Astronomy Texts on Gutenberg

[Mak the Night]

History of Astronomy by George Forbes: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8172

Astronomy for Amateurs by Camille Flammarion: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25267

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Read a book by Camille Flammarion,when I was in my early teens.

A very 'poetic' writer- 'flowery prose' even.

Just depends if you like that 19th c/early 20th century style of writing.

Nice bedtime reading.

[Putaendo Patrick]

Full agree with Man or Astroman, I tried Flammarion thirty years ago and couldn't get on with his style. Perhaps it's time to give him another go? All said, however, from a historical point of view, his influence as a populariser of science in the 19th century is undoubted. He was also the founder of the French astronomical society and publisher of an astronomy magazine (the later merged with the society's journal).

George Forbes was quite a heavy weight scientist/engineer working on electricity. He was consultant for a number of big hydroelectric dams around the world (including Niagara Falls), and an influential supporter of electric transport (he advised London Underground). He also wrote a short book on basic astronomy for Boy Scouts which by all accounts is still a sound text.

Thanks, Mak the Night, for the links!

[Mak the Night]

1 hour ago, MAN or ASTROMAN said:

Read a book by Camille Flammarion,when I was in my early teens.

A very 'poetic' writer- 'flowery prose' even.

Just depends if you like that 19th c/early 20th century style of writing.

Nice bedtime reading.

I know he was a big influence on early sci fi, particularly Olaf Stapledon and William Hope Hodgson.  Astronomy for Amateurs is more of an oddity than anything else now I suppose. It is probably great bedtime reading if you need to sleep lol.

[Mak the Night]

35 minutes ago, Putaendo Patrick said:

Full agree with Man or Astroman, I tried Flammarion thirty years ago and couldn't get on with his style. Perhaps it's time to give him another go? All said, however, from a historical point of view, his influence as a populariser of science in the 19th century is undoubted. He was also the founder of the French astronomical society and publisher of an astronomy magazine (the later merged with the society's journal).

George Forbes was quite a heavy weight scientist/engineer working on electricity. He was consultant for a number of big hydroelectric dams around the world (including Niagara Falls), and an influential supporter of electric transport (he advised London Underground). He also wrote a short book on basic astronomy for Boy Scouts which by all accounts is still a sound text.

Thanks, Mak the Night, for the links!

You're welcome. 

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Didn't Flammarion have some somewhat outre ideas on Extra-Terrestrial life?

[Mak the Night]

20 minutes ago, MAN or ASTROMAN said:

Didn't Flammarion have some somewhat outre ideas on Extra-Terrestrial life?

Probably why he wrote proto sci fi. 

[Mak the Night]

Pleasures of the Telescope, by Garrett Serviss

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28752

 

[Mak the Night]

A Text-Book of Astronomy by George C. Comstock

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34834

[calli]

Thanks!

I recently diged up some (free) books via Kindle and was very disappointed that they were just text and no images. Unreadable.

Carsten

[Mak the Night]

You're welcome. You should be able to read ePub books on Windows with the Sumatra PDF reader: http://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader.html

Android tablets or phones can read ePub versions as well. As do most Linux operating systems with their respective native PDF readers.

[calli]

No Problem. I use moon reader pro in Android. Because the kindle books were marked AS coming from Gutenberg i thought all there would have no images. 

Best,

Carsten

 

[Mak the Night]

I've never actually downloaded Kindle files, I just stick with ePub. As long as it works, right? lol

I downloaded an ePub book from Gutenberg recently onto my Nexus 7 and it stated that the pictures probably wouldn't format on phones or tablets:

Yet the pictures all render perfectly well on a 7" tablet!

[laudropb]

They certainly do on my IPad.

[Mak the Night]

Yes, it's odd when websites make claims such as above. Unless it happens to the formatting in some operating systems. Weird lol.