A Portable Cosmos: Revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, Scientific Wonder of the Ancient World

  • Alexander Jones
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS: 2019. 312PP. £16.99

Astronomy is probably one of the oldest scientific disciplines, owing to the fascination of the starry skies. The ancient Greeks were one of the many ancient civilizations who studied the night sky and tried to divine its workings. In this book, Alexander Jones revisits the Antikythera mechanism, a navigation and astronomical prediction tool at the technological edge of that time and what is now dubbed the first ancient computer. The author explores the origins of the mechanism, its discovery and meticulous analysis, and our current understanding of its functions and purpose.

The Women of the Moon: Tales of Science, Love, Sorrow, and Courage

  • Daniel R. Altschuler &
  • Fernando J. Ballesteros
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS: 2019. 336PP. £20.00

It is a favourite human pastime, giving names to things. The many craters on the Moon are no exception and they have been invariably named after many important people — most ‘happen’ to be men. Daniel Altschuler and Fernando Ballesteros take a closer look at the 28 lunar craters (out of a whopping 1,586 — that’s 1.8%) that were named after woman scientists and philosophers (Hypatia of Alexandria being the oldest of the cohort, Valentina Vladímirovna Tereshkova the youngest). The authors recount the stories of these women and the reasons why these craters were named after them.

The Apollo Chronicles: Engineering America’s First Moon Missions

  • Brandon R. Brown
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS: 2019. 256PP. £19.99

There are few space missions, if any, that have the recognizability and impact of the Apollo missions, which culminated in the first successful landing of humans on the Moon. Brandon Brown recounts in this book the story of how these missions came to reality through a series of engineering and technological feats, from the rockets that carried the astronauts to space to the lander that touched down on the Moon. These feats would of course not have taken place without a commensurate political will and vision, and conditions that presented both the opportunity and the impetus to go after such an ambitious goal.