Review: New Stars for Old by Marc Read

Title: New Stars for Old
Author: Marc Read
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Candy Jar Books
Publish Date: July 9, 2013
Source: I received a copy from the author; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a historical fiction fan.
• You're a science fan.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "New Stars for Old is a collection of twenty short stories, each dealing with a specific character or episode from the history of astronomy. Accompanied by historical notes, the book covers the changing relationships between science, astrology, religion and general intellectual culture from Aristotle to Newton through the eyes of central and peripheral figures."

My Two Cents:

"New Stars for Old" is a collection of vignettes about various historical figures who contributed to the field of astronomy. Being both a historical fiction lover and being fascinated by science, I ate up this collection. The author introduces many different historical figures in this book. Some of them I was familiar with and some of them were brand new to me (I always love learning a little bit when I read). This is a great collection of short stories!

The author brings so many great characters to life in this book! The writing is great and the stories are really fascinating. All of the short stories are very different from each other. The author truly creates an individual voice for the characters in each of the stories. I really liked all of the stories but one of my favorites has to do with a young man studying under the tutlege of Hypathia, the famous Greek mathematician. First off, I think Hypathia is a pretty cool historical figure and I love reading about her. Second off, the story is notable in that the student is a Christian. I didn't realize that there would have been Christians that would have studied under Hypathia. Oh how I love learning something new.

One interesting feature of this book is that the author included historical notes after each story in the book. He tells you what characters are fictional and which were real. He also tells you a little bit more about the real figures. At first these sections were a little jarring but they really grew on me. It was nice to learn a little bit more about the historical figures while reading this book. This collection is a good read for history and science lovers alike!