What is the cosmos? How did it come into being? How are we
related to it, and what is our place in it? The Book of the Cosmos
assembles for the first time in one volume the great minds of the
Western world who have considered these questions from biblical
times to the present. It is a book of many authors-Aristotle,
Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Galileo are here, of course, in all their
genius, but so are Edgar Allan Poe, Annie Jump Cannon (a "human
computer" and lyrical classifier of stars), and Sir Martin Rees,
who proposes an "ensemble of universes" of which ours happens to be
among the most interesting.In these pages the universe is made and
unmade in a variety of configurations; it spins along on
superstrings, teems with intelligent life, and could end without
warning. The Book of the Cosmos provides a thrilling read to set
the heart racing and the mind soaring.