This book is a treat for the eye and mind. Soft white text on dark blue pages accompanied by gorgeous lithographs of antediluvian charts, armillary spheres,
and engravings from the renaissance give Mapping the Sky the ambience of a gallery exhibit.

Via the contemporary style of science writer Leila Haddad, the mysteries of space and time as met by ancient civilizations and the genius of Keppler, Newton, and Galileo, make for a delightful journey of discovery from the earliest concepts of creation to the Cosmos, as we know it. In fact, her depictions of a flat world, Earth-centered universe, and fixed sphere of stars not only engage but also provide the novice astronomer with an excellent introduction to celestial mechanics.

Enhanced by beautifully rendered illustrations, Haddad’s revelations on gravity, precession, orbital motion, right ascension and declination, to name a few, are of rare and refreshing clarity. Though her topical, rather than chronological, approach tends to hop back and forth through time, the distraction is minor.

So, it’s rather a letdown when on page 155 the original theme morphs into yet another beginner’s guide to astronomy. Undeniably, the second section features fabulous equipment and deep sky shots, and there is plenty of sound advice peppered with interesting factoids; but Alain Cirou’s flair for the romance of observing translates poorly to the technical aspects of choosing a scope, and blurry, full-color, pictures of the planets do little to impart information or provide an accurate amateur scope representation.

You might also expect a work titled Mapping the Sky to have a functional star chart but all you get are a few constellations, traced on fish-eye photos, and one of them mislabels Epsilon Bootis as Arcturus. The inclusion of a planisphere was a nice touch but the small size of it only exemplifies that this book is an armchair exercise, and not a true observing tool.

Had the authors continued to chart the key events of astronomical enlightenment, and delve further into the realm of modern space exploration, their collaboration might have made the “A” list. Nonetheless, for a colorful and revealing overview of the quest to comprehend the celestial vault, both novice and seasoned amateur will find hours of entertainment between the glossy covers of this book.