplanets and much more It also offers an excellent education for every amateur astronomer, including detailed and practical information on how to: locate and track the movements of the constellations throughout the year view the planets and the cosmos select the best equipment to use, including telescopes and cameras photograph objects in space Schilling provides a fascinating history of astronomy, as well as clear and accessible explanations of binary, variable, and neutron stars; black holes and gamma-ray bursts; the formation and structure of galaxies; dark matter; and extraterrestrial life.The Astronomy Handbook is a primordial soup-to-nuts guide to the cosmos and an essential reference for every student of the universe.

The Complete Guide to the Interpretation of Horoscopes Precise, comprehensive, and richly detailed, The Astrologer's Handbook moves far beyond the common 11 sun signs" to the important planetary aspects -- trines, squares, oppositions, conjunctions, and sextiles -- discussing their impact on the human personality and exploring their subtle but firm influence on all our lives. Although undertaken originally to meet the demands of professional astrologers, The Astrologer's Handbook is, happily, a book that serves every reader. The authors, two respected innovators in the field, explain carefully all of the central concepts and provide easy-to-follow instructions for doing a complete interpretation -- both general and specific -- of any natal chart. For those who wish to actually cast their own charts, step-by-step directions are provided. Or, for those who prefer, special coupons are provided for purchasing personalized computer-gene rated horoscopes with complete tabulation of planetary aspects cross-referenced to the proper pages of this book.

The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy combines new scholarship with hands-on science to bring readers into direct contact with the work of ancient astronomers. While tracing ideas from ancient Babylon to sixteenth-century Europe, the book places its greatest emphasis on the Greek period, when astronomers developed the geometric and philosophical ideas that have determined the subsequent character of Western astronomy. The author approaches this history through the concrete details of ancient astronomical practice. Carefully organized and generously illustrated, the book can teach readers how to do real astronomy using the methods of ancient astronomers. For example, readers will learn to predict the next retrograde motion of Jupiter using either the arithmetical methods of the Babylonians or the geometric methods of Ptolemy. They will learn how to use an astrolabe and how to design sundials using Greek and Roman techniques. The book also contains supplementary exercises and patterns for making some working astronomical instruments, including an astrolabe and an equatorium. More than a presentation of astronomical methods, the book provides a critical look at the evidence used to reconstruct ancient astronomy. It includes extensive excerpts from ancient texts, meticulous documentation, and lively discussions of the role of astronomy in the various cultures. Accessible to a wide audience, this book will appeal to anyone interested in how our understanding of our place in the universe has changed and developed, from ancient times through the Renaissance.

In On Both Sides of the Strait of Gibraltar Julio Samsó shows that astronomical sources, written in al-Andalus, the Maghrib and the Iberian Peninsula, belong to the same tradition and emphasizes the role of al-Andalus and the Iberian Peninsula in the transmission of Islamic astronomy to medieval Europe.

"Our job is to lovingly and consciously cooperate with the forces at work on this globe at this time. Astrology provides a way to link the individual with a conscious attunement to the planetary forces that are part of and affect the whole." More than fifteen years ago, Alan Oken pioneered the development of New Age astrology with the publication of three books collected in this comprehensive edition. Now, newly updated, Alan Oken's Complete Astrology charts the cosmological pathway to greater personal fulfillment and spiritual attunement through a deeper, more intuitive understanding of our own power--and the age we live in. Featuring state-of-the-art astrological charts and diagrams, line drawings, charts of contemporary celebrities, an exhaustive bibliography and much more, this new edition of the classic trilogy is one of the most accessible and informative guides to the heavens ever written. For beginners and experts alike, Alan Oken's Complete Astrology is your key to understanding the laws of the new planetary age.

In Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in Its Contexts, renowned scholars address questions about what the ancient science of the heavens was and the numerous contexts in which it was pursued.

In The Weiser Concise Guide to Practical Astrology, Priscilla Costello introduces the reader to the basic principles of modern astrology and unveils the secrets of this elegantly developed language of symbols. Costello shares with the reader both the philosophical and esoteric world view of astrology, while exploring the meanings of signs, planets, houses, and aspects on many levels, as well as its connection to psychology, religion and spirituality, and related esoteric studies. The Weiser Concise Guide to Practical Astrology serves as both a primer for the new student of astrology and a handy reference for the more seasoned practitioner. As complete as it is concise, this course of study delves deeply into the history and true spirit of astrology, making it accessible to all.

It was the astronomers and mathematicians of the Islamic world who provided the theories and concepts that paved the way from the geocentric theories of Claudius Ptolemy in the second century AD to the heliocentric breakthroughs of Nicholas Copernicus and Johannes Kepler in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Algebra, the Arabic numeral system, and trigonometry: all these and more originated in the Muslim East and undergirded an increasingly accurate and sophisticated understanding of the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets. This nontechnical overview of the Islamic advances in the heavenly sciences allows the general reader to appreciate (for the first time) the absolutely crucial role that Muslim scientists played in the overall development of astronomy and astrology in the Eurasian world.

Hypatia—brilliant mathematician, eloquent Neoplatonist, and a woman renowned for her beauty—was brutally murdered by a mob of Christians in Alexandria in 415. She has been a legend ever since. In this engrossing book, Maria Dzielska searches behind the legend to bring us the real story of Hypatia's life and death, and new insight into her colorful world. Historians and poets, Victorian novelists and contemporary feminists have seen Hypatia as a symbol—of the waning of classical culture and freedom of inquiry, of the rise of fanatical Christianity, or of sexual freedom. Dzielska shows us why versions of Hypatia's legend have served her champions' purposes, and how they have distorted the true story. She takes us back to the Alexandria of Hypatia's day, with its Library and Museion, pagan cults and the pontificate of Saint Cyril, thriving Jewish community and vibrant Greek culture, and circles of philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers, and militant Christians. Drawing on the letters of Hypatia's most prominent pupil, Synesius of Cyrene, Dzielska constructs a compelling picture of the young philosopher's disciples and her teaching. Finally she plumbs her sources for the facts surrounding Hypatia's cruel death, clarifying what the murder tells us about the tensions of this tumultuous era.