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“For 2000 years, astronomers knew how to measure the distance to the stars but couldn't quite pull it off. The stars, of course, turned out to be frustratingly far away. Alan Hirshfeld's authoritative and gripping tale of the search for stellar parallax makes me proud to a part of such a relentlessly curious and persistent species.” — Chet Raymo, columnist, Boston Globe, and author of 365 STARRY NIGHTS
“In this thrilling history of the search for parallax, Hirshfeld urges us to "fly together." We are carried along on a wave of excitement from the first wild notion of Aristarchus in the third century B.C. to the final triumph of Friedrich Bessel in 1838. Hirshfeld's own awe and delight in his stories of discovery are captivating and often personal—"Join me as I cut through my neighbor's yard...and set up my telescope." The human failures and frustrations and the crucial discoveries in the quest for parallax are as thrilling as the story of the determination of longitude, and just as important.” — Jane Langton , author of two astronomical mystery novels, DARK NANTUCKET NOON and THE SHORTEST DAY.
“With this highly readable and cosmically accessible book, Alan Hirshfeld has done for the measurement of the cosmos what Dava Sobel did for the measurement of longitude. Now that our ships are plying the heavens as they once did the seas, the story of how we came to calculate cosmic distances looms large on our historical horizon. There is nothing grander than the universe, and Hirshfeld is to be commended for bringing it down to size for us all to see. Readers will never again look into the night sky the same way.” — Michael Shermer, Publisher, Skeptic magazine, author of WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS and HOW WE BELIEVE: THE SEARCH FOR GOD IN AN AGE OF SCIENCE
“I thoroughly enjoyed reading this excellent book. It is an admirable account, and I’m sure it will be of great value to many readers.” — Patrick Moore, host of the BBC’s The Sky at Night
“How large is the starry universe? Alan Hirshfeld's engaging account first introduces the long and challenging search to plumb the distances to the stars, and then his narrative moves to a satisfying climax as the exciting race to find stellar parallax heats up. It's a thrilling detective story!” — Owen Gingerich, Research Professor of Astronomy and the History of Science, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
“PARALLAX is a fascinating celestial detective story, written in a beautifully lucid, engaging style.” — Dorrit Hoffleit, Senior Research Astronomer, Yale University
"PARALLAX, like Dava Sobel's LONGITUDE, is a wonderfully told story of the challenge of measuring our place in the universe. It reaches the stars and the ride is exciting and irresistible." — Margaret J. Geller, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
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