Uncommon Sense

by Aveni, Anthony F.

• ISBN13: 9780870818288
• ISBN10: 0870818287
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-30
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Colorado

Summary

These essays highlight various ways that ancient cultures and contemporary, non-Western societies have searched for literal truth about mysteries of the natural world from dinosaurs to the Star of Bethlehem.

Author Biography

The Russell Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology at Colgate University, Anthony Aveni pioneered the study of astronomical anthropology and archaeoastronomy. The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education selected him as 1982 Professor the Year; in 1991, Rolling Stone named him one of America's top ten college professors. He is the author of Empires of Time, Behind the Crystal Ball, and Conversing With the Planets, as well as co-editor (with Gabrielle Vail) of The Madrid Codex.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xix
PART ONE: WHERE WE CONFLICT
What Was That Star?	3	(22)
Where Orbits Came From and How the Greeks Unstacked the Deck	25	(18)
Why You Can't Have a Big Bang without Darwin---and Vice Versa	43	(24)
When Disciplines Collide: From Dinosaurs to the Dogon	67	(30)
PART TWO: WHAT WE SHARE
What's in a Number?	97	(22)
Time, the City, and a King's Dilemma	119	(26)
Space: Are Maps Really Territory?	145	(34)
Lists: Does Everybody Do Science?	179	(22)
Symbols: The Natural History of a	201	(28)
Last Words	229	(8)
Further Reading	237	(6)
Index	243