Oor Big Braw Cosmos
Oor Big Braw Cosmos
A Cocktail of Cosmic Science, Imagery & Poetry
John C Brown & Rab Wilson
ISBN: 9781913025052
Binding: hardback
In stock
About this book:
Which Scotsman inspired Einstein's Theory of General Relativity?
Which planet is one third made of diamond?
How big is the Universe?
Find out the answers to these questions and many more in this new book from Astronomer Royal for Scotland, John C Brown OBE and Rab Wilson, renowned Scots poet and NTS Scriever in Residence at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. This fascinating guide to our skies and beyond brings together science and art to convey the beauty of our vast cosmos and its scientific workings. Combining an accessible introduction to astronomy with original space-inspired poetry and haiku, and featuring hundreds of stunning images, Oor Big Braw Cosmos shows you space as you've never seen it before.
Watch Rab Wilson perform poems from Oor Big Braw Cosmos
Reviews:
The wildly different backgrounds of the book’s two creators, alongside their merging of seemingly unrelated subject matter, results in a book that is as fascinating in its own story as in its content. The 404 Ink Magazine, Spring/Summer 2019
There’s a good chance that this astronomy book – to quote one of the featured poems by co-author Rab Wilson – is “Gaun bauldly whaur nae man hus gaen afore!” Paul F Cockburn, BBC Sky at Night Magazine
The universe is too big to traverse on foot, or via any vehicle yet devised, so humans have to probe it mentally. Some describe its majesty with mathematical formulae. Others encompass it through verse. This delightfully audacious book does both. The result it positively four-dimensional. Dava Sobel, author of Longitude
Brings together the latest cosmic thinking with a Scottish twist. Chris Lintott, presenter of The Sky at Night
…it is an extraordinary combination of cutting edge science, astronomy history, amateur astrophotography, cultural references and visual art, with verses written by poet Rab Wilson in old Scots – the language of Robbie Burns. Andy Sawers, Chair of the Flamsteed Astronomy Society, The Journal of the British Astronomical Association
This is a book to use both for reference (the astronomer’s summaries of many subjects, from the Big Bang to solar physics and exoplanets, are models of clarity) and sheer fun… It’s a book that rewards both concentrated reading and random toe-dipping in its seas of stars and universal energies. Kenny Taylor, Northwords Now
Anyone who has an enquiring mind and an interest in all things beyond our world will find this a fascinating read – Scottish Field
Interview with John Brown by An Lanntair
Oor big braw cosmos: Tae infinity an ayont …! by Rab Wilson in The National
Learn more about John Brown in The Daily Record
Learn more about astronomy with the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh or the Scottish Astronomers’ Group
Contents:
Foreword - Regius Professor Andy Lawrence FRSE (Edinburgh)
Foreword - Visiting Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell FRS, FRSE (Oxford)
Introduction - John C Brown and Rab Wilson
Acknowledgements
Prologue: The Makar
Chapter 1 - Let’s Get Started
Big Numbers and Just How Big Is the Universe?
Doactir Wha?
Space, Gravity, Orbits & the Vacuum
Musky’s Motor Caur
In the Beginning
Chapter 2 - Planets and Planetary Systems
What are Planetary Systems?
The Auld Professor
International Space Station
Apollo, Moonwalks and the First Space Selfie
Spacewalk
Mune Trees
Blue Moons, Super Moons and Other Moon Madness
Super Blue Bluid Mune
The Solar System’s Gobsmacking Moons
Dumfounerin Munes
Saturn’s Wonderful Rings
Exoplanets
Goldilocks and the Three Exoplanets
Chapter 3 - The Sun, the Stars and Nebulae
Solar Facts, Figures and Phenomena
Solaris
Polaris
Constant
The Pleiades and other Star Clusters
Subaru
Star Clusters
Birth, Life and Death of Stars and Associated Nebulae
Deuks an Dugs
Chapter 4 - Galaxies and the Large-scale Structure of the Cosmos
The Milky Way and Andromeda
Galaxies and the Extragalactic Universe
Cosmic Expansion, Dark Matter, Dark Energy and the Multiverse
Chapter 5 - Some Early Great Scots Astronomers
Today’s Scottish Astronomy Scene
James Gregory
Alexander Wilson
The Sairchin Mind
Thomas Brisbane
Mary Somerville
Mary Somerville
A Wee Message Frae Mary Somerville
Thomas Henderson
John Pringle Nichol
Charles Piazzi Smyth
Piazzi
James Clerk Maxwell
Daftie
Williamina Fleming
Chapter 6 - Human Views and Models of the Cosmos Through the Ages
From Cave Art to the Late Neolithic
Afore the Dawn
The Geometrically Perfect Cosmos of Ancient Greece and its Legacy
The Grand Orrery
Mechanical Models of Time, Space and Motion
Modern Planetaria and Virtual Reality Systems
Modern Artistic Representations of the Cosmos
Chapter 7 - Some Personal Adventures in Oor Big Braw Cosmos
Solarigraphy
Two New Constellations for Scotland
Yondermaist
The Astronomer Royal for Scotland – Tales of a Coat of Arms
Arms and the Man
The Scottish Dark Sky Observatory and a Burns Club Visit
Ayont the Sun
Ten Draps o Watter
The Kirkhill Pillar, Calderwood and Gazing Toward Black Holes
Chapter 8 - In the End
The End of Life on Earth and of our Planets
The Fates of Galaxies, Stars and Exoplanetary Systems
The Final Physical Fate of the Cosmos
Multiverse
Epilogue: Aeternum
Appendix - The Wider Worlds of Cosmic Imagery and Poetry
The Star o Hope
Map - Some Scottish Sites of Astronomical Interest
Timeline - Some Highlights in Cosmic and Astronomical History