Paperback, 263 pages, (April 2001) Usually ships within 24 hours. Amazon Review
From the time of Aristotle until the late 18th century,
meteorology meant the study of "meteors" - spectacular objects
in the skies beneath the moon, which included everything from
shooting stars to hailstorms. In "Reading the Skies", Vladimir
Jankovic traces the history of this meteorological tradition in
Enlightenment Britain, examining its scientific and cultural
significance. He interweaves classical traditions, folk/popular
beliefs and practices, and the increasingly quantitative
approaches of urban university men to understanding the
wonders of the skies. He places special emphasis on the role
that detailed meteorological observations played in natural
history and chorography, or local geography; in religious and
political debates; and in agriculture. Drawing on a number of
archival sources, including correspondence and weather
diaries, as well as contemporary pamphlets, tracts, and other
printed sources reporting prodigious phenomena in the skies,
this book should interest historians of science, Britain, and the
environment.
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