The Golden Atlas

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The Golden Atlas

Author : Edward Brooke-Hitching
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 147116683X
Total Pages : 459 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (711 download)

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Book Synopsis The Golden Atlas by : Edward Brooke-Hitching

Download or read book The Golden Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Stunning...divine' Stephen Fry ‘A fabulous book, good enough to eat with a spoon! Marvellous’ John Lloyd, creator of QI ‘Perfect for the armchair adventurer historian, this is a rich visual exploration of some of the most beautiful charts ever created’ National Geographic 'Introduces us to a whole different way of looking at maps. Great illustrations, most engaging - the author is just a mine of information' Simon Mayo's Books of the Year The Golden Atlas is a spectacular visual history of exploration and cartography, a treasure chest of adventures from the chronicles of global discovery, illustrated with a selection of the most beautiful maps ever created. The book reveals how the world came to be known, featuring a magnificent gallery of exceptionally rare hand-coloured antique maps, paintings and engravings, many of which can only be found in the author's collection. Arranged chronologically, the reader is taken on a breathtaking expedition through Ancient Babylonian geography and Marco Polo's journey to the Mongol Khan on to buccaneers ransacking the Caribbean and the voyages of seafarers such as Captain Cook and fearless African pathfinders. Their stories are told in an engaging and compelling style, bringing vividly to life a motley collection of heroic explorers, treasure-hunters and death-dealing villains - all of them accompanied by eye-grabbing illustrations from rare maps, charts and manuscripts. The Golden Atlas takes you back to a world of darkness and peril, placing you on storm-lashed ships, frozen wastelands and the shores of hostile territories to see how the lines were drawn to form the shape of the modern world. The author's previous book, The Phantom Atlas, was a critically acclaimed international bestseller, described by Jonathan Ross as 'a spectacular, enjoyable and eye-opening read' and this new book is sure to follow suit.

The Sky Atlas

Author : Edward Brooke-Hitching
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN 13 : 1797202197
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (972 download)

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Book Synopsis The Sky Atlas by : Edward Brooke-Hitching

Download or read book The Sky Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2020-02-25 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sky Atlas unveils some of the most beautiful maps and charts ever created during humankind's quest to map the skies above us. This richly illustrated treasury showcases the finest examples of celestial cartography—a glorious art often overlooked by modern map books—as well as medieval manuscripts, masterpiece paintings, ancient star catalogs, antique instruments, and other 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, ancient aliens, mythological animals, and rampaging spirits. • Packed with celestial maps, illustrations, and stories of places, people, and creatures that different cultures throughout history have observed or imagined in the heavens • Readers are 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. • A gorgeous book that delights stargazers and map lovers alike With thrilling stories and gorgeous artwork, this remarkable atlas explores our fascination with the sky across time and cultures to form an extraordinary chronicle of cosmic imagination and discovery. The Sky Atlas is a wonderful book for map lovers, history buffs, and stargazers, but also for those who are intrigued by the many wonderful and bizarre ways in which humans have sought to understand the cosmos and our place in it. • A unique map book that expands beyond the terrestrial and into the celestial • A wonderful book for map lovers, obscure-history fans, mythology buffs, and astrology and astronomy lovers • Great for those who enjoyed What We See in the Stars: An Illustrated Tour of the Night Sky by Kelsey Oseid, Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski, and Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will by Judith Schalansky

The Devil's Atlas

Author : Edward Brooke-Hitching
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1398503568
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (985 download)

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Book Synopsis The Devil's Atlas by : Edward Brooke-Hitching

Download or read book The Devil's Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-10-14 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Very beautiful and illuminating' Mariella Frostrup Edward Brooke-Hitching, author of the international bestseller The Phantom Atlas delivers an atlas unlike any other. The Devil’s Atlas is an illustrated guide to the heavens, hells and lands of the dead as imagined throughout history by cultures and religions around the world. Packed with colourful maps, paintings and captivating stories, the reader is taken on a compelling tour of the geography, history and supernatural populations of the afterworlds of cultures around the globe. Whether it’s the thirteen heavens of the Aztecs, the Chinese Taoist netherworld of ‘hungry ghosts’, or the ‘Hell of the Flaming Rooster’ of Japanese Buddhist mythology (in which sinners are tormented by an enormous fire-breathing cockerel), The Devil’s Atlas gathers together a wonderful variety of beliefs and representations of life after death. These afterworlds are illustrated with an unprecedented collection of images, ranging from the marvellous ‘infernal cartography’ of the European Renaissance artists attempting to map the structured Hell described by Dante and the decorative Islamic depictions of Paradise to the various efforts to map the Garden of Eden and the spiritual vision paintings of nineteenth-century mediums. The Devil’s Atlas accompanies beautiful images with a highly readable trove of surprising facts and narratives, from the more inventive torture methods awaiting sinners, to colourful eccentric catalogues of demons, angels and assorted death deities. A traveller’s guide to worlds unseen, The Devil’s Atlas is a fascinating study of the boundless capacity of human invention, a visual chronicle of man’s hopes, fears and fantasies of what lies beyond.

The Phantom Atlas

Author : Edward Brooke-Hitching
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN 13 : 145216844X
Total Pages : 263 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (521 download)

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Book Synopsis The Phantom Atlas by : Edward Brooke-Hitching

Download or read book The Phantom Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the mysteries within ancient maps — Where exploration and mythology meet This richly illustrated book collects and explores the colorful histories behind a striking range of real antique maps that are all in some way a little too good to be true. Mysteries within ancient maps: The Phantom Atlas is a guide to the world not as it is, but as it was imagined to be. It's a world of ghost islands, invisible mountain ranges, mythical civilizations, ship-wrecking beasts, and other fictitious features introduced on maps and atlases through mistakes, misunderstanding, fantasies, and outright lies. Where exploration and mythology meet: Author Edward Brooke-Hitching is a map collector, author, writer for the popular BBC Television program QI and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He lives in a dusty heap of old maps and books in London investigating the places where exploration and mythology meet. Cartography’s greatest phantoms: The Phantom Atlas uses gorgeous atlas images as springboards for tales of deranged buccaneers, seafaring monks, heroes, swindlers, and other amazing stories behind cartography's greatest phantoms. If you are a fan of this popular genre and a reader of books such as Prisoners of Geography, Atlas of Ancient Rome, Atlas Obscura, What If, Book of General Ignorance, or Thing Explainer, your will love The Phantom Atlas

The Emerald Atlas

Author : John Stephens
Publisher : Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN 13 : 0375899553
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (758 download)

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Book Synopsis The Emerald Atlas by : John Stephens

Download or read book The Emerald Atlas written by John Stephens and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A strong . . . trilogy, invoking just a little Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events along the way."—Realms of Fantasy Siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma have been in one orphanage after another for the last ten years, passed along like lost baggage. Yet these unwanted children are more remarkable than they could possibly imagine. Ripped from their parents as babies, they are being protected from a horrible evil of devastating power, an evil they know nothing about. Until now. Before long, Kate, Michael, and Emma are on a journey through time to dangerous and secret corners of the world . . . a journey of allies and enemies, of magic and mayhem. And—if an ancient prophesy is true—what they do can change history, and it's up to them to set things right. "A new Narnia for the tween set."—The New York Times "[A] fast-paced, fully imagined fantasy."—Publishers Weekly "Echoes of other popular fantasy series, from "Harry Potter" to the "Narnia" books, are easily found, but debut author Stephens has created a new and appealing read . . ."—School Library Journal, Starred Review

The California Field Atlas

Author : Obi Kaufmann
Publisher : Heyday Books
ISBN 13 : 9781597144025
Total Pages : 552 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis The California Field Atlas by : Obi Kaufmann

Download or read book The California Field Atlas written by Obi Kaufmann and published by Heyday Books. This book was released on 2017-09 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[A] gorgeously illustrated compendium."--Sunset This lavishly illustrated atlas takes readers off the beaten path and outside normal conceptions of California, revealing its myriad ecologies, topographies, and histories in exquisite maps and trail paintings. Based on decades of exploring the backcountry of the Golden State, artist-adventurer Obi Kaufmann blends science and art to illuminate the multifaceted array of living, connected systems like no book has done before. Kaufmann depicts layer after layer of the natural world, delighting in the grand scale and details alike. The effect is staggeringly beautiful: presented alongside California divvied into its fifty-eight counties, for example, we consider California made up of dancing tectonic plates, of watersheds, of wildflower gardens. Maps are enhanced by spirited illustrations of wildlife, keys that explain natural phenomena, and a clear-sighted but reverential text. Full of character and color, a bit larger than life, The California Field Atlas is the ultimate road trip companion and love letter to a place.

The Madman's Library

Author : Edward Brooke-Hitching
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1471166929
Total Pages : 373 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (711 download)

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Book Synopsis The Madman's Library by : Edward Brooke-Hitching

Download or read book The Madman's Library written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-10-01 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK * 'Anybody who loves the printed word will be bowled over by this amusing, erudite, beautiful book about books. It is in every way a triumph. One of the loveliest books to have been published for many, many years' Alexander McCall Smith 'Quite simply the best gift for any book lover this year, or perhaps ever' Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times Literary Book of the Year 'An utterly joyous journey into the deepest eccentricities of the human mind… The most cheering, fascinating book I’ve read for ages' Guardian From the author of the critically acclaimed and globally successful The Phantom Atlas, The Golden Atlas and The Sky Atlas comes a stunning new work. The Madman’s Library is a unique, beautifully illustrated journey through the entire history of literature, delving into its darkest territories to hunt down the very strangest books ever written, and uncover the fascinating stories behind their creation. This is a madman’s library of eccentric and extraordinary volumes from around the world, many of which have been completely forgotten. Books written in blood and books that kill, books of the insane and books that hoaxed the globe, books invisible to the naked eye and books so long they could destroy the Universe, books worn into battle, books of code and cypher whose secrets remain undiscovered… and a few others that are just plain weird. From the 605-page Qur'an written in the blood of Saddam Hussein, through the gorgeously decorated 15th-century lawsuit filed by the Devil against Jesus, to the lost art of binding books with human skin, every strand of strangeness imaginable (and many inconceivable) has been unearthed and bound together for a unique and richly illustrated collection ideal for every book-lover.

The Golden Bell

Author : Tamar Sachs
Publisher : Kar-Ben Publishing ™
ISBN 13 : 1541548647
Total Pages : 24 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (415 download)

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Book Synopsis The Golden Bell by : Tamar Sachs

Download or read book The Golden Bell written by Tamar Sachs and published by Kar-Ben Publishing ™. This book was released on 2019-02-01 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In biblical times, Itamar, the tailor's son, has carefully carried the High Priest's robe—with its little golden bells sewn onto the hem—home for his father to mend. But one day, one of the bells is missing! When nobody turns in the lost bell at the Claiming Stone, Itamar wonders if the tiny bell will ever be found. A surprise ending brings the story into modern times when an archaeologist finds a golden bell at a Jerusalem dig.

Infinite City

Author : Rebecca Solnit
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520262492
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis Infinite City by : Rebecca Solnit

Download or read book Infinite City written by Rebecca Solnit and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2010-11-29 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What makes a place? Rebecca Solnit reinvents the traditional atlas, searching for layers of meaning & connections of experience across San Francisco.

Virtual Cities

Author : Konstantinos Dimopoulos
Publisher : Unbound Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1783528508
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (835 download)

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Book Synopsis Virtual Cities by : Konstantinos Dimopoulos

Download or read book Virtual Cities written by Konstantinos Dimopoulos and published by Unbound Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-12 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtual cities are places of often-fractured geographies, impossible physics, outrageous assumptions and almost untamed imaginations given digital structure. This book, the first atlas of its kind, aims to explore, map, study and celebrate them. To imagine what they would be like in reality. To paint a lasting picture of their domes, arches and walls. From metropolitan sci-fi open worlds and medieval fantasy towns to contemporary cities and glimpses of gothic horror, author and urban planner Konstantinos Dimopoulos and visual artist Maria Kallikaki have brought to life over forty game cities. Together, they document the deep and exhilarating history of iconic gaming landscapes through richly illustrated commentary and analysis. Virtual Cities transports us into these imaginary worlds, through cities that span over four decades of digital history across literary and gaming genres. Travel to fantasy cities like World of Warcraft’s Orgrimmar and Grim Fandango’s Rubacava; envision what could be in the familiar cities of Assassin’s Creed’s London and Gabriel Knight’s New Orleans; and steal a glimpse of cities of the future, in Final Fantasy VII’s Midgar and Half-Life 2’s City 17. Within, there are many more worlds to discover – each formed in the deepest corners of the imagination, their immense beauty and complexity astounding for artists, game designers, world builders and, above all, anyone who plays and cares about video games.

Picturing America

Author : Stephen J. Hornsby
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022638618X
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (263 download)

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Book Synopsis Picturing America by : Stephen J. Hornsby

Download or read book Picturing America written by Stephen J. Hornsby and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-03-23 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Instructive, amusing, colorful—pictorial maps have been used and admired since the first medieval cartographer put pen to paper depicting mountains and trees across countries, people and objects around margins, and sea monsters in oceans. More recent generations of pictorial map artists have continued that traditional mixture of whimsy and fact, combining cartographic elements with text and images and featuring bold and arresting designs, bright and cheerful colors, and lively detail. In the United States, the art form flourished from the 1920s through the 1970s, when thousands of innovative maps were mass-produced for use as advertisements and decorative objects—the golden age of American pictorial maps. Picturing America is the first book to showcase this vivid and popular genre of maps. Geographer Stephen J. Hornsby gathers together 158 delightful pictorial jewels, most drawn from the extensive collections of the Library of Congress. In his informative introduction, Hornsby outlines the development of the cartographic form, identifies several representative artists, describes the process of creating a pictorial map, and considers the significance of the form in the history of Western cartography. Organized into six thematic sections, Picturing America covers a vast swath of the pictorial map tradition during its golden age, ranging from “Maps to Amuse” to “Maps for War.” Hornsby has unearthed the most fascinating and visually striking maps the United States has to offer: Disney cartoon maps, college campus maps, kooky state tourism ads, World War II promotional posters, and many more. This remarkable, charming volume’s glorious full-color pictorial maps will be irresistible to any map lover or armchair traveler.

Cloud Atlas

Author : David Mitchell
Publisher : Vintage Canada
ISBN 13 : 0307373576
Total Pages : 596 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis Cloud Atlas by : David Mitchell

Download or read book Cloud Atlas written by David Mitchell and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks | Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize A postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in twenty-first-century fiction, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending, philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction as profound as it is playful. In this groundbreaking novel, an influential favorite among a new generation of writers, Mitchell explores with daring artistry fundamental questions of reality and identity. Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. . . . Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter. . . . From there we jump to the West Coast in the 1970s and a troubled reporter named Luisa Rey, who stumbles upon a web of corporate greed and murder that threatens to claim her life. . . . And onward, with dazzling virtuosity, to an inglorious present-day England; to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok; and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history. But the story doesn’t end even there. The narrative then boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky. As wild as a videogame, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.

Weight

Author : Jeanette Winterson
Publisher : Vintage Canada
ISBN 13 : 0307367363
Total Pages : 170 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis Weight by : Jeanette Winterson

Download or read book Weight written by Jeanette Winterson and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2010-11-05 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Atlas and Heracles Atlas knows how it feels to carry the weight of the world; but why, he asks himself, does it have to be carried at all? In Weight — visionary and inventive, yet completely believable and relevant to the questions we ask ourselves every day — Winterson’s skill in turning the familiar on its head to show us a different truth is put to stunning effect. When I was asked to choose a myth to write about, I realized I had chosen already. The story of Atlas holding up the world was in my mind before the telephone call had ended. If the call had not come, perhaps I would never have written the story, but when the call did come, that story was waiting to be written. Rewritten. The recurring language motif of Weight is “I want to tell the story again.” My work is full of Cover Versions. I like to take stories we think we know and record them differently. In the retelling comes a new emphasis or bias, and the new arrangement of the key elements demands that fresh material be injected into the existing text. Weight moves far away from the simple story of Atlas’s punishment and his temporary relief when Hercules takes the world off his shoulders. I wanted to explore loneliness, isolation, responsibility, burden, and freedom too, because my version has a very particular end not found elsewhere. —from Jeanette Winterson’s Foreword to Weight

An Atlas of Tolkien

Author : David Day
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1626864934
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (268 download)

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Book Synopsis An Atlas of Tolkien by : David Day

Download or read book An Atlas of Tolkien written by David Day and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-10 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes index and "Chronology of Battles of the War of the Ring" (page 255).

My First Atlas of the 50 States

Author : Georgia Beth
Publisher : QEB Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0711242895
Total Pages : 67 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (112 download)

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Book Synopsis My First Atlas of the 50 States by : Georgia Beth

Download or read book My First Atlas of the 50 States written by Georgia Beth and published by QEB Publishing. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this bright and colorful atlas, journey through all of America's 50 states, from Alabama to Wyoming, to learn what makes each one special—featuring each state's most iconic animals, most amazing natural wonders, and most famous landmarks. Go sight-seeing in California to find the famous Hollywood sign, journey through the mountains in Idaho to spot a black bear, and venture north in New York state to view the beautiful Niagara Falls. There's so much to see! Every state has its own dedicated page containing feature boxes and "Fast Facts" panels, while a map of the full country shows how each state fits into the USA. This exciting first atlas engages young readers, encouraging them to learn about their own country—a must for any young citizen's book shelf.

The Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World

Author : Simon Adams
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780753416648
Total Pages : 48 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (166 download)

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Book Synopsis The Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World by : Simon Adams

Download or read book The Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World written by Simon Adams and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE KINGFISHER ATLAS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD features 17 beautiful, hand-illustrated maps and packed with fascinating information to feed children's interest in the ancient world. Clear, accessible text introduces the civilisation and its history before going on to describe interesting details about that culture's people and the objects and buildings they have left behind. Full-colour photographs add to each spread's appeal. In addition to the main spreads, a small number of feature spreads throughout the book focus more closely on a well-known civilisation, allowing readers to build on their interest and find out more about ever-popular topics such as the ancient Egyptians and imperial Rome.

The Sky Atlas

Author : Edward Brooke-Hitching
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1471178943
Total Pages : 417 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (711 download)

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Book Synopsis The Sky Atlas by : Edward Brooke-Hitching

Download or read book The Sky Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-10-17 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the enormous international success of The Phantom Atlas and The Golden Atlas, Edward Brooke-Hitching's stunning new book unveils some of the most beautiful 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, mythological 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 contextualise the scale of these achievements for the general reader.