Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
6
Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.
—Plato
The Republic
This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune . . . we make guilty of our own
disasters the sun, the moon, the stars; as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion,
knaves, thieves and treacherers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence.
—Shakespeare
King Lear
This is a new ocean, and I believe the United States must sail upon it.
—President John F. Kennedy
A gentle warning to readers. Be careful here. If you were surprised to learn how big the oceans are, thinking
about space may leave your head spinning. Once you start asking questions about outer space and our place
in it, you realize how tremendously insignificant the earth is in the unimaginable vastness of the universe.
Such questions have been lumped together and called
cosmology
, the curious intersection of science, faith,
cold reason, and metaphysical musings.
But why discuss space at all in a book about the earth's geography? First, because most of humanity's
conceptions of the world came about through observations of the heavens, which is why astronomy has been
called the first science. Understanding the seasons, developing the calendar, and navigation all resulted from
celestial observations made thousands of years ago.
