Home › Books › A Scheme of Heaven: The History of Astrology and …
A Scheme of Heaven: The History of Astrology and the Search for Our Destiny in Data
by
46/99
Critics
23/99
Readers
n/a
Scholars
27/99
Rating
66/99
Volume
33/99
Rating
13/99
Volume
—
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
An illuminating look at the surprising history and science of astrology, civilization's first system of algorithms, from Babylon to the present day. Humans are pattern-matching creatures, and astrology is our grandest pattern-matching game. In this refreshing work of history and analysis, data scientist Alexander Boxer examines classical texts on astrology to expose its underlying scientific and mathematical framework. Astrology, he argues, was the ancient world's most ambitious applied mathematics problem, a grand data-analysis enterprise sustained by some of history's most brilliant minds from Ptolemy to al-Kindi to Kepler. A "scheme of heaven," or horoscope, is recognized as pseudoscience today, but was once considered a cutting-edge scientific tool. Not only does Boxer trace different applications of horoscopes back to their origins, he also puts them to the test using modern data sets and statistical science, arguing that today's data scientists do work similar to astrologers of yore. At once critical, rigorous, and far-ranging, A Scheme of Heaven recontextualizes astrology as a vast, technological project—spanning continents and centuries—that foreshadowed our data-driven world today.
Preview
Reviews
"The chart of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions vis-a-vis presidential peril alone is worth the price of this book."
"Boxer is at his most dynamic when arguing for the relevance of astrology in an era of Big Data and machine learning ..."
"wide-ranging and full of peculiar nuggets of information ..."
"His comparison of astrology to economics is inapt, as economic models, flawed as they may be, rest on some basis in reality."
"Strongly recommended for historians with some awareness of mathematical concepts or seasoned popular science readers."
"A solid book on the history and science of astrology that will appeal more to academics in the field than general readers."
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!