Sky Atlas: The Greatest Maps, Myths and Discoveries of the Universe

In his magnificent book, Edward Brooke-Hitching unveils some of the most stunning maps and charts ever created during mankind's quest to map the skies above us. This richly illustrated treasury showcases celestial cartography, medieval manuscripts, masterpiece paintings, ancient star catalogues, antique instruments, and other appealing curiosities. It also explores star-obsessed cultures around the world, such as Tibetan sky burials, Inuit dancing coats, Mongolian astral prophets, and Sir William Herschel's discovery of Uranus.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 256 pages
\n Publication date: 17 October 2019
\n Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
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After the immense global success of The Phantom Atlas and The Golden Atlas, Edward Brooke-Hitching's remarkable book unveils some of the most breathtaking maps and charts ever created during mankind's quest to map the skies above us. This richly illustrated treasury showcases the finest examples of celestial cartography, a glorious genre of map-making often overlooked by modern map books, as well as medieval manuscripts, masterpiece paintings, ancient star catalogues, antique instruments, and other appealing curiosities. This is the sky as it has never been presented before: the realm of stars and planets, but also of gods, devils, weather wizards, flying sailors, medieval aliens, mythical animals, and rampaging spirits. The reader is taken on a tour of star-obsessed cultures around the world, learning about Tibetan sky burials, star-covered Inuit dancing coats, Mongolian astral prophets, and Sir William Herschel's 1781 discovery of Uranus, the first planet to be found since antiquity. Even stranger are the forgotten stories from European history, like the English belief of the Middle Ages in ships that sailed a sea above the clouds, 16th-century German UFO sightings, and the Edwardian aristocrat who mistakenly mapped alien-made canals on the surface of Mars. As the intricacies of our universe are today being revealed with unprecedented clarity, there has never been a better time for a highly readable book as beautiful as the night sky to contextualize the scale of these achievements for the general reader.

\n Weight: 964g\n
Dimension: 200 x 252 x 28 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781471178931\n \n