Galileo and 400 years of Telescopic Astronomy Authors: Peter Grego and David Mannion Publisher: Springer ISBN: 978-1-4419-5570-8 Price: £ 26.99 (Pb) 314pp
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I was intrigued by the title of this book from the minute I requested it for review, and I’m certainly glad I picked it up! Galileo and 400 Years of Telescopic Astronomy is the story of science and civilisation, retold for a twenty-first century audience. Well known authors Peter Grego and David Mannion have teamed up to produce this spellbinding work, illustrating how astronomy has shaped human society from its inglorious inception some 30,000 years ago to the present day.

Central to Grego and Mannion’s theme is humanity’s predilection for measuring things and how these activities have improved our lives. Tracing a long line from Neolithic, pre-classical and classical civilisation, as well as the contributions of the Islamic scholars after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, the authors set the scene for the extraordinary achievements of the Renaissance Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei, who in a series of 14 or so experiments cast off the fuzzy thinking of classical antiquity and replaced it with refreshingly new (and dare I say correct) interpretations of how the world works.

What makes this book unique is its accessibility. Instead of the usual lofty discourses seen in other books, the authors warmly encourage you to perform your own experiments. For example, I love the idea of improving on GalileoÕs measurement of the acceleration from gravity by recording a falling body with your mobile phone!

What does the future hold? Will Mankind venture to the stars? Will humanity really encounter advanced extraterrestrial civilizations? What sorts of habitats will we seek out in our inevitable expansion into space? Grego and Mannion paint an insightful picture that, rightly or wrongly, wholeheartedly deserves a read. This is a great book and well worth the modest price tag

Neil English