The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler

A wonderful history of astronomy, of human ingenuity and scientific discovery. Koestler’s book was published in 1959, well before the wave of popular science books and is notable for its erudition but also its beautiful writing. As a reviewer states on the back cover, Koestler writes with a passion and intensity as though he was there and intimately involved in events that happened three hundred years ago.

It tells the history of our changing opinions about, and developing knowledge of, the structure and workings of the universe, beginning six thousand years go with those who charted the motion of the stars, coming through the golden age of the sixth century BC in Greece, and then on into 16/17th century Europe. Koestler pays particular and loving attention to his hero, Johannes Kepler, and his principled struggle to discover the laws that governed the motion of the planets.

I read this book over half a century ago and would still say that it is one of the most enjoyable and memorable that I have ever read. It is a story of heroic and dedicated individuals, of the power - and creativity - of the human intellect and of struggles between rationality, perseverance, dogma, power and ignorance.

Thrilling and totally engaging!

[mikeince]

Really useful, will get the books been thinking about the author since hearing The Police album, Ghost in the Machine. Thanks