Astronomy across cultures. The history of non-Western astronomy (Q2715781)

This first volume of the new series \textit{Science across Cultures} is a collection of 21 articles about the astronomy of people outside of the Euro-American sphere. It covers a wide range of topics, such as myths of origin and creation connected to the sky (Egyptians, Hawaiians, native North and South Americans), astronomy that was developed in order to serve religious purposes (Indian, Islamic and Hebrew astronomy), astronomy as a tool for navigating the open seas (Polynesians, Arabs), prediction of future events based on astronomical observations (Babylonia, China, Korea).NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEIn a fascinating essay entitled ``Astronomy and the Dreaming'', \textit{Roslynn D. Hayes} argues that ``the world's first astronomers'' were the Aboriginal Australians whose complex systems for knowledge and beliefs about the heavenly bodies have been transmitted through song, dance and ritual over more than 40,000 years.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThe book is a valuable contribution to rectify the lack of scholarly attention paid to scientific achievements that were not connected to the intellectual history of the Western world.