Synopses & Reviews
The subject matter of
The Dark Night Sky is the universe; its present structure and its past and future. That science is called "cosmology."
Many factual books about astronomy and cosmology exist, but this one seeks also a higher literary goal than an explanation of the status of modern scientific knowledge; indeed, it seeks to share the sense of an adventure that can cause a man to dedicate his life to the pursuit of meaning.
Each of the fifteen chapters is united by four threads running throughout the book: (1) the scientific facts and their interpretations, conventional and controversial (2) the history of cosmology and the men who made the revolutionary steps (3) the impact of these facts and men on the author's growing consciousness, and (4) observations on the role of astronomy in the development of human culture.