Cosmos Books

As part of the "art and imagination" series I was confident that this would be an excellent and informative book. However, I was unprepared to find it the single best work on the topic of the universal spiritual symbolism of the tree that I've ever found.

The essay that makes up the first part of the book is a comprehensive and insightful exposition of the symbolic significance of the tree in virtually every culture from the shamanistic, to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, to the Judeo-Christian and Muslim religions, to the Vedic and Buddhist traditions, to the realm of modern art. The tree is shown to be the universal symbol of the sacred center of the world- the axis mundi. It represents the link between heaven and earth- rooted in the dark unconscious; growing up through the earthly middle world of experience, suffering, and purification; and then branching out into the light of transcendent heaven. To climb the Tree is the perfect image of the path towards enlightenment. Or, conversely, depending on your perspective, you can also see the great Tree as rooted in heaven and growing downward to flower in our lower world.

The truly amazing factor is how this imagery can arise spontaneously in the minds of men and women who have had no contact with these traditions. I can testify to that myself.

The second part of the book is made of plates of illustrations- 165 with 31 in full color. All are provided with interpretive descriptive paragraphs. These images are perhaps more powerful to contemplate than the text.

Though it is out of print, this book is worth the effort and expense to track down for your permanent reference library.

As part of the "art and imagination" series I was confident that this would be an excellent and informative book. However, I was unprepared to find it the single best work on the topic of the universal spiritual symbolism of the tree that I've ever found.

The essay that makes up the first part of the book is a comprehensive and insightful exposition of the symbolic significance of the tree in virtually every culture from the shamanistic, to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, to the Judeo-Christian and Muslim religions, to the Vedic and Buddhist traditions, to the realm of modern art. The tree is shown to be the universal symbol of the sacred center of the world- the axis mundi. It represents the link between heaven and earth- rooted in the dark unconscious; growing up through the earthly middle world of experience, suffering, and purification; and then branching out into the light of transcendent heaven. To climb the Tree is the perfect image of the path towards enlightenment. Or, conversely, depending on your perspective, you can also see the great Tree as rooted in heaven and growing downward to flower in our lower world.

The truly amazing factor is how this imagery can arise spontaneously in the minds of men and women who have had no contact with these traditions. I can testify to that myself.

The second part of the book is made of plates of illustrations- 165 with 31 in full color. All are provided with interpretive descriptive paragraphs. These images are perhaps more powerful to contemplate than the text.

Though it is out of print, this book is worth the effort and expense to track down for your permanent reference library.

This is a factual astronomy book written in the form of a science fiction story.

The narrator, a lone astronaut who meticulously describes his interstellar journey, begins by taking us to the giant black hole in our Milky Way's core. He then orbits the black hole in Cygnus X-1, two neutron stars in separate Crab nebulas, glides into accretion disks forming newborn planets around infant suns in the Orion Nebula, and then flies around the star Betelgeuse, a bloated, unstable, red supergiant.

His spacecraft then departs the Milky Way galaxy and enters the Large Magellanic Cloud where he's almost obliterated by a supernova. Finally, he flies to the Virgo cluster some 60 million light years from Earth where he goes into orbit around the colossal and ferocious black hole at the core of the radio galaxy M87.

This book's author, Mitchell Begelman, describes each cosmic panorama with such vivid, colorful immediacy, you feel like you're really there. I read this book over several nights at bedtime, and after falling asleep, I would instantly find myself dreaming about interstellar space flight.

What more could a book like this offer?

The name of the spacecraft in this story is "Rocinante," which is an inside joke because the author acknowledges borrowing it from the rock group Rush who in 1977 and 1978, wrote two musical scores about a lone astronaut who flew his spacecraft called Rocinante into the black hole Cygnus X-1, only to emerge from the collapsed stellar core as the most powerful god on Mount Olympus.

I wish more authors would write science books using vibrant, creative storytelling. Maybe Begelman could collaborate with a paleontologist to write a time travel chronicle that zips along 550 million years of natural history, from the Cambrian through the Pleistocene.

This is a very interesting book for beginners who are interested in astronomy and want to know more about the universe and the objects in the cosmos. The book starts at earth and ends at probably the farthest object known to humans with descriptions for every planet, moon, star, nebula and galaxies. It also comes with a glossary at the end if you are not sure about the definitions of certain words!!
A must have book in the collection :)

I've read just about every book on Einstein's theories meant for the general reader (as well as not-so-general reader) and this is the clearest, most concise, and best-written book ever done on the subject.

I read this book almost 35 years ago and it's good to see from the other reviews of the older editions of the work that people still know about this terrific little book. It's a little masterpiece of science reportage done during a time (1950) when there were very few talented writers doing this sort of thing (unlike today), and in which there wasn't much demand for science writers in general. Lincoln Barnett was a gifted journalist and he produced a little classic in this book.

College-level collections strong in astronomy yet seeking acquisitions general interest readers would also enjoy would do well to consider professor/astronomer Kimberly Weaver's The Violent Universe: Joyrides Through The X-Ray Cosmos. The history and changing technology of x-ray astronomy is revealed, from its beginnings in the 1950s when the first artificial satellites began transmitting to modern-day x-ray telescopes. Beautiful color images of quasars, black holes and more captured by x-ray satellite Chandra are presented along with a fine explanation of the new worlds and environments discovered through x-ray astronomy. With its emphasis on color photos and science mixed with an easy reading style, The Violent Universe is sure to captivate beyond a readership of astronomy students alone. Mammals Of The National Parks: Conserving America's Wildlife And Parklands by John H. Burde & George A. Feldhamer provides a gorgeous survey of American wildlife and parks alike, using the history of each park to provide links to related conservation issues in its establishment, and tips on sighting the animals to be found in the park. John Burde is a forestry professor, Geldhamer is chair of environmental studies and a zoology professor at the same Southern Illinois University Press: their joined expertise lends a fine authority and diversity to a book packed with color photos.

This is a beautiful book outlining the rich culture and tradition of Indian weddings. As a wedding photographer, I found this book very helpful in understanding the customs that I document on and before the wedding day celebration. I would highly recomend this book.

From book's back cover:
"Waitangi, the Treaty House and its environs, each year becomes the focus for New Zealanders' reflection about their nation's past and its future. Its Bay of Islands location has long been the subject of academic enquiry.

Now, Peter Shaw has brought together the fruits of this research in a highly readable way. He has plotted the history of this area from earliest times: the people and events in Maori oral and written tradition; the first contacts between Maori and European; the establishment of the first settlements by missionaries, whalers and traders. In 1833 came James Busby, the British Resident whose simple house, pre-fabricated in Sydney, has assumed such national importance.

Here on 6 February 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between Maori chiefs and representatives of the British Government. Peter Shaw vividly describes these momentous events and traces the often precarious fortunes of the Treaty House to the present day.

Waitangi is lavishly illustrated wqith informative maps, paintings and rarely seen historical photographs. It includes plans of the work done by various owners and architects to this building of major historic importance. Peter Hallett completes the visual record with superb colour photographs of the house and the land at Waitangi as they appear today."

Lydia Csato Gasman's brilliant and original contributions to Picasso scholarship are presented again in her newest book "War and the Cosmos in Picasso's Texts (2007)." Dr. Gasman elucidates, with talmudic precision, Picasso's diaries, notes, rare Cosmographical Diagrams, and WWII writings of his friends and contemporaries, (Malraux, Bataille, Penrose, for example), in relation to the airborne war of WWII that began with the blitzkreig of the Basque town of Guernika. Through Gasman, the reader will enter Picasso's unparalleled mystical imagination and interpretations of evil which culminatated in his extraordinary range of masterpieces including Guernica and the Weeping Women series. Lydia Gasman's book reads like an intense diary; it is a work of high scholarship essential for any reader of Picasso's work and for those interested in the philosophical intertwinings between war and art. Gasman's essay for the Guggenheim Museum's Picasso and the War Years: 1937-1945 is expanded in this major text. Gasman is a must read!
Luanne McKinnon, Bruce A. Beal Director of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College

Not to miss! Highly recommended for students of all ages. This is an encyclopedic gem which -- all in one set -- includes original material from hundreds of major contributions to the field of physics.

The World of Physics, volumes 1 through 3, provides a thorough introduction to physics in the context of world history, in an easy-to-follow biographical format which makes even the most difficult material accessible to the general reader.

While this set cannot itself provide a physics education, it is a thorough and appealing introductory resource which can enable students to understand something of the personality of each contributor, the historic context of each contribution, and the nature and impact of the contribution itself. Coincidentally, this set also provides a refreshing perspective on the development of civilization which students of history would also appreciate.

By way of introduction to each listed contribution, Jefferson Hane Weaver provides biographical information for each contributor (philosopher, mathematician, physicist, or other specialist). These biographical sketches typically include personal information and historical context. Following each introduction is the text (or excerpt) of the original contribution itself.

The general reader will have no difficulty following and making use of the biographical sketches. The serious student will find ample challenge in the excerpts from original research results (or in some cases, other documentation such as the contributors' explanatory writings, for example).

Each volume is around 900 pages. Among the 61 contributions listed in Volume II, The Einstein Universe and the Bohr Atom, are biographical sketches of, and original contributions by the following individuals (and many more):
-- Marie Curie
-- Ernest Rutherford
-- Enrico Fermi
-- Henri Poincare
-- Albert Michelson and Edward Morley
-- Albert Einstein
-- Georg Riemann
-- Ernst Mach
-- Max Planck
-- Niels Bohr
-- Erwin Schrodinger
-- Werner Heisenberg
(and so forth)

This is an encyclopedic work which belongs in every library.

Very nicely done.