Günter D. Roth (1931–2016)

A must read for anyone who is interested in the basics of astronomy. As a non-scientifically inclined mind, most unfortunately I skipped the meandres of equations which took most of my time to go through. I adore philosophy of mathematics and knowledge of the language of maths would be of great help - to my utter regret my education was spoiled in this area. Yet, as a conceptualist and a generalist I benefited greatly from the book at large, in fact it expanded my grasp of physics to a great extent. My interest in astronomy stemmed from studying - sic! Ancient astrological systems. At the Hindi universities physical astronomy is still lectured with Vedic astrology together, as I have heard. Noteworthy to say, this book had everything I needed to understand the scientific dynamics of the Solar System, the Stellar Neighbourhood, methods in 'measuring what can be measured by man-made instruments', optics, astrophotography to the extent I equipped myself with a basic Newtonian 8" reflector and rejoice at every cloudless night. The last chapters bordered on black magic and indeed sometimes remind me of grimoires written in the Medieval Ages, not because of the obscurity, but the greatly uncertain tone of the unexplored that is yet to be explained by cartographers of ideas of the future generations. One said: 'Scientific astronomy is the study of shadows of the cosmos, philosophical astronomy is the study of its essences'. I took it deeply into my heart, as both point are equally valid. Yet, it is obvious that a scientist, an astronomer, will rarely reach for philosophical astronomy, yet it is a dire, absolute must for the philosophical astronomer, rejoicing at the wonders of the Numinous Stellar worlds to become at least partially a scientist-astronomer, even if an amateur. I'm greatly indebted to the authors for writing this beautifully composed, concise and precise manual and I just can't wait to expand my knowledge and scope of understanding ever-more.… (meer)

A must read for anyone who is interested in the basics of astronomy. As a non-scientifically inclined mind, most unfortunately I skipped the meandres of equations which took most of my time to go through. I adore philosophy of mathematics and knowledge of the language of maths would be of great help - to my utter regret my education was spoiled in this area. Yet, as a conceptualist and a generalist I benefited greatly from the book at large, in fact it expanded my grasp of physics to a great extent. My interest in astronomy stemmed from studying - sic! Ancient astrological systems. At the Hindi universities physical astronomy is still lectured with Vedic astrology together, as I have heard. Noteworthy to say, this book had everything I needed to understand the scientific dynamics of the Solar System, the Stellar Neighbourhood, methods in 'measuring what can be measured by man-made instruments', optics, astrophotography to the extent I equipped myself with a basic Newtonian 8" reflector and rejoice at every cloudless night. The last chapters bordered on black magic and indeed sometimes remind me of grimoires written in the Medieval Ages, not because of the obscurity, but the greatly uncertain tone of the unexplored that is yet to be explained by cartographers of ideas of the future generations. One said: 'Scientific astronomy is the study of shadows of the cosmos, philosophical astronomy is the study of its essences'. I took it deeply into my heart, as both point are equally valid. Yet, it is obvious that a scientist, an astronomer, will rarely reach for philosophical astronomy, yet it is a dire, absolute must for the philosophical astronomer, rejoicing at the wonders of the Numinous Stellar worlds to become at least partially a scientist-astronomer, even if an amateur. I'm greatly indebted to the authors for writing this beautifully composed, concise and precise manual and I just can't wait to expand my knowledge and scope of understanding ever-more.… (meer)

A must read for anyone who is interested in the basics of astronomy. As a non-scientifically inclined mind, most unfortunately I skipped the meandres of equations which took most of my time to go through. I adore philosophy of mathematics and knowledge of the language of maths would be of great help - to my utter regret my education was spoiled in this area. Yet, as a conceptualist and a generalist I benefited greatly from the book at large, in fact it expanded my grasp of physics to a great extent. My interest in astronomy stemmed from studying - sic! Ancient astrological systems. At the Hindi universities physical astronomy is still lectured with Vedic astrology together, as I have heard. Noteworthy to say, this book had everything I needed to understand the scientific dynamics of the Solar System, the Stellar Neighbourhood, methods in 'measuring what can be measured by man-made instruments', optics, astrophotography to the extent I equipped myself with a basic Newtonian 8" reflector and rejoice at every cloudless night. The last chapters bordered on black magic and indeed sometimes remind me of grimoires written in the Medieval Ages, not because of the obscurity, but the greatly uncertain tone of the unexplored that is yet to be explained by cartographers of ideas of the future generations. One said: 'Scientific astronomy is the study of shadows of the cosmos, philosophical astronomy is the study of its essences'. I took it deeply into my heart, as both point are equally valid. Yet, it is obvious that a scientist, an astronomer, will rarely reach for philosophical astronomy, yet it is a dire, absolute must for the philosophical astronomer, rejoicing at the wonders of the Numinous Stellar worlds to become at least partially a scientist-astronomer, even if an amateur. I'm greatly indebted to the authors for writing this beautifully composed, concise and precise manual and I just can't wait to expand my knowledge and scope of understanding ever-more.… (meer)