The Wanderers through the Stars.- The Long Backbone of the Sky.-Two Clouds and a Cross.-The Sky Is an Ocean.-Navigating by the Stars.-The Birds of the Southern Night Sky.-The Heavenly Sisters.-In the Beginning.-Observing the Universe in the Modern Age.-Bibliography.-Index.
Martin Paviour-Smith is a lecturer in linguistics at Massey University, New Zealand, with a speciality in language and culture in the South Pacific. He has worked and lived with indigenous peoples of the region describing the language and collecting stories and traditions from various cultures. He has a longstanding interest in the stars, particularly in what cultures do with their knowledge of the sky above them. He has published widely in the fields of socio- and applied linguisitics, and in cultural studies.
Stephen Chadwick lectures in astronomy and the philosophy of
science at Massey University, New Zealand. He is also an
astro-photographer and in 2013 co-authored the Springer-published
book Imaging the Southern Sky, which contained over 150 of his
astronomical images. His images have also appeared in scholarly
scientific journals worldwide (including Keele University’s
Magellanic Clouds Newsletter and the Journal of the RASNZ) as well
as popular astronomy magazines such as Sky & Telescope, Astronomy,
the BBC’s Sky at Night magazine, Astronomy Now, and The
Observatory. They have also appeared on the BBC and NZ television,
as well as in national and international newspapers.
“This book presents an unusual juxtaposition of modern
science-based astronomy and the star lore passed on orally through
multiple generations of South Pacific and Australian Indigenous
peoples. … the unusual and original combination of astronomy and
anthropology makes for interesting, informative, and entertaining
reading.” (Richard Dodd, The Observatory, February, 2018)
“This book is a significant step in the recovery of a very
important astronomical knowledge and tradition of a past
civilization, that of the variety of the populations that colonized
the Pacific Ocean. … The book is packed with many beautiful
illustrations, pictures, photos, and maps which help the
understanding of the text and are also pleasing to the eye, and it
fits the needs of the interested general readers, as well as those
of the professionals in the field.” (Alberto Vecchiato,
aaa-alb.blogspot.it, July 2017)
“The star lore and constellations of the Pacific are introduced in
a very organized fashion. … It is interesting to both read about
the canoes as constellations, who and why is said to maybe be
travelling by them, etc. … It's a fascinating book where the
different layers of what one can think, and know about the night
sky are presented at about the same level, not making one side of
it more prevalent than the other.” (AstroMadness.com, January,
2017)
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