American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World (Paperback)

from MM_Jones

An interesting look at an historical event that urges comparison to current events. The setting is a rare celestial occurrence, the 1878 total solar eclipse across the American West. David Baron captures the feeling of the era and portrays some individuals involved. The narrow focus allows for si...

from themulhern

This book describes a single scientific quest, the study and observation of a mid 18th century total solar eclipse in the US. It discusses the context of the quest, the history and motivations of its participants, as well as the consequences of the outcome of the quest. Rather than a monolithic t...

from WeeziesBooks

The world was spellbound by the recent Eclipse and that made this book, "American Eclipse" timely. I both enjoyed and was sometimes disappointed by the presentation. Torn when listening to the audiobook between boredom and fascination. I was committed to continuing. The historical information on ...

from quaintlittlehead

This book was an interesting look at how the total eclipse of 1878 drew the attention of a number of American scientists, but I felt that it was more about trying to provide insight into those individuals than about the eclipse itself. Ninety percent of the book is describing the background of th...

from bobbieharv

I bought this book totally because I heard Baron read the following paragraph on NPR: "As a science journalist, I thought I knew what to expect. For 174 seconds, the blue sky would blacken, stars would appear, and the sun would manifest its ethereal outer atmosphere, the solar corona. What I had ...