Astronomy 336: Week 11

Filled with fascinating new perspectives on a culture saturated with syndromes of every sort, Hystories skillfully surveys the condition of hysteria--its causes, cures, famous patients, and doctors--in the 20th century to show that hysterias are always with us, a kind of collective coping mechanism for changing times. Discusses alien abduction, Satanic ritual abuse, dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder), and the recovered-memory movement.

The Precolumbian Maya were closely attuned to the movements of the Sun and the Moon, the stars and the planets. Their rituals and daily tasks were performed according to a timetable established by these celestial bodies, a timetable based on a highly complex calendar system. In this remarkable volume, noted Maya scholars Harvey Bricker and Victoria Bricker offer invaluable insight into the complex world of the Precolumbian Maya, and in particular the amazing achievements of Maya astronomy, as revealed in the Maya codices the indigenous hieroglyphic books written before the Spanish Conquest. This far-reaching study confirms that, independent of the Old World traditions that gave rise to modern Western astronomy, the Precolumbian Maya achieved a sophisticated knowledge of astronomy based on observations recorded over centuries.

Many lights and other objects in the sky go unrecognised, or at least are little understood by those observing them. Such things range from the commonplace like rainbows and meteors, to the distinctly unusual like the green flash and ball lightning. And there is still a residuum of objects that remain unidentified by the watcher - classed generally as 'UFOs', a description which today has connotations of the mysterious, even of extraterrestrial visitors. This book provides an identification guide, a full description and physical explanation of astronomical phenomena, and finally approaches UFOs from a scientific standpoint, particularly the way in which human perception and often preconception affects the outcome. It does however finish with a short section on "extraterrestrial UFOs", emphasising the burden of proof aspect and touching on the scientific theories of life on other worlds and the improbability of visitors.

Compiled in honour of Anthony F Aveni, America's leading archaeoastronomer, Skywatching in the Ancient World offers state-of-the-art work in cultural astronomy by well-known experts in Mayan glyphic studies, cultural history, ethnohistory, and the history of science and of religions. The diverse topics addressed include the correlation between Colonial Northern Zapotec and Gregorian calendars, the Dresden Codex Venus table, new interpretations of the Lunar Almanacs in the Dresden Codex, the Tukapu and Inca calendars, temple and church orientations in ancient Hawai'i and Medieval England, and the connection in cultural imagery between astronomers (science) and wizards (magic).