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Star Stories: Constellations and People Kindle Edition

by Anthony Aveni (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 42 ratings
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“Skillfully guides us around the awesome night sky through the imagination of different peoples around the world, past and present. A wonderful treasury.” —Jacqueline Mitton, author of Zoo in the Sky

Most of us can recall searching the clouds as children for recognizable shapes and pictures. Similarly, since the dawn of humankind, the night sky has been filled with countless points of light that beckon gazers to connect the dots.

We can see love, betrayal, and friendship in the heavens, if we know where to look. A world expert on cultural understandings of cosmology, Anthony Aveni provides an unconventional atlas of the night sky, introducing tales beloved for generations. The constellations included are not only your typical Greek and Roman myths, but star patterns conceived by a host of cultures, non-Western and indigenous, ancient and contemporary.

Follow an epic animal race, a quest for a disembodied hand, and an emu egg hunt in these constellation stories from diverse cultures. The sky has long served as a template for telling stories about the meaning of life. People have looked for likenesses between the domains of heaven and earth to help marry the unfamiliar above to the quotidian below. Perfect for all sky watchers and storytellers, this book is an essential complement to Western mythologies, showing how the confluence of the natural world and culture of heavenly observers can produce a variety of tales about the shapes in the sky.

Praise for Anthony Aveni

“A pioneering cultural astronomer.” —Publishers Weekly

“He writes with a mastery and polish that is wonderfully accessible, akin to an engaging classroom lecture.” —The New York Times Book Review
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  1. Print length
    207 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Yale University Press
  5. Publication date
    October 22, 2019
  6. File size
    10243 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“In this book of stories, Aveni introduces readers to the diversity of constellation mythologies. An entirely original, vividly written, and totally absorbing book by a world expert.”—Simon Mitton, University of Cambridge

“Aveni is the star of his own luminous book: casting light in the form of stories – about the sky, time, earthly correspondences and concerns, and human imagination.”—Christopher Vecsey, author of Imagine Ourselves Richly: Mythic Narratives of North American Indians

"Aveni skillfully guides us around the awesome night sky through the imagination of different peoples around the world, past and present. A wonderful treasury of cultural astronomy."—Jacqueline Mitton, author of Zoo in the Sky

““Connections between Earth Mother and Sky Father are universal. The stories in this book are wise and wonder‑filled to encourage humility and mindfulness.”—Sunny Dooley, Diné Traditional Wisdom Keeper

About the Author

Anthony Aveni is Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of Astronomy, Anthropology, and Native American Studies Emeritus at Colgate University. He helped to develop the fields of archaeoastronomy and cultural astronomy.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07YLQ86PS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press (October 22, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 22, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 10243 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 207 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 42 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
42 global ratings
Informative and Fun to Read
5 Stars
Informative and Fun to Read
This covers a wide range of different star myths beyond the usual Roman and Greek ones. I found the images very helpful with conceptualizing how different cultures saw their constellations.I've read some of the stories presented within in other books, but this one showed a different side I hadn't seen before.I will say that this book felt a little brief and I wish it was longer. I would have liked for the mythologies to be covered in more detail and with more stories per constellation-- but it's a two-hundred page book, so really I think it did a good job with the amount of pages it had.Lastly, I found it a fun read. I enjoyed the author's tone.
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Top reviews from the United States

Popcorn
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Fun to Read
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2024
Verified Purchase
This covers a wide range of different star myths beyond the usual Roman and Greek ones. I found the images very helpful with conceptualizing how different cultures saw their constellations.

I've read some of the stories presented within in other books, but this one showed a different side I hadn't seen before.

I will say that this book felt a little brief and I wish it was longer. I would have liked for the mythologies to be covered in more detail and with more stories per constellation-- but it's a two-hundred page book, so really I think it did a good job with the amount of pages it had.

Lastly, I found it a fun read. I enjoyed the author's tone.
Customer image
Popcorn
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Fun to Read
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2024
This covers a wide range of different star myths beyond the usual Roman and Greek ones. I found the images very helpful with conceptualizing how different cultures saw their constellations.

I've read some of the stories presented within in other books, but this one showed a different side I hadn't seen before.

I will say that this book felt a little brief and I wish it was longer. I would have liked for the mythologies to be covered in more detail and with more stories per constellation-- but it's a two-hundred page book, so really I think it did a good job with the amount of pages it had.

Lastly, I found it a fun read. I enjoyed the author's tone.
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Harold A. Geller
5.0 out of 5 stars For star watchers and archeoastronomers
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2021
Verified Purchase
I can recall having a course in archeoastronomy some 40 years ago. The professor had us purchase a few books in lieu of using a single textbook. One of them was authored by Aveni. Honestly, I thought I had heard he had died, but I am glad that the report of his death, as Twain would put it, was greatly exaggerated. Once again Aveni weaves a great number of stories into the stars' and constellations' names. It is a volume that planetarium directors need to have handy (once planetariums reopen) so that they can tell their audiences such stories, in a wide variance of cultures. The great Greek hunter Orion was seen as a hand by natives in one land; and, as three fishermen by natives "down under." The reader is also exposed to a variance in latitudes, as to how the stars and their constellations would be seen. Well done, Professor Aveni. I still enjoy his writing style; over so many years.
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Jon Celesia
5.0 out of 5 stars Clearly, enjoyably written by an expert
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a wonderful book. It accentuates what it is the be human. Aveni is a very readable, unpretentious yet authoritative writer. His work is to be appreciated and applauded. I highly recommend it.
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Michael E.
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for any sky watcher.
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2021
Verified Purchase
Stories for around the world about past reliance on the night sky for ethical guidance, time keeping, and navigation.
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