The Under-Standing of Eclipses

This book starts with a careful explanation of the groundwork — the motions of Earth, Moon, and Sun that cause eclipses — in order to lead up to the sublimity of the experience.

There are double-page spreads for examples of the kinds of eclipse—

A lunar eclipse
A partial solar eclipse
An annular eclipse
A broken-ring eclipse (1984 May, southeastern U.S.A.)
An annular-total eclipse
A globe-skimming eclipse
A geometrically tight eclipse (2015 March, ending at the north pole)
A high-latitude eclipse
An ideal eclipse (1991 July, Hawaii and Mexico)

One section is a complete description of all the eclipses of a sample year (2017): two lunar, two solar, climaxing with the August 21 total solar eclipse that swept from Oregon to South Carolina (as shown on the book’s cover).

Some other features:

Large globe pictures, and many other illustrations
A deep exploration of the “saros” and other intricate patterns woven by eclipses across spans of time
“Flick movies” of an annular eclipse and a total eclipse along the tops of the pages
Eclipse stories (about 40)

8½ x 11 in., 118 pages, many illustrations. 1991; 2nd edition 1991; 3rd edition 2004; 4th edition 2013; 5th edition 2016; reprinted wuth additional pictures 2024. ISBN 978-0-934546-74-4.
$26.95

“If you can get to the eclipse path . . . this brief book will be well worth carrying. If you stay at home, follow the score here to grasp these harmonious but silent rhythms” —Scientific American

“Not since Richard A. Proctor of the last century has there been an author so attuned to the numerous geometrical nuances of the celestial clockwork” —Sky & Telescope

“What a wonderful book for teaching purposes! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book on eclipses that even approaches its usefulness” —Dan Green, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory