Music of the Spheres

by Guy Murchie

Music of Spheres book

Unknown Binding

About the author

Guy Murchie (Jr.) son of Ethel A. and Guy Murchie (Sr) was a Chicago Tribune photographer, staff artist and reporter, who had served as a war correspondent in England and Iceland from 1940 to 1942. He was briefly married to Barbara Cooney.

He was a flight instructor and a practising member of the Bahá'í Faith. His books included Men on the Horizon (1932), Song of the Sky (1954), Music of the Spheres (1961) and The Seven Mysteries of Life (1978). Murchie also illustrated his books with etchings and woodcuts of his own making. The American Museum of Natural History awarded him the John Burroughs Medal in 1956 for Song of the Sky.

Reviews

[Victor Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most lucid science text ever written. Throw away all your child's textbooks and give him/her this to read. It will change apathy to wonder like lead to gold. There are chapters on the sun, the moon, the planets, chemistry, and physics. The chapter I thought would be the least interesting, about asteroids, "Gadflies of the Void" turned out to be the most unexpectedly captivating. And Murchie delivers what seems impossible at the end of the book: a lucid explanation of relativity that will leave you with an intuitive understanding of what it is and why it must be true.

(Note: There appears to be some confusion about this book. I have a beautiful 1961 first edition hardcover I inherited from my grandfather, LCCN 60-13172. There are several reviews for the Dover paperback editions, where it is broken into Volumes I & II.)

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is interesting... Definitely not from a Christian perspective... but it explores the idea (which I think is fascinating) that music is very much a part of everything. Music is simply vibrations at different frequencies that our ears translate into sounds... Well, I won't try to explain it all. I'll just say it's a very intriguing idea that you should look into to. Don't bother to buy the book unless you happen to find it for 50 cents (like I did). Just google the subject.

[Victor Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most lucid science text ever written. Throw away all your child's textbooks and give him/her this to read. It will change apathy to wonder like lead to gold.

Edit: There is some confusion over the editions of this book. I thought it was far more widely known and well regarded than it is. My review of the hardback first edition can be found here and the 40+ Amazon reviews of the hardback first edition can be found here.