Books on the Solar Eclipse

Book Buzz is a blog produced in collaboration with neighborhood librarians from Houston Public Library, Harris County Public Library and the Bellaire Library.

The dog days of summer have arrived. I grew up thinking this phrase meant it was too hot and you just wanted to lie around like our dog I saw cooling in the dirt under the Elephant Ear plants next to the house.

Turns out it does not have anything to do with dogs. The phrase comes from the ancient astronomers and refers to the Dog Star, Sirius, and its position in the sky. With its appearance came heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, and bad luck. Sirius appears at the end of July through the middle of August.

Astronomers have been studying the stars for centuries and our own star, the sun, will become part of special event this month. On Aug. 21, millions of Americans will experience the first total eclipse of the sun in America in almost 40 years. Historically this awe-inspiring event was tied to evil as well as the divine. In Mask of the Sun: The Science, History and Forgotten Lore of Eclipses by John Dvorak, the humanism behind the science of both lunar and solar eclipses is revealed and the science explained.

American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World by David Baron tells the story of how the eclipse spurred three figures of the 19th century, inventor Thomas Edison, astronomer James Craig Watson and women's-rights crusader Maria Mitchell, to trek into the wild Western frontier to observe it.

Interested in learning more about the cultural aspects of a solar eclipse? Try Sun Moon Earth: The History of Solar Eclipses from Omens of Doom to Einstein and Exoplanets by Tyler Nordgren.

There are a number of titles that will help you plan a trip this year to see the eclipse as it treks across the United States. If you really want to plan, check out Totality: The Great American Eclipses of 2017 and 2024 by Mark Littmann and Fred Espenak. In this title you will find a complete guide focusing on the eclipses of Aug. 21, 2017 and April 8, 2024.