Making Sense of Astrology

By Ronny Martens and Tim Trachet

Despite 2000 years of examination and numerous challenges to the validity of astrology and its application to people's lives, the belief in the power of the stars continues to be strong worldwide. Does astrology work? Can it help us understand our lives and the world around us? Scientific analysis of astrological claims has moved the debate to a new level, away from the philosophical and symbolic.Making Sense of Astrology provides an objective evaluation of astrology, providing an overview of the main arguments linking astrology to astronomy. The authors, well-known international experts in science and reason, draw on well-founded data from the birth of astrology, traditional mythology, claims by astrologers, the psychology behind belief in the zodiac, and essential information from scientific studies.Astrological theory and practice are evaluated, throwing light on the many reasons for their continued success. The authors provide descriptive and evaluative material that should enable readers to make an intelligent and informed judgment about the value of astrology.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573922188
• ISBN13: 9781573922180
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Convincing refutation of Astrology

"Sceptical" treatises of controversial subject areas all too often suffer from lack of credibility, because they do not take the criticized subject seriously. Instead of making an honest attempt to understand the subject thorougly (which, in the case of astrology, involves hard work), they resort to purely rhetorical arguments, ridicule, logical trickery, misrepresentation of the subject, "debunkery by association", sometimes even make up scientific evidence to the contrary and invent whole studies that were never performed. This scholarly work does not need any of this. Keeping the "sceptical" belligerence to a minimum, the authors make rational, intelligent arguments that are accessible to any interested layperson who is willing to invest a little time and effort of thought. A truly educational work, and worthy of five stars.