Mask of the Sun
The Science, History and Forgotten Lore of Eclipses
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Narrated by:
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Corey M. Snow
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By:
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John Dvorak
About this listen
Eclipses have stunned, frightened, emboldened, and mesmerized people for thousands of years. They were recorded on ancient turtle shells discovered in the Wastes of Yin in China, on clay tablets from Mesopotamia and on the Mayan "Dresden Codex". They are mentioned in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and at least eight times in the Bible. Columbus used them to trick people, while Renaissance painter Taddeo Gaddi was blinded by one. Sorcery was banished within the Catholic Church after astrologers used an eclipse to predict a pope's death.
In Mask of the Sun, acclaimed writer John Dvorak explains the importance of the number 177 and why the ancient Romans thought it was bad to have sexual intercourse during an eclipse (whereas other cultures thought it would be good luck). Even today, pregnant women in Mexico wear safety pins on their underwear during an eclipse. Eclipses are an amazing phenomena - unique to Earth - that have provided the key to much of what we now know and understand about the sun, our moon, gravity, and the workings of the universe.
Both entertaining and authoritative, Mask of the Sun reveals the humanism behind the science of both lunar and solar eclipses. With insightful detail and vividly accessible prose, Dvorak provides explanations as to how and why eclipses occur.
©2017 John Dvorak (P)2017 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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- By bidderpinkdog on 03-22-19
By: Robert Bauval, and others
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The Clockwork Universe
- Isaac Newton, The Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The Clockwork Universe is the story of a band of men who lived in a world of dirt and disease but pictured a universe that ran like a perfect machine. A meld of history and science, this book is a group portrait of some of the greatest minds who ever lived as they wrestled with natures most sweeping mysteries. The answers they uncovered still hold the key to how we understand the world.
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Calculus Ergo Modernity
- By Nelson Alexander on 07-09-11
By: Edward Dolnick
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Krakatoa
- The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa - the name has since become a byword for a cataclysmic disaster - was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly 40,000 people. Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event that has only very recently been properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round die planet for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light.
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Great subject, great writing, great voice
- By rwise on 01-26-04
By: Simon Winchester
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Coming of Age in the Milky Way
- By: Timothy Ferris
- Narrated by: Timothy Ferris
- Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
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Humans have long sought to comprehend the enormities of cosmic space and time. Here, best selling science writer Timothy Ferris tells the story of that quest. He interweaves the majestic themes of astronomy, physics, religion, and philosophy with fresh and lasting portraits of the men and women who created what has been called our society's most precious treasure - its conception of the universe at large.
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Brief survey of discovery from Columbus to now
- By serine on 01-23-16
By: Timothy Ferris
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Starlight Detectives
- How Astronomers, Inventors, and Eccentrics Discovered the Modern Universe
- By: Alan Hirshfeld
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1929, Edwin Hubble announced the greatest discovery in the history of astronomy since Galileo first turned a telescope to the heavens. The galaxies, previously believed to float serenely in the void, are in fact hurtling apart at an incredible speed: the universe is expanding. This stunning discovery was the culmination of a decades-long arc of scientific and technical advancement.
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Experience the discovery of most of the universe.
- By Zachary Adams on 05-26-15
By: Alan Hirshfeld
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America Before
- The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization
- By: Graham Hancock
- Narrated by: Graham Hancock
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Stunning new archaeological discoveries in North America together with new genetic evidence have launched a revolution in our understanding of the remote past of our species and of the origins of civilization. Graham Hancock, the internationally best-selling author has been overwhelmingly vindicated by recent discoveries. America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization is a mind-dilating exploration of the mystery of ancient civilizations, amazing archaeological discoveries, and profound implications for how we lead our lives today.
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Fun to Think About
- By Amazon Customer on 04-26-19
By: Graham Hancock
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The Glass Universe
- How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars
- By: Dava Sobel
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Number-one New York Times best-selling author Dava Sobel returns with the captivating, little-known true story of a group of women whose remarkable contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.
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But the seeing, which was everything, was better
- By Cynthia on 01-07-17
By: Dava Sobel
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Euclid's Window
- The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace
- By: Leonard Mlodinow
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Through Euclid's Window Leonard Mlodinow brilliantly and delightfully leads us on a journey through five revolutions in geometry, from the Greek concept of parallel lines to the latest notions of hyperspace. Here is an altogether new, refreshing, alternative history of math revealing how simple questions anyone might ask about space -- in the living room or in some other galaxy -- have been the hidden engine of the highest achievements in science and technology.
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Wow!
- By Eric on 08-13-10
By: Leonard Mlodinow
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Meet Me in Atlantis
- My Quest to Find the 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City
- By: Mark Adams
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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A few years ago, Mark Adams made a strange discovery: Everything we know about the lost city of Atlantis comes from the work of one man, the Greek philosopher Plato. Then he made a second, stranger discovery: Amateur explorers are still actively searching for this sunken city all around the world, based entirely on the clues Plato left behind.
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A Bryson-esque tour of people, myth, & archaeology
- By A reader on 05-14-15
By: Mark Adams
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The Fourth Part of the World
- The Race to the Ends of the Earth
- By: Toby Lester
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Brimming with enthralling details and personalities, Toby Lester's The Fourth Part of the World spotlights Martin Waldseemüller's 1507 world map and recounts the epic tale of the mariners and scholars who facilitated this watershed of Western history.
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I enjoyed it
- By Todd on 07-19-10
By: Toby Lester
What listeners say about Mask of the Sun
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- MGGGK9
- 11-07-23
Very enjoyable
A fantastic explanation of the eclipse phenomenon throughout history. Includes physics, mythology, and discoveries accumulated over the centuries from f this awe inspiring act of nature. Very well written and read.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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- A.H. Derman
- 06-25-24
Total Eclipse of the Ahhhhh!
I loved the eclipse prediction and lore calendar research. I am a sucker for planetary science and three-body hi jinx, so those parts were enjoyable.
However, the needless tedium, retelling of the same story and restatements of facts already covered could drive one to pull out their hair! And I tend to like John Dvorak’s books!
The monotonous male voice of this volume’s reader only exasperates this aspect of the book. If you’re an insomniac, the reader and this tedium might be your cure.
I recommend just shy of half this book. Beyond that, since there is no real continuity once he gets to anecdotes about people watching eclipses, you’re free to continue only if you are a masochist.
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