{"product_id":"comets-popular-culture-and-the-birth-of-modern-cosmology-9780691009254","title":"Comets Popular Culture and the Birth of Modern","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePresents a case study that challenges the view that rationalism was at odds with popular belief in the development of scientific theories. This book shows that until the seventeenth century, all members of society dreaded comets as heaven-sent portents of plague, flood, civil disorder, and other calamities.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Comet literature is extensive but, to the best of my knowledge no previous work has quite the grasp of this one. There are some books dealing with restricted subjects that seem certain to become standard references for many years to come. This is one, and it should be in every serious scientific library.\"--Patrick Moore, The Times Higher Education Supplement \"A work of serious scholarship that is rich in fascinating material... Judiciously selected quotations and fifty three illustrations, some exceptionally striking, add to the pleasure of reading this very engaging story, which is filled with surprises, ironies, and fresh insights.\"--Michael J. Crowe, Physics Today \"Beautifully illustrated, full of fascinating quotations, and blessed with 126 pages of notes and references. I enjoyed it immensely.\"--David W. Hughes, Observatory \"[This book] is accurate, comprehensive, and should make an important contribution to the history of astronomy.\"--Donald Yeomans, Sky \u0026amp; Telescope \"This book is not a general history of comets... [T]he author is concerned primarily with the perception of comets throughout history. It is a scholarly well-illustrated and accurate work... [T]he author does a fine job.\"--Donald Yeomans, Nature \"Every now and again a scholar comes along who successively maps out a novel idea, and does so in a compelling way. This well-written book is assuredly one such occasion and I recommend it to every scholar, no matter what their discipline.\"--Noel Grey, The European Legacy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv  INTRODUCTION Shared Culture, Separate Spaces 3  High and Low Culture 5  The Verbal and Visual in Popular Culture 10  The Culture of Comets 12  PART ONE: SIGNS OF THE TIMES 15  CHAPTER I Ancient Signs 17  Physical Theories of Comets 17  Tokens of Doom 20  Political Messages and Means 24  CHAPTER II Monsters and the Messiah 27  Popular and Patristic Views of Comets 27  Monsters and Their Messages 30  Monstrous Comets in Scripture 31  Star of Bethlehem, Herald of Judgment 38  Time of the End 46  Reformation in Religion 47  CHAPTER III Divination 51  Color 51  Conjunctions 53  Passage through Zodiac and Prominent Constellations 53  Astrological Houses and Cardinal Orientations 56  Pointing of Tail 58  Position of Nucleus 58  Shapes and Sizes 58  Motion 60  Duration 61  Historical Induction 65  CHAPTER IV Portents and Politics 66  In Streets and Alehouses 66  God on Their Side 68  Prophecies and Propaganda 70  PART TWO: NATURAL CAUSES 89  CHAPTER V From Natural Signs to Proximate Causes 91  New Attitudes toward Nature and the Recovery of Classical Science 91  Aristotle and Terrestrial Corruption 92  Ptolemy and the Power of Mars 94  Stepping-Stones from Symptoms to Causes 96  Critics and Strategies 99  CHAPTER VI The Decline of Cometary Divination 104  Astronomical Reforms 104  Epistemological Critics 114  Shift in Priorities and Signs of Decline 117  Social Reasons for the Decline 123  PART THREE: WORLD REFORMATION 131  CHAPTER VII Comets, Transmutations, and World Reform in Newton's Thought 133  Celestial Mechanics of Comets 135  Pristine Truths and Political Corruption 138  Transmutations and Perpetual Interchange 142  Fire, Water, and a Heavenly Physiology 148  \"Revolutions in the Heavenly Bodies\" 149  Comets, Teleology, and Newton's Appropriation of Comet Lore 153  CHAPTER VIII Halley's Comet Theory, Noah's Flood, and the End of the World 156  Interest in Orbits 156  Halley's Theory of the Deluge 162  The End of the World 164  The Benefits of Comets 166  The Scientific Response 167   Ecclesiastical Criticism 168  Halley's Alleged Freethinking in Political Context 171  The Satirists' Barbs 174  PART FOUR: COMET LORE AND COSMOGONY 179  CHAPTER IX Refueling the Sun and Planets 181  Circulation of Vital Matter 181  Critics 183  Stoking the Stellar Fires 186  CHAPTER X Revolution and Evolution within the Heavens 188  Come Hell or High Water 189  From Creation to Cosmogony 198  CONCLUDING REMARKS Popular Culture and Elite Science 216  APPENDIX Recent Resurgence of Cometary Catastrophism 222  NOTES 225  BIBLIOGRAPHY 309  INDEX 353","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49917776658775,"sku":"9780691009254","price":42.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780691009254.jpg?v=1738449154","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/comets-popular-culture-and-the-birth-of-modern-cosmology-9780691009254","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}