Books - Johannes Kepler

Product Description:
To Jung, synchonicity is a meaningful coincidence in time, a psychic factor which is independant of space and time. This revolutionary concept of synchronicity both challenges and complements the physicist's classical view of casualty. It also forces is to a basic reconsideration of the meaning of chance, probability, coincidence and the singular events in our lives.



Customer Review: Synchronicity Explained:
"Synchronicity An Acausal Connecting Principle" is a must read for those interested in the subject of synchronicity. At 115 pages this book is deceiving at first glance as it appears to be a quick read. However, it is difficult to get through, not because it is uninteresting - but really because it is fascinating and much of the thought in this work is new and is counter to traditional thinking. The translation is good, although it would be nice to have a new simplified version released which "dumbs down" some of the complex concepts. A fascinating book and well worth the time and effort.

Customer Review: The devil in the details:
It's way too hard to read. If you have the time to really dive in and stay it, I'll probably be interesting...but for me, it was too technical.

Customer Review: fabulous:
This book makes me look at the whole universe in a new way. Still, it is early psychology, and each person must take what is important for themselves. Parts of it deal with analyzing statistics, and while I understand why, I don't care - i.e., I just want to eat the pancakes, I don't want to read the recipe. That said, the book spoke to me in all good ways.

Customer Review: Thoughtful, insightful essay:
C G. Jung here tackles the question of "meaningful coincidences" whether omens, divination (the I Ching, ESP, and the occult (he cites Albertus Magnus) and concludes that there is objective evidence for subjective control over the universe. This fundamental issue of subjective control is strikingly at odds with natural sciences and falls outside the bounds of scientific inquiry.

He then outlines a theory which is both similar to and somewhat beyond later developments (it shares non-local elements with Bell's Theorem, for example, but adds semantic elements).

Jung's theory also seems to be to be both a precursor and a missing piece of semiotic theories of the occult (which have recently become much more accepted in anthropological schools of thought). Because both of these suggest inherent meaning rather than mere imitation, they are quite compatible both in theory and practice.

All in all, I would highly recommend this essay. It may be dated in a few ways, but it lays groundwork for a lot of what has come later in a way which is complimentary with later developments rather than outmoded by them.

Customer Review: Well-Received:
This product was delivered in a timely manner and was just as the description had listed... Positive purchase experience.

Product Description:
Foreword by David Koch of NASA's Kepler Mission

Isaac Newton said that if he had seen farther than others, it was because he was standing on the shoulders of giants: Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei, and Johannes Kepler. James A. Connor focuses on one of those giants in his fascinating and largely untold story of the "Protestant Galileo," Johannes Kepler. Set against the backdrop of the witchcraft trial of his mother, Kepler's Witch vividly brings to life the tidal forces of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, submerging us into these turbulent times, revealing not only the surprisingly spiritual nature of early modern science, but Kepler's role as a neglected hero of conscience.

The doorway into Kepler's life and times begins with the sensational witchcraft trial of his elderly mother, Katharina, an eccentric woman who, like Kepler, was too smart for the world she lived in. The story is filled with crooked judges, sadistic bailiffs, and nasty neighbors bent on the destruction of this single, half-mad old woman. Using never-before translated transcripts of the trial, Connor explains that witches in the seventeenth century were the terrorists of their day. Tragically, thousands of people -- mostly women -- had gone to the stake by the time of Katharina Kepler's trial.

Johannes Kepler's life thus became a pilgrimage, a spiritual journey into the modern world through disease and horrible injustice on the eve of Europe's terrible and bloody Thirty Years' War. Kepler was concerned with more than scientific discoveries and achievement -- he fought for peace and reconciliation between the Christian churches, even when it nearly cost him his life. Exiled twice by Catholic princes and excommunicated by his fellow Lutherans, he was unbowed in his scientific and moral vision.

Besides the witchcraft trial records and testimonies, Connor has translated many of Kepler's diary entries and correspondence into English for the first time. With a great respect for the history of these times and the life of this man, Connor's unforgettable story illuminates Kepler, a man of science, as well as Kepler, a man of uncommon faith and courage.



Customer Review: Kepler's Witch:
The last biography of Kepler I read was Koestler's _The Watershed_ and while it was fascinating it did not give me the background in the theology and the history of the period that Connor's book did. The strongest point of _Kepler's Witch_ is the insight into the religious motives behind Kepler's work and the difficulty Kepler had with the Lutheran religious authorities. Connor believes it was, in part, his refusal to take sides on the increasingly polarized religious positions of the Lutherans and Roman Catholics leading up to the Thirty Years War that led to the prosecution of his mother for witchcraft.

Kepler lived in difficult times. Connor evokes this setting well. Amidst political and theological intrigue, diseases that killed half his children before adulthood, open warfare that forced him to move from city to city, and perpetual financial hardship he still believed in the harmony of the cosmos and that led him to his scientific discoveries.

The other reviewers are correct though that the structure of the book is sometimes annoying. Each chapter opens with a long translation of a letter by Kepler. This is good. However in the chapter that follows we get the history leading up to and including events in the letter, so Connor often quotes parts of the letter back as if it was the first time the reader has heard of the events. Likewise the chapters cover chronologically overlapping material, so Connor sometime repeats verbatim descriptions of the events recounted in an earlier chapter though the context is different. The effect is jarring -- like watching a movie and you realize you are hearing the same dialogue twice. These were not major flaws, but one wonders if an editor ought to intervened and smoothed this out.

Overall, the book does work despite some minor repetitiveness. It gave me a much better understanding of the times Kepler lived in and that alone makes the book essential reading.

Customer Review: Holy Geometry:
In addition to being one of history's most influential scientists, Johannes Kepler was also a man of faith, and that is mostly the focus of this religiously focused biography. When Kepler was revolutionizing astronomy and mathematics, he also had to navigate through times of great religious strife in Europe. Here James Connor focuses on the challenges faced by Kepler as a devout Lutheran in a land of Catholics, while fighting to maintain his influence and connections during the upheavals of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. An associated story here (though you might think it was the main story because of the book's title) was the trial of Kepler's mother for witchcraft, and we learn more about how trumped-up and unjust charges of diabolical arts were used during those times to get rid of uppity or unpopular women. James Connor does a good all-around job of describing the political and religious history of the times in which Kepler lived.

However, there are problems with the construction of this book, as Connor's pacing and coverage are very awkward. Connor's writing style, in which he applies different levels of importance to different events, results in historical coverage that is out of chronological order and occasionally repetitive. When Connor goes into historical explanations, Kepler himself disappears from sizeable chunks of the book, while the story of his mother's witchcraft trial feels tacked on and is not successfully integrated with the larger narrative. Meanwhile, Connor writes this book from a religious point of view, which brings a fresh new light to Kepler's life story, and Connor himself has a good eye for science. However, Connor's attempts to bring out the religious influences on Kepler's scientific achievements seem forced and even reactionary. To his credit, Connor is definitely not anti-science, but in this book it seems like he couldn't stop himself from writing for anti-intellectual religious adherents, leading to an awkward mix of faith and science. This damages the effectiveness of this particular biography of Johannes Kepler, who was both a theologian and a scientist, but was more noteworthy for the latter. [~doomsdayer520~]

Customer Review: A small world, but a big cosmos.:
The critic who says Conner is telling two stories at once is right: this is a "life and times" biography. That is, the author finds the life of Johannes Kepler and the polarized, tumultuous, superstitious, expanding world he lived in equally fascinating. He made both subjects interesting for me, too. And unlike some readers, I think he joined them in a well-written, sometimes impish, sometimes melancholy, and always intelligent story.

Conner spices the narrative pot with pungent observations and quotes: "(Kepler's mother) was a little mad, but only a little, which was far more dangerous than being (like her rival) an abortionist and prostitute." "Kepler argued that astronomy is natural to humanity, as natural as singing is to songbirds."
"The harmonies were arranged in phalanxes of ever more complicated patterns coalescing into a great cosmic symphony, a music so profound that it harrowed the heart and set fire to the soul." Kepler: "'It hurts my heart that these three great blocs have ripped at the truth so terribly that I am left collecting it piece by piece, wherever I can find them . . . God already has rewarded our warring Germany with lamentation.'"

Kepler was born a Lutheran and a "catholic" Christian, and remained faithful all his life. Yet the Lutheran church excommunicated him, and the Catholics chased his family from town to town. The 16th Century being the time for witch trials as well as science (see Stark, For the Glory of God, for helpful ideas about how the various goings on in Kepler's time related to Christianity), Kepler's mother was tried as a witch, while he set science on a course to the stars. Conner tells both stories well and I think connects them well too.

It is obvious Conner likes and respects his subject. Kepler was a scientific genius, and more, a kind and sensible Christian in a world where religious professionals forgot the virtue their Lord said was the soul of the Law and the Prophets. "My conscience commands me to love an enemy and not harm him . . . I ought to be an example of moderation and mildness for my enemy . . . then at last may God send us the dear desired peace." Growing up in a rather harsh and loveless home, a settled family life collateral damage to every new fad in social perversity, he managed to love God and man, and cultivate a cheerful curiosity at the world and our mysterious fellow-travelers that dance across the night sky. As Chesterton said of another Medieval figure (Francis?), Kepler lived in a small world, but a big cosmos.

Customer Review: Where's the narrative thread?:
I learned a lot of information about Kepler, Kepler's family, the thirty-years war, and the counter-reformation. The writer's prose was very readable; however, the book lacked cohesion. The book had very little information concerning with Kepler developing his scientific theories and his search for harmony. The author jumped off on bunny trails for scores of pages without mentioning Kepler. He would write about the thirty years war and the political machinations that led up to it. He would then return to the witch trial of Kepler's mother. He would then breifly spend a little time on Kepler developing his theories and how it relates to his faith. The book seemed repetitious at times. Maybe bacause the witch trial went on for so long, but the book returns again and again to that same topic and how worried and frantic Kepler was.

I had a hard time finishing it. The book was a hard read. At the end, I had a hard time placing all the pieces together. The topic was fascinating and the author did provide some interesting tidbits, but the narrative thread was hard to follow.

Customer Review: A modern tale 400 years ago:
This book is about intolerance, religious intolerance and how it led inevitably to war and small town petty intolerance and how it led to smear campaigns culminating in the witch trial of Kepler's mother. It's about good old boy networks and injustice. It's also a Hollywood movie script where a person with overwhelming odds against him does great things, but not without lots of personal tragedies all around him. It's also good history as I didn't know much about the 30 yr. war or the relationship of some scientific giants like Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo and Newton.

Product Description:
On his deathbed in 1601, the greatest naked-eye astronomer, Tycho Brahe, told his young colleague, Johannes Kepler, "Let me not have lived in vain." For more than thirty years, Tycho had made meticulous observations of planetary movements and the positions of the stars, from which he developed his Tychonic system of the universe-a highly original, if incorrect, scheme that attempted to reconcile the ancient belief in an unmoving Earth with Copernicus's revolutionary re-arrangement of the solar system. Tycho knew that Kepler, the brilliant young mathematician he had engaged to interpret his findings, believed in Copernicus's formation, in which all the planets circled the Sun; and he was afraid his system-the product of a lifetime of effort to explain how the universe worked-would be abandoned.

In point of fact, it was. From his study of Tycho's observations came Kepler's stunning Three Laws of Planetary Motion-ever since the cornerstone of cosmology and our understanding of the heavens. Yet, as Kitty Ferguson reveals, neither of these giant figures would have his reputation today without the other; and the story of how their lives and talents were fatefully intertwined is one of the most memorable sagas in the long history of science. Set in a turbulent and colorful era in European history, at the turning point when medieval gave way to modern, Tycho & Kepler is both a highly original dual biography and a masterful recreation of how science advances. From Tycho's fabulous Uraniborg Observatory on an island off the Danish coast, to the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II, to the religious conflict of the Thirty Years' War that rocked all of Europe, to Kepler's extraordinary leaps of understanding, Ferguson recounts a fascinating interplay of science and religion, politics and personality. Her insights recolor the established personalities of Tycho and Kepler, and her book opens a rich window onto our place in the universe.



Customer Review: A very good double biography:
I had read a couple of biographies of Tycho Brahe years ago, but never anything on Johannes Kepler except the bare-bones discoveries that made him famous. This book was a well-conceived and well-written biography of both men. Starting with Tycho and his observations and ending with Kepler and his discoveries based on Tycho's data, the book interleaves their lives in the middle where they were contemporaries. What a shame that Tycho died only a year or so after taking Kepler on board. It's interesting to speculate what might have happened if Tycho had lived. But he didn't, and Kepler's brilliant use of Tycho's data made them both famous and greatly advanced the science of astronomy. Thruout, you can see astronomy splitting away from astrology and leaving it in the dust.

Customer Review: A Good Book! Well worth your time!:
Tycho and Kepler: The Unlikely Partnership That Forever Changed Our Understanding of the Heavens, by Kitty Ferguson, is a 402-page dedication to two astronomical greats of the early seventeenth century, Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. Beginning with an examination of the society into which Brahe was born, the book traces him throughout his childhood and adulthood, from the building of Uraniborg, Brahe's astronomical observatory on the island of Hven to his banishment from the kingdom of Denmark. Not until nearly the hundredth page is Kepler discussed, but from that point forward, tales from each man's life are alternated. It seems that more time is devoted to Brahe. The two stories come together when the men meet, and it follows them together from that point forward. When Brahe passes away, the focus immediately and entirely shifts to Kepler and follows him to the end of the book. The story comes to an abrupt finish with Kepler's death, though the volume also contains three appendices explaining and elaborating on complex astronomical terms discussed in the body of the book.
I think Ms. Ferguson decided to recount this story because she was interested in both astronomy and history. From reading the book, one can feel the interest the author has in the subject matter. While reading this book, I became interested in the topic as well, but sometimes felt a bit lost. Occasionally, it seemed that she went too much in depth on certain topics, such as the construction of Uraniborg, which she described in great detail. In general, however, Kitty Ferguson seems to like enjoy writing about this topic, and conveys her enthusiasm in her writing.
This is a good book. I read it for a school assignment, and was not especially interested in the topic at hand at first, though I rapidly became drawn into the story. I only grew bored of the book when it began to explain complex astronomical concepts. While all ideas were explained in full and in understandable language, accompanied by appropriate pictures and diagrams, it was still somewhat tedious for someone not especially knowledgeable about astronomy to wade through. The flow of the book is excellent. It never felt rushed, and the transitions between sections focusing on each scientist were smooth. The one thing that I really disliked about this book was its sudden ending. It ends at Kepler's death; it does not even mention the impacts of Brahe and Kepler's work on later scientists. Despite this inadequacy, I was left with a good impression of Ms. Ferguson's book, and with much more knowledge about astronomy, Tycho Brahe, and Johannes Kepler than I had when beginning to read this book.

Customer Review: Tycho & Kepler - a gooooood read:
Tycho & Kepler - The Unlikely Friendship that Forever Changed Our Understanding of the Heavens is, for the most part, an excellent novel and easy read. Although it is a little confusing and dry at the times when complex astronomical concepts are being explained, they are outweighed by the wealth of historical accounts and gratuitous, but juicy tidbits. For instance, besides explaining the extensive instruments that Tycho built, Ferguson offers that he was also the first Dane to write a poem in Latin, that he had a twin that died at birth, and his aunt and uncle kidnapped him from his parents who wanted a girl and didn't much care. As for Kepler, not only did he develop the Harmonic theory, but had a miserable marriage, a mother accused and tried for witchcraft, and was the first author of a science fiction novel. Kitty Ferguson thus tells the life stories of the astronomers Tycho and Kepler in an informative, educational, yet narrative and interesting way. She effectively spans the 20-year gap between Tycho and Kepler by beginning the book describing Tycho's childhood and indeed his life exclusively up until the advent of a comet on December 27, 1571. Ferguson explains that, when Tycho saw the comet, he was out at one of his 60 manmade fish ponds on his estate at the Danish Isle of Hven, catching fish for dinner that evening. Meanwhile Kepler saw the same comet, but he was only five, and it was during a rare warm moment that he shared with his mother on a hilltop in Leonberg. Thus Kepler enters the story. For the rest of the book, Ferguson fluidly integrates the two men's lives, switching back and forth in an understandable, connected way. She eventually merges the two stories in a dynamic, functional manner, and shows how they used each other, and that many of their final results were synthesized versions of their combined efforts. Basically, Tycho provided excruciatingly accurate data that Kepler confirmed mathematically and extrapolated on. Kepler could have never figured out all that he did with out Tycho's data; he had bad eyesight and could not observe the sky he so dearly slaved for. It was because Tycho initially mistrusted Kepler that Kepler received only slight amounts of data that Kepler discovered that planetary orbits are elliptical - Tycho gave him only data on Mars, which happens to have the most extreme elliptical orbit, otherwise Kepler never would have noticed. Tycho also used Kepler to advance his own work and complete (among other things) the Rudolfine Tables, which are not merely the positions of planets, but guides to figure out what positions they are in at any time, (now, 586 years ago, or one thousand years into the future). The aptly-named chapters are elegantly punctuated with helpful pictures, like paintings of people discussed, illustrations of instruments, maps of the places mentioned, explanatory diagrams, and more. There are also obliging appendixes in the back, explaining astronomical terms (even though they are well-explained in the reading), and an index.
Just as the accomplishments of these men were great, so were their lives, which is probably why Kitty Ferguson felt compelled to tell the story of them. I would highly recommend it, even if you do not much care for astronomy.



Customer Review: The Odd Couple:
Kitty Ferguson tells the tail of the unique and often humorous relationship between Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe that led to some of the greatest astronomical discoveries of our time. Going against the common belief of the geocentric universe, Kepler changes the world forever with the essential help of Brahe's observation on the heavens. Although the result of their relationship is extraordinarily beneficial to astronomy, the relationship is not as peaceful as one would think. Ferguson makes this evident throughout the story and gives numerous examples of their feuding and bickering over their work together. It reminded me of a 17th century spin off of the odd couple. Both informative and entertaining, this book covers everything from Brahe's golden nose to Kepler robbery of Brahe's information and is definitely worth reading if you are interested in the subject.

Customer Review: Tycho and Kepler:
An amazing and inspirational account of one of the greatest stories in the history of science. Extremely well written and scholarly. I have average reading skills but at times found the book impossible to put down. In spots I had to stop reading it because emotions took over. The best book I ever read about the classical scientists.

Product Description:
This giant of astronomy considered his studies to be a way of looking into God's creation.



Customer Review: Brilliant man, so-so book, mediocre depth:
John Hudson Tiner's Johannes Kepler: Giant of Faith and Science is a biography that recounts Kepler's life in a simplistic and easy-to-follow way. The entire story is documented in major "chapters" of Kepler's life, and each event is described with commentary and dialogue between Kepler and the other prevalent characters. Not only are Kepler's scientific works covered, but his struggles with the church and society are also described.

Johannes Kepler was a giant of science as well as faith. One cannot understand the history of science without understand those who are behind in. In doing so, the author makes a valuable contribution to those wish to understand not only science but the interplay between science and society.

This book is a good elementary description of Kepler's life, but for someone who is looking for an in-depth and sophisticated opinion may find it lacking. However, it certainly is suitable for younger students or anyone just wanting a quick read. One thumb up :o)

Customer Review: Science and faith blended in this man's life.:
John Hudson Tiner dones a fine job of writing this easy reading book of Kepler's life. I cannot comment on how well he makes the subject matter easy to understand for the intended audience, since I am not experienced in that area, but I can tell it is a great book for high school and older -- a book written for young people that adults can read without feeling like it is written beneath them. One great feature of this book, and other books by Tiner in this series, is the fact that he explains scientific facts in such a way that those not familiar with them can gain an understanding of some of the contributions of this man to astronomy. Pictures, some from Kepler's works, throughout the book make the book even more valuable.

Any biography on Kepler is not true to the man if his faith and science are separated. Raised in a less than ideal family situation, Kepler lived in incredible times so far as the fighting over religious beliefs is concerned. Though he held firmly to and held dearly his own faith and gave up much because of it, he did not wish to become involved in the fighting over it. He also freely acknowledged that God gained glory from whatever scientific study he did.

Kepler's contribution to astonomy was immense. As an example, he was provided with much needed observational data from Tycho that allowed him to determine the orbital path of Mars (around the Sun). This opened the door to determine the orbital path of other heavenly bodies as well. At one point he was motivated to discover the truth about the heavenly bodies to help dispel the superstition that caused his own mother to be tried inappropriately as a witch.

This book provides a good starting point for learning about the life of Kepler. Such reading is wholesome and inspiring and good for teaching excellent values in life. To continue my study of Kepler, I am presently reading the book on him titled Kepler by Max Casper, Dover pub., 1993, a book clearly written for adults which includes much more detail. Tiner's book was a good preliminary for this latter book.

Product Description:
The brilliant German mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), one of the founders of modern astronomy, revolutionised the Copernican heliocentric theory of the universe with his three laws of motion: that the planets move not in circular but elliptical orbits, that their speed is greatest when nearest the sun, and that the sun and planets form an integrated system. This volume contains two of his most important works: "The Epitome of Copernican Astronomy" (books 4 and 5 of which are translated here) is a textbook of Copernican science, remarkable for the prominence given to physical astronomy and for the extension to the Jovian system of the laws recently discovered to regulate the motions of the Planets; and "Harmonies of the World" (book 5 of which is translated here) expounds an elaborate system of celestial harmonies depending on the varying velocities of the planets.



Customer Review: Great book:
If you're interested in the universe and music and math and all that that pertains too, purchase this book.

Customer Review: Kepler's Tribute to Copernicus:
In this volume, Kepler combines much of his work into what he believes to be a more accessible understanding of the planetary orbits. I would recommend this book for the serious student of Astronomy, because although it is less demanding than 'Astronomia Nova', it is quite in depth and certain adjustments are made to the Copernican cosmology which the reader must have some familiarity with. A final notice: this edition of the 'Epitome..' is only sections 4 & 5. The prior sections have never been brought into English.

Customer Review: A small sample..:
This is a republication of an old translation.

If you haven't read Kepler's own words, then this book will be both more and less than you expected. It is both a mathematical and philosophically speculative text, which in some sections can get quite technical.(Warning: the title is a bit deceiving. Only part of the Epitome is included.)

I would only give 3 stars to this book, except that english translations of Kepler's works are very few, and this book is the most financially accessible of those currently on the market. I therefore recommend it as a good first exposure.

There's no substitute to reading the original words of great thinkers, especially in gaining insight into their way of approaching the world.

Customer Review: A small sample..:
This is a republication of an old translation.

If you haven't read Kepler's own words, then this book will be both more and less than you expected. It is both a mathematical and phylsophically speculative text, which in some sections can get quite technical.(Warning: the title is a bit deceiving. Only part of the Epitome is included.)

I would only give 3 stars to this book, except that english translations of Kepler's works are very few, and this book is the most financially accessible of those currently on the market. I therefore recommend it as a good first exposure.

There's no substitute to reading the original words of great thinkers, especially in gaining insight into their way of approaching the world.

Product Description:
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) is remembered as one of the greatest medieval astronomers in the tradition of Copernicus and Galileo, a man who made major contributions to physics, astronomy, and mathematics. Born in Germany and trained as a theologian, Kepler did not hesitate to challenge church doctrine by supporting the iconoclastic theory of a Sun-centered solar system. As Imperial Mathematician to the Holy Roman Emperor, he conducted careful observations of the night sky, which led to his discovery of the three Laws of Planetary Motion and the orbit of Mars. He also devised the Rudolphine Tables on planetary movements, and made key improvements to the telescope. Voelkel vividly describes the scientific achievements, providing enough background in physics and trigonometry so even beginners can enjoy this book. The author also gives us a captivating account of Kepler's tumultuous life, plagued by misery, disease, and fervent religious prosecution by the Catholic Church.

Oxford Portraits in Science is an ongoing series of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world.



Customer Review: TOUCHING STORY OF A GENIUS OF HIS TIMES:
after reading this book you can't help but feel for this man... the tremendous upheavels he went through always worried about religious persecution but escaping it because of his position at court... but it gives a genuine feel of 'escaping by the skin of one's teeth'

then his many moves from city to city, taking family with him, all the deaths of family including children he endured and always religiously devout, believing in God and not one creed or another, always putting his heart and soul into his labors...

a remarkable story or a pious, honest, hard working, brilliant man of his times... it would have been a deep honor to know this man

Customer Review: Kepler's work made the heliocentric theory forever undeniable:
Kepler is the middle third of the great triumvirate of physicists that led humanity from a point where little was known about planetary motion to where nearly all was known. The first was Galileo Galilei and the last was Isaac Newton. Kepler contributed the three laws of planetary motion that are now named after him. They are:

*) The planets follow elliptical orbits about the sun.
*) The line connecting the planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas over equal times.
*) The square of the period of an orbit divided by the cube of the mean distance is a constant.

While Copernicus published the first convincing heliocentric theory, it was Kepler who gave the theory a mathematical foundation based on the years of accurate observations made by Tycho Brahe. It was his work that convinced the learned world that the planets orbited the sun.
When reading the history of Kepler, it is astonishing that he managed to be successful. He suffered from poor health, petty jealousies, lack of income, the death of some of his children, major religious persecution, plague and a war that devastated central Europe. He lived in a time of major religious conflict as the Reformation had moved strongly forward and the Counter-Reformation was responding violently. Kepler was a Protestant and remained so under the real threat of banishment and even death. Approximately one third of the people in central Europe perished during the widespread destruction of the thirty years war, which went on around Kepler. He was once trapped in a city placed under siege by Protestant forces and when told he must convert to Catholicism or be banished, he chose to leave.
Through it all, Kepler continued his intellectual pursuits, sometimes down false paths, but through perseverance and dedication, he was able to solve the puzzle of planetary motion. This story is not so much about the physicist persona of Kepler, it is a tale of triumph over tremendous obstacles where the result was of great benefit to all of humanity. This is a good, direct story of Kepler, his life and the environment he toiled in. I strongly recommend it as a textbook about Kepler, the history of his times and how modern physics was developed. Very little background in physics is needed to understand the presentation.


Customer Review: Great Book about One of Astronomy's Greatest Men:
This piece does a great job at showing how Kepler changed astronomy and how it changed him.

Customer Review: Elliptical Prose:
A short review, for a change: I agree with the other reviewers that these "scientific" novels of the early Banville do not hold an early Renaissance tallow candle to his later work.--Please see my review of Doctor Copernicus in re this lack--but just to reiterate, Banville is still Banville, in a celestial sphere above the scrum of other writers.

Yes, as one reviewer has noted, the letters in Harmonia Mundi, the fourth part of the novel, form a chronological circuit of some sort. Call it an ellipse if you must, but methinks this is a wee bit of preciousness on Banville's part.

The other reviewers have covered all the other, ahem, shall we say, foci? - Good period detail (q.v. C.V. Wedgwood's account of the Thirty Years' War if you want more horrors from this ghastly period of history.), interesting insights into Kepler's moods, states of mind etc.

And, most of all, Banville's elegant prose in embryonic stage. How would you describe a layer of fallen snow? Banville describes it thus:

"Cold it had been that morning, the sky like a bruised gland and a taste of metal in the air, and everything holding its breath under an astonishment of fallen snow."

Even in these early works, Banville can still astonish.


Customer Review: Novel of ideas - not Banville's forte:
Kepler is a well written historical novel written during a time when Banville was attempting to write what he considered 'European novels of ideas'. In writing about the mind of a great scientist, has found a way to write about creativity without going down the established, oft cliched route of writing about writing, or painting. However it is fundamentally a poor book, which Banville has subsequently admitted. It artfully chronicles the ideas of Kepler, his struggle, but fails to invoke this in a passionate or beautiful manner.

Banville's best novels are works of art. As Beckett said of Joyce, his work is not about anything, it is about the work itself. Kepler is a novel about something, a novel of ideas. It does not work well.

Customer Review: Excellent Biographical Novel:
Close on the heels of finishing Banville's novel Doctor Copernicus, a story based on the life of Nicholas Copernicus, I started reading this novel on the life of Johannes Kepler. I had enjoyed Mr. Banville's book on Copernicus but I found that I enjoyed this book on Kepler even more. In terms of structure and power of prose, the two books are much the same but in Kepler Banville seems to know his man much better.

Doctor Copernicus powerfully evokes its time period and setting but it does so at the expense of the main character in some ways. Here, Kepler and his story seem to be more the driving force which made for an even more interesting read. Many of the main conflicts of Kepler's life are here--his struggles with Brahe, his problems with his wife, his mother's trial for witchcraft, his endless search for riches & fame along with truth--and they are brought out well through the eyes of the main character.

Banville's mastery of beautiful prose my still lie in the years following this early novel; however, he was a writer of incredible power from his earliest books. For someone interested in science as I am, reading this book is a no-brainer: it needs to be read. However, any reader will find much to enjoy here.

Customer Review: Elliptically told, fitting Kepler's own perigrinations:
This earlier historical novel in the scientific series Banville wrote in the 80s sparkles with detail. Especially in the first section, you feel the damp of a castle, the gloom of a chamber, and smell the slops and suds. It's slow going at the start, "Mysterium Cosmagraphicum," as Kepler squares off against Brahe, and tries to gain favor with the Emperor. But this part, in hindsight, dazzles the most for the density of texture, in the prose and what it describes. You glimpse the tension between teaching schoolkids basic skills and Kepler's longing to plunge into elevated research--certainly I could relate to this as a teacher! Banville sketches easily the battle between living in a decaying world and pondering in an ethereal realm timeless (so Kepler thinks) truths.

Part II lacks a title but shows how Kepler the husband must deal with the mundane among an increasingly perilous era when witches are burnt and Protestants are expelled, and how he must make a living thanks to the formidable tension created by his relationship with his father-in-law and his wife. The household and domestic strife both ring with recognizable scenes, despite the superficial differences in decor and diet, and show Banville's ability to capture drama in the everyday affairs that we too share, if in less fraught situations. Throughout the novel, a loved one's loss and the ebb and flow of intimacy within a family as expressed through Kepler's ruminations make for eloquent, yet unadorned prose that convinces you of its truth.

Part III, "Dioptrice," focuses upon his mathematical ambitions and the possibilities and competition opened up by Galileo and his telescope. Here again, the exile from favor he endures balances well with the cosmological theories he seeks to verify slowly and painfully.

For "Harmonia Mundi," part IV takes the form of not only letters to colleagues and friends relating his discoveries, but these letters, from 1605-11, form themselves an arc or an ellipse! I've never seen this before in a book. The letters start in 1605, progress chronologically to 1611, and then slowly retreat again from the verification of his contention that planets move elliptically back gradually to 1605.

For part V, fittingly titled "Somnium," the later years of Kepler are movingly described as once more he must wander out of favor with the imperial contenders within an ideologically divided Central Europe.

This book moves at an uncertain pace, mimicking its protagonist. At times, it drags, perhaps intentionally illustrating the frustrations frequently felt by Kepler within a society that does not understand his devotion to the stars or his introspective fits and starts of genius. You get--to my surprise--few of the details of Prague parading itself that I had expected, given how in the non-fictional "Prague Pictures," (also reviewed by me on Amazon) written two decades after "Kepler," the struggles of Kepler and Brahe are grippingly told by Banville in exactly this Czech context.

The prose does not leap out as vividly in later sections as the former ones, but one quote remains in my mind. Banville provides Kepler's recollection of the loss of his virginity to a teenaged girl he meets at a pub. "Yet beyond the act itself, that frantic froglike swim to the edge of the cataract's edge, he had found something touching in her skinny flanks and her frail chest, that rank rose under its furred cap of bone." (38) The female body and the sexual act have been depicted millions of ways perhaps in literature; at this late state, Banville still can make such familiar scenes vivid again.

Customer Review: Yawn!:
I picked this book up from the library after reading that Banville won the Booker Prize for "The Sea". Plus, I love reading history books about 16th and 17th century science. So I figured: How could I go wrong?

Well, the good thing about "Kepler" is that it was short. If it had been more than 200 pages, I just wouldn't have made it through. I liked the beginning part of the book, when Kepler meets Tycho for the first time, but after that it went downhill. Simply put: The last half of the book was a snoozer. Nothing much happens. Which is a shame, because Kepler was an extraordinarily interesting historical figure. I was waiting to be riveted, and it just didn't happen.

I really tried hard to like this book, but it just didn't do it for me.

Product Description:
Definitive biography by foremost scholar offers fascinating erudite picture of great mathematician’s scientific accomplishments: formulation of laws of planetary motion, work with optics and calculus, much more. Also detailed chronicle of Kepler’s public and personal life (childhood and youth, education, mother’s trial as a witch, fear of religious persecution, etc.). Introduction and Notes by Owen Gingerich. Bibliography.




Customer Review: Quite good:
This biography is fine, but it cannot be recommended above Koestler's biography, which is more beautifully written and, I think, not as scholarly inferior as some people say. The discrepancy in terms of style seems to be due in part to this translation being rather clumsy (although I have not compared it with the German original). Let us consider some comparisons between this book and Koestler's in this regard. Where Koestler has (quoting Kepler) "geometry was implanted into man ... and not merely conveyed to his mind through the eyes" (p. 262), Caspar reads: "geometry ... has been transferred to man ... [and] not received inside through the eyes" (p. 381). Or (again quoting Kepler): "be greeted, double knob, children of Mars" (Caspar, p. 201) versus "hail, burning twin, offspring of Mars" (Koestler, p. 377). Now it may be said that Koestler operates with a poetic licence (which is probably true in the latter case, but often not), but so should this book, which is also a popular account with no footnotes or references. No footnotes or references, that is, except those added by the translator/editor. And in these she reveals her appalling lack of taste. She is extremely inconsistent in what gets a footnote and what does not, which seems to be due, firstly, to the fact that she does not know the material very well, and, secondly, to the fact that she shamelessly wants to refer to her own work whenever possible. And she completely destroys the flair of Caspar's stylish sentence "[Kepler] did not start with doubt, as another soon did, but with an unquestioned faith in ratio" (p. 377) by inserting a dimwitted attempt at a joke: "Ed. note: Doubtless, reference here is to Descartes (1596-1650)."

Quibbles aside, this is of course still a very interesting book. Here are some of my favourite themes:

"Aesthetic-artistic consideration of the universe" (p. 382). "I consider it my duty and task ... to advocate ... what I ... have recognized as true and whose beauty fills me with unbelievable rapture on contemplation." (Kepler, p. 298). "I may say with truth that whenever I consider in my thoughts the beautiful order, how one thing issues out of and is derived from another, then it is as though I had read a divine text, written onto the world itself ... saying: Man, stretch thy reason hither, so that thou mayest comprehend these things" (p. 152).

Mathematics a means to this end. "Kepler consciously renounced [Archimedean] rigor and wanted to take over from Archimedes only so much as 'is sufficient for the pleasure of the lovers of geometry.'" (p. 234). "Don't sentence me completely to the treadmill of mathematical calculations and leave me time for philosophical speculations, which are my sole delight. Each one has his own particular pleasure, one the tables and nativities, I the flower of astronomy, the artistic structure of the motions." (Kepler, p. 308).

Man's cognitive abilities designed for this purpose. "[T]he world partakes of quantity and the mind of man grasps nothing better than quantities for the recognition of which he was obviously created." (p. 96). "Nature loves these relationships in everything that is capable of thus being related. They are also loved by the intellect of man who is an image of the Creator." (p. 94). Cf. also p. 93 and above.

The universe designed for this purpose. "The earth's axis in inclined to the ecliptic in consideration of the people distributed over the whole surface of the earth, so that the change of the heavenly phenomena should extend to all places on the earth and consequently all people have a share in it. ... Sun and moon have the same apparent sizes, so that the eclipses, one of the spectacles arranged by the Creator for instructing observing creatures in the orbital relations of the sun and the moon, can occur. The earth moves around the sun to make it possible for man to get to know the world and its dimensions." (p. 296).

Reception of the above. These ideas were quite well received e.g. in the case of the Mysterium Cosmographicum: "Professor Georg Limnäus in Jena ... is ecstatic that at last someone had again revived the time-honoured Platonic art of philosophising. ... [Tycho Brahe] takes unusual pleasure in the book: ... the zeal, the fine understanding and acumen ought to be praised [even though] certain details give him pause." (p. 69-70). It was different with the more modern physics of the Astronomia Nova: "Kepler ran up against rejection and lack of understanding on all sides. Maestlin, Fabricius, Longomontanus and others shook their heads." (p. 135).

Customer Review: The Complete Story of Johannes Kepler the Heretic Astronomer:
This biography is simply the best on the life and trials of Johannes Kepler.Anyone,who is exploring the field of astronomy,should invest their time in reading this great book.It's the fascinating story of a genius scientist having to deal with the heretical zeitgeist and relentless religious persecution of his times.Ironically,more from his own protestant leadership rather than the catholic church.Kepler was like the modern Socrates during this epoch leading to the Age of Reason. Kepler supported the Greek Copernican world model,which was in direct oppossion to the teachings of all christian-jewish European schools.Kepler did not want to 'drag the owls of knowledge to Athens',yet to bring their greek pagan wisdom to the heart of the European centers of learning.This is just an excellent book for any astute historian with a budding interest in the laws of the stars above us.

Customer Review: If you dig Kepler, you'll love this book:
Like the other reviewers have said, this book is simply the best combination of an account of Kepler's life, theories, and works.

Customer Review: Widely considered Kepler's definitive biography:
Although written in 1948, Caspar's biography is today still the most comprehensive attempt to portray the person of Kepler in a unified manner. This work reflects Caspar's lifetime of work dedicated to Kepler's many publications, manuscripts, and correspondences, and, thanks to additional citations made by editor Owen Gingerich, the reader may now find where nearly all of these passages derive from. Both the common reader and serious student may benefit from this book, for it combines Kepler's scientific studies with the deeply personal conflicts of an early modern genius. Caspar's biography is fundamental not only for studies made on Kepler, but also for the Scientific Revolution in general.

Customer Review: If you are at all serious......:
....about Kepler, you must have this book. Period.

By the way, Arthur Koestler's Sleepwalkers (and the Kepler chapters
which were published under the title The Watershed) rely heavily
on Caspar's book.

Product Description:
"I can think of few better ways of introducing students to the history of astronomy than by using The Eye of Heaven as a text....This is science at its best....Not only does Gingerich make you think, he also forces you back in time and makes you think as astronomers did then. Students need this inspiration." David Hughes, New Scientist

Astronomer and historian Owen Gingerich provides a fascinating introduction to three giants of early astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Kepler. In these collected essays, Gingerich examines the revolution in man's conception of the universe brought about by the shift from the earth-centered cosmos of Ptolemy to the sun-centered model of Copernicus.



Customer Review: The Eye of Heaven: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler:
I bought this book because I am hoping to write a book myself, giving a thumbnail sketch of history relevant to today's climate science (including Global Warming) from the Ancient Egyptians through Newton and Foucault and into the present. Real meteorology started 7 years after Foucault's work, as a direct result of what was learned from Foucault's pendulum.

I am a climate scientist, not an historian, so I have a steep learning curve to write such a book.I had previously obtained Toomer's magnificent translation of Ptolemy's "Almagest" (it shows Ptolemy to have been the world's first full-on theoretical physicist, and a magnificent teacher). I knew Toomer valued Gingerich highly, so I bought Gingerich's book. It has not disappointed. It has helped me to understand Ptolemy's fairly opaque book much better, and has also given me a much better appreciation of Copernicus the man.
I would have liked it if Gingerich had described Brahe in the same way -- we scientists value observations first, then theory -- and Ivar Peterson's "Newton's Clock" does a better job on Kepler. Nevertheless, I nearly gave this book five stars, not four.

Customer Review: Required reading!:
This book is essential for anybody who wants to understand what Ptolemy, Copernicus and Kepler really did. It's a bit more technical than "The Great Copernicus Chase", but if you're serious, you'll appreciate it.

And if you're really serious, you'll get a copy of the paper by James Evans in Am. J. Phys 56 (Nov, 1988) 1009-1024. It answered tons of technical questions for me. Just do it, you'll thank me (and Jim Evans!).

Product Description:
This book is based on the Colloquium Lectures presented by Shlomo Sternberg during the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Louisville, Kentucky in January 1990. The authors delve into the mysterious role that groups, especially Lie groups, play in revealing the laws of nature by focusing on the familiar example of Kepler motion: the motion of a planet under the attraction of the sun according to Kepler's laws. Newton realized that Kepler's second law---equal areas are swept out in equal times---has to do with the fact that the force is directed radially to the sun. Kepler's second law is really the assertion of the conservation of angular momentum, reflecting the rotational symmetry of the system about the origin of the force. In today's language, we would say that the group O(3) (the orthogonal group in three dimensions) is responsible for Kepler's second law. By the end of the nineteenth century, the inverse square law of attraction was seen to have O(4) symmetry (where O(4) acts on a portion of the six-dimensional phase space of the planet). Even larger groups have since been found to be involved in Kepler motion. In quantum mechanics, the example of Kepler motion manifests itself as the hydrogen atom. Exploring this circle of ideas, the first part of the book was written with the general mathematical reader in mind.

The remainder of the book is aimed at specialists. It begins with a demonstration that the Kepler problem and the hydrogen atom exhibit O(4) symmetry and that the form of this symmetry determines the inverse square law in classical mechanics and the spectrum of the hydrogen atom in quantum mechanics. The space of regularized elliptical motions of the Kepler problem (also known as the Kepler manifold) plays a central role in this book. The last portion of the book studies the various cosmological models in this same conformal class (and having varying isometry groups) from the viewpoint of projective geometry. The computation of the hydrogen spectrum provides an illustration of the principle that enlarging the phase space can simplify the equations of motion in the classical setting and aid in the quantization problem in the quantum setting. The authors provide a short summary of the homological quantization of constraints and a list of recent applications to many interesting finite-dimensional settings. The book closes with an outline of Kostant's theory, in which a unitary representation is associated to the minimal nilpotent orbit of SO(4,4) and in which electromagnetism and gravitation are unified in a Kaluza-Klein type theory in six dimensions.