Astronomy is one of the oldest intellectual disciplines, and together with mathematics it has a distinction that its history can be traced continuously for several thousands of years. In fact, it is probably much older than mathematics, since we have indirect evidence that even the Stone Age peoples had used positions of stars in the sky for navigation, not to mention all the effort that had gone in the understandings of the sun and the moon. It is maybe somewhat surprising to the moderns that for the better part of its history astronomy had a very practical and sometimes crucial role to play in human societies. As has already been mentioned, being able to predict positions of the stars was invaluable in navigation, and the monthly and yearly positions of the moon and the sun were crucial for the planning of large and predictable agricultural projects.

This very short introduction aims to recapture some of these historical developments. It deals with all the major highlights in the (recorded) history of astronomy up to the middle of the nineteenth century. It is a fascinating look at the way that our understanding of the humanity’s place in the universe has developed. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the author did not go down the trite and misleading “religion vs. science” path when approaching this subject, and showed how for each astronomical development there have been many points of view within religious community itself. Furthermore, many (most?) religions do rely on astronomical phenomena for their religious observances, and have throughout history been major supporters of astronomical research.

This is very well written and accessible book. As someone who enjoys reading about both history and science I have been practically glued to it. I highly recommend it.