A History of Astronomy (Unabridged)

In this book, Walter W. Bryant traces the history of astronomy through the ages. We start at the very beginning, where astronomy was an occupation of priests, move with the help of the Arabs through the middle ages to the (re-) discovery of the heliocentric system by Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo. A discussion of Newton and his laws follows as well as a description of the biographies and works of successors like Halley, Herschel, and Bessel. The second half of the book deals with (at the time) recent discoveries with respect to our solar system and the comets, meteors, and stars beyond.