Humanity and the Big Dipper: A History of Our Species in Relation to Seven Stars

The author thought he knew a few facts about the Big Dipper, and told them to children. When he finally researched them, he found they were false. Delving into the lore in an effort at atonement, he fell upon a sprawling trove of science, culture, myth, history, and imaginative literature, never as fully compiled, about the most famous constellation of all. Join Rob James on an exhilarating mental journey–from artifacts of the Stone Age to the latest research on sextuple star systems, coursing through ancient, medieval and modern societies and languages, and spanning the entire Northern Hemisphere. You will see one simple pattern of nature through stories both comfortingly familiar and strikingly new, and you will feel a little prouder to be a human being.
Beautifully written, and effortless in bringing together concepts separated by great time and distance. – Mark J. Sundahl, Director, Global Space Law Center A graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School, Rob James is a San Francisco attorney. He has written articles on energy numeracy, geoengineering, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, baseball stadiums, paper clips, footnotes, and the deaths of the slide rule.