A Scheme of Heaven: The History of Astrology and the Search for Our Destiny in Data

by Alexander Boxer

An illuminating look at the surprising history and science of astrology, civilization’s first system of algorithms, from Babylon to the present day.

Humans are pattern-matching creatures, and astrology is our grandest pattern-matching game. In this refreshing work of history and analysis, data scientist Alexander Boxer examines classical texts on astrology to expose its underlying scientific and mathematical framework. Astrology, he argues, was the ancient world’s most ambitious applied mathematics problem, a grand data-analysis enterprise sustained by some of history’s most brilliant minds from Ptolemy to al-Kindi to Kepler.

A “scheme of heaven,” or horoscope, is recognized as pseudoscience today, but was once considered a cutting-edge scientific tool. Not only does Boxer trace different applications of horoscopes back to their origins, he also puts them to the test using modern data sets and statistical science, arguing that today’s data scientists do work similar to astrologers of yore.

At once critical, rigorous, and far-ranging, A Scheme of Heaven recontextualizes astrology as a vast, technological project—spanning continents and centuries—that foreshadowed our data-driven world today.

Genres: Astrology, Nonfiction, History, Science, Astronomy, Mathematics, Audiobook

336 pages, Hardcover

Published January 14, 2020

About the author

Alexander Boxer is a data scientist with a PhD in physics and degrees in the history of science and classics. His research has appeared in Nature Physics and he was Atlas Obscura’s original Washington, DC, “field agent.”

Reviews

[Suzannah Rowntree · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to put an astrologer/mathematician character into A STRANGER IN THE LAND, but fairly quickly came up against one little problem: I knew nothing about astrology, either in terms of its history or how it was done in the 13th century. In quick succession, therefore, I crunched through a couple of books: one on medieval mathematics and astronomy (THE LIGHT AGES) and this one, on the history of astrology. Both covered much similar ground, cementing the trickier mathematical concepts in my head, but there was enough difference to make both of them essential reads.

The main thing to grasp is that before the scientific revolution, there was no meaningful distinction between astronomy, astrology, and mathematics. They were interlinked disciplines practiced by the same people and all aimed at the same result: the successful and increasingly accurate pinpointing of the positions of the stars and the planets in relation to each other. The motivation for all the incredibly sophisticated arithmetic necessary to make these calculations, of course, was astrology, which medievals used in an attempt to predict weather, geopolitical events, natural disasters, and the causes and treatment of illnesses. And while at least one court astrologer had to agree with his critics that the position of the planets seemed to have no meaningful correlation to events on earth, in what other way was a medieval mathematician going to support himself?

As I said in my review of THE LAST STARGAZERS, the stars by virtue of their distance from Earth are uniquely difficult to exploit, and the main way that humans have sought to do so is via astrology: seeing the stars as a means to wield power over one's political and natural environment. It is one of the great paradoxes, perhaps even a miracle, of history that it was the centuries of dedicated hard scientific/mathematical study done in service to astrology that ultimately developed astronomy and mathematics into disciplines that could relegate astrology to the status of a pseudoscience and usher in the scientific revolution. I'd been very vaguely aware of this since reading a biography of Johannes Kepler for children, struggling even then with the paradox that men like Kepler, Brahe, and Copernicus were all firm believers in what today we call astrology even as they revolutionised our understanding of the universe. Today, it blows my mind that centuries of dedicated faith in the influences of the planets on the earth could have been uprooted by their own adherents, whose dedication to the truth of what their studies were teaching them ultimately proved stronger than their desire to read the heavens and master their fates on earth.

Medieval mathematician-astrologers were not, however, superstitious ignoramuses. They weren't developing whole sophisticated branches of arithmetic, as well as magnificently designed and highly accurate instruments for measuring and calculating the positions of stars and planets, while being drooling idiots. As Boxer points out, citing one economist's quip that "the only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable":

Day in and day out, astrologers struggled to interpret the meanings of complex mathematical models centuries before the statistical tools were developed to assess whether those models meant anything at all. Hundreds of years from now, will our own age be similarly mocked, or perhaps pitied, for our feeble attempts to predict the future?

Boxer's final chapter is illuminating in how it distinguishes the historical discipline of astrology, which led directly to the scientific revolution, from modern newspaper horoscopes, deeply influenced by Carl Jung who seemed to believe that "nobody can become a competent pscyhoanalist without first becoming an expert astrologer":

I very much doubt that this is a widely held opinion among professional therapists today. Yet the converse opinion - that every good astrologer must also be a good pscyhoanalyst - is pretty much the default among modern astrologers and their clients alike. A classical astrologer was, first and foremost, a human calculator, one whose most important qualification was his ability to solve long and tedious mathematical equations. By contrast, the modern astrologer is billed as a full-fledged spiritual guide...

There are two major shifts in perspective that accompanied this shift in astrology from a mathematical discipline to a New Age spiritual practice. First, classical astrology had been quite clear that it had far more to do with the fates of nations and princes than with the daily lives of individuals. The idea that I, the descendent of furriers, journalists, and housewives, could open a newspaper and find pleasantly vague predictions based on my sun sign would have seemed pretty preposterous to, say, Claudius Ptolemy. Second, and more importantly, a classical astrologer lived in a world in which planetary influences were a broadly accepted fact. He may not have had much faith in his own ability to identify and predict those influences, but as a rule he believed that he was working with something identifiable and predictable, if he could only refine the mathematics to a certain point. In this sense, it's not surprising that this discipline would lead to the scientific revolution. By contrast, today's astrology came about largely as a reaction against the idea of a sterile, mechanistic, materialistic universe. Today's astrology girlies - in my experience, at least - don't consult their stars out of a blind faith in pseudoscience; rather, they want to believe that the cosmos is a rich place and full of life, and even if they remain agnostic about astrology, it remains a rich aesthetic that can be drawn upon in defiance of materialism. In that, they have much in common with CS Lewis (if PLANET NARNIA is any indication).

Boxer's book is chatty and conversational. Not just a history, it takes advantage of his background as a statistician to examine the claims of astrology and show how the human pattern-finding impulse that seeks correlations between events on earth and heavenly bodies could have been so mistaken for so long. He writes with a certain amount of coyness that I found offputting - "There's no statistical correlation between your birth horoscope and your profession, but tee hee! the motto of this professional organisation is an astrological reference, so who can say but the stars have an influence on our professions after all!" - but I guess he was worried about walking the line between the hard-line materialists among his professional colleagues and the serious astrological believers who might be the readership of his book. In the end, the history and the maths checks out, and the coyness does not overwhelm the balanced discussion of what, precisely, can be proved and disproved about astrology.

[Ugnė · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iki galo negaliu apsispręsti, ar 4, ar 5 žvaigždutės, nes pradžia buvo įdomesnė nei pabaiga, ir vis tik - man labai patiko, kaip knygoje suderinta žmonių kalba ir moksliniai metodai. Skaitydama kelis kartus pagavau save galvojant, kad va taip ir turi atrodyti integruotas ugdymas, apie kurį dabar visi tiek šneka.

Alexander Boxer pabandė pasižiūrėti į astrologiją kaip į bandymą sukurti duomenų bazę ir/ar algoritmą, leidžiančią nuspėti žmogaus charakterį ir likimą, ir tam tikrose vietose arba pats patikrina, arba pasiremia kitų tikrinimais, ar tie bandymai pagrįsti - pvz., ar tikrai Svarstyklių ženklas susijęs su teisingumu, ar Jupiterio ir Saturno konjunkcija sukelia didelius pokyčius visuomenėje, ar nuo to, kokiam būste yra planetos priklauso investavimo sėkmė ir pan. Greta viso to pasakojama astrologijos istorija - kaip ji nuo dalyko, Antikoje neatsiejamo nuo matematikos ir astronomijos, tapo trijų eilučių horoskopais portaluose, iš kur atsirado kalbos apie Gyvatnešį (čia toks 13tas Zodiako ženklas) ir kada bei kodėl bus galima švęst Vandenio eros pradžią (negreit).

Tikėtina, kad aršiesiems astrologijos skeptikams knyga pasirodys per švelni, o aršieji astrologijos fanatikai įsižeis (aš įsižeisčiau vien dėl to, kad visi mano argumentai išdėstomi kaip ant delno), bet aš manau, kad ir neskaitant jos visos nuo pradžios iki pabaigos joje galima rasti labai įvairių dalykų.

[Karen Christino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alexander Boxer’s A Scheme of Heaven is a new work about the history of astrology. Obviously published to capitalize on astrology’s current popularity, the book benefits from the author’s familiarity with ancient texts, but is ultimately undermined by his scientific point of view. Boxer is a classics scholar with an affection for the old tomes and languages. His bite-sized coverage of many astrological topics, from Manilius to Cardano, is often easy-to-understand and sometimes even entertaining. While the writer covers much familiar ground, I still learned some new things.

But the author is also a “data scientist.” The book’s U.S. subtitle, “The History of Astrology and the Search for Our Destiny in Data,” is, it seems to me, a faulty conceit. Boxer assumes that all astrology is essentially reducible to algorithms and statistics, and its allure simply due to our need for patterns. For those who want to know more about astrology’s past, A Scheme of Heaven is worth reading. But it’s also indicative of the modern malaise of those with nothing to believe in, who summarily dismiss anything outside their limited point of view. Read the full review on my blog: https://karenchristino.com/a-scheme-o...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book, I learned a lot of interesting stuff that falls into a few broad categories: basic astronomy (e.g., the ecliptic, various coordinate schemes, precession of the equinoxies, etc.), that all kinds of words and ideas that derive from astrology (e.g., 24-hour day, 7-day week, the term "New Age"), and some of the history of science (including that the longest-running scientific collection project in history was a 700-years-long (!) collection of astronomical data -- for the purpose of astrology. A major theme of the book is that astrology (which is often (and rightly) considered dubious) and astronomy (a rigorous science) are much more closely related than we tend to think and share deep historical connections.

My main complaint is that the book tends to ramble in parts, but I was glad I read it.

[Puzzlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the history and the perspective Alexander Boxer gives in this book. As someone who loves both astronomy & astrology and has extensively studied both, but astrology moreso than astronomy, it was nice to read a book about how both can exist without one jeopardizing the other--Star Law vs Star Lore. Absolutely loved that. If you love history, astrology, and humanity, I definitely recommend picking this up.

[Moved to Library Thing adaorhell · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh. the history aspect was interesting but not interesting enough for this old astrology pro.

[Martijn]

A fascinating, open-minded history of astrology as perhaps the oldest data science in history, by a data scientist himself.

[Vahid Askarpour · Rating 4 out of 5]

گالیله و کپرنیک را بنیانگذاران علم مدرن می‌دانند؛ با این ویژگی محرز که به واسطهٔ زبان ریاضی، قوانینی را در طبیعت تشخیص دادند که وجودی مطلق دارند و ربطی به بود و نبود ناظر انسانی ندارند. این علم با مرکز-زدایی از زمین نشان خورده است که به اعتباری، مرکز-زدایی از انسان هم هست. اما این سنت اطلاق ریاضی جهان با گالیله آغاز نشد؛ بلکه در طالع‌بینی ریشه دارد که در قلمرو روم باستان به عنوان یک مشرب علمی جدی وارد میدان شد. به شخصه یکی از عادت‌های برجای مانده از دوران نوجوانی‌ام که با مجلات عمومی و بعضاً زرد آغاز شد، چک کردن گاه و بیگاه طالع روزانه یا ماهانه‌ام است که حسی عجیب را درونم ایجاد می‌کند؛ انگار زمان از پیش توی مشتم باشد. می‌دانم این عادت نزد اکثر دور و بری‌ها و همکارانم هم وجود دارد؛ با این حال بسیاری از ما به خصوص اگر اهل درس و دانشگاه باشیم، از روی خجالت یا شرم آن را رو نمی‌کنیم و در بقچهٔ اسرار مگویمان سفت و سخت نزد خودمان نگه‌اش می‌داریم. طالع‌بینی از اسکندریه تا بغداد و تولِدو و شهرهای رنسانس شمال و غرب اروپا به مهمترین زبان علم‌گرایان تبدیل شد که جز با ریاضی سخن نمی‌گفتند. حتی کپلر هم که از وی به عنوان یکی از ستون‌های اصلی علم مدرن نام برده می‌شود، بخش عمده‌ای از زندگی خود را سرگرم نگارش سالنامه‌های نجومی بوده است. خودش طالع‌بینی را مادر ستاره‌شناسی می‌داند که حق مادری‌اش تا همیشه نزد فرزند محفوظ است!
یک مشخصهٔ بارز طالع‌بینی بنیان آن بر ریاضی است که خواه‌ناخواه میان آنچه تحصیل می‌شود و شخص تحصیل‌کننده‌اش اختلافی وجودی می‌افکند. برای همین معادلات ریاضی هرگز ما را چونان اشعار سهراب سپهری سر شوق نمی‌آورد و باید حتماً ریاضی‌دان باشیم تا زیبایی‌های آن را تشخیص دهیم؛ و هیچ ریاضی‌دانی نمی‌تواند ادعا کند که قواعد ریاضی متعلق به اوست؛ آنها بوده‌اند و او صرفاً بیان‌شان کرده است. مشخصهٔ بارز دیگر «تقدیرگرایی» مستتر در طالع‌بینی است؛ اینکه آدمی چیزی نیست جز آنچه کواکب برایش می‌خواهند. نه ریاضی و نه تقدیرگرایی هیچ‌یک خوشایند فلاسفهٔ بنیانگذار متافیزیک نبوده است. تا همان اواخر قرون وسطا، آباء کلیسا ریاضی را اشتغالی پست و علوم وابسته به آن را ناتوان از گشایش حقایق به شمار می‌آوردند و در این باره کافی است تنها نگاهی گذرا به تاریخ زندگی گالیله افکند. جریان متافیزیکی غالب (که همین امروز هم نهادهای عمدهٔ دینی و اومانیستی را به یک اندازه در انقیاد خود دارد) اساساً عمیق‌ترین معارف و حقایق را آنها می‌داند که به طور مستقیم بر قلب آدمی افکنده می‌شود و تنها کلام در بیان تأویلی آن توانمند است. در تاریخ تفکر دو جریان مخالف در باب جایگاه انسان درون جهان، همواره به موازات هم پیش آمده‌اند؛ اولی بر ارادهٔ محض انسان در تعیین سرنوشت خود تکیه دارد و دومی بر اینکه انسان چونان مومی در دست نیروهایی ورای خویش، به همان شکلی در می‌آید که آن نیروها او را چنان می‌خواهند. این دو جریان هر یک زبان خود را داشته‌اند؛ اولی عمیقاً بر کلام بنیان دارد و دومی روی ریاضیات و الگوریتم می‌ایستد.
اینکه تقدیرگرایی و ریاضی همواره دوشادوش هم بوده‌اند و به علوم سرّی امکان تحقّق بخشیده‌اند اتفاقی نیست. ریاضی از قواعدی سخن می‌گوید که ربطی به انسان ندارند؛ تقدیرگراها نیز از قواعدی می‌گویند که بر آدمی تسلط دارد. متافیزیک کلام-محور اما در فضا و زمان، یک سکون ازلی-ابدی بنیادین تشخیص می‌دهد و همهٔ ظواهر پیدا و پنهان را سایه‌های آن سکون می‌داند. نزد ارسطو عالم یا زیر ماه است و یا روی ماه. عالم زیر ماه جهان صیرورت‌ها و شدن‌های سایه‌وار فرم‌ها است و عالم روی ماه و طبقات آن (از خورشید تا زحل که آسمان یا بهشت هفتم است!) جهان سکون، فاقد حرکت، فاقد دگردیسی و عمیقاً ایستا و ثابت. کمال مطلق در این عالم روی ماه جای دارد و برای همین نزد ارسطو مواد اگر به حال خود باشند، در حرکت جوهری خویش میل به بالا رفتن دارند!!! خلاف این منظر متافیزیکی-کلامی، ریاضی و علوم منبعث از آن (طالع‌بینی، ستاره‌شناسی و جغرافیا) در همه‌چیز حرکت، تغییر و تبدّل می‌بینند. آنجا که نزد اردوگاه متافیزیک-کلامی، زمین مرکز جهان است و همهٔ پدیده‌های دیگر دور آن می‌چرخند، نزد طالع‌بینان و جغرافی‌دانان که نقطهٔ اوج خود را در جسم کوپرنیک می‌یابند، نه تنها زمین مرکز عالم نیست و به دور خورشید می‌چرخد، بلکه خورشید نیز ثابت نیست و بر مداری بزرگتر در حال گردش است. نقاط تاریکی که گالیله روی سطح خورشید می‌یابد، آنها که در طول سال و در ادوار دوازده‌ساله نیز مدام دگرگونی می‌پذیرند، در کنار کشف ستارهٔ سوپرنوا توسط کپلر که خود حاصل مرگ یک ستارهٔ درجه یک محسوب می‌شود، گویی میخی بود بر تابوت آنان که عالم فراتر از ماه را ثابت و لایتغیر می‌پنداشتند.
اینکه جغرافیا و ستاره‌شناسی و طالع‌بینی سه وجه یک ماهیت باشند و هر سه نیز بر ریاضی بنیان داشته باشند نه عجیب است و نه اتفاقی. هر سهٔ آنها همزمان مولود حرکت روی زمین هستند؛ مولود کسانی که برای گذر از نقطه‌ای به نقطهٔ دیگر (خواه برای تجارت یا لشکرکشی) نیازمند محاسبهٔ فواصل بودند و در عین‌حال، حتماً محتاج به اینکه اوضاع و احوال آب‌وهوایی را «پیش‌بینی» و «پیش‌گویی» کنند. در این هر دو «تقدیری» نفهته است که می‌تواند تا همهٔ وجوه زندگی آدمی بسط پیدا کند. و اگر بپذیریم حرکت ماه عامل جزر و مد است و فضای ما آکنده از نیروهای کیهانی است (مثلاً آن نیروهایی که در اثر انفجار ستاره‌های در شرف مرگ آزاد می‌شوند) و شدت و ضعف این نیروها نیز بسته به نقطهٔ جغرافیایی و موقعیت زمین نسبت به کواکب و سیارات دیگر متفاوت، چرا نتوان ادعا کرد که انسان نیز به همان اندازه از این نیروها اثر می‌پذیرد و آن نیروها بخشی از این آثار خود را در خلق‌وخوها، منش‌ها و اوضاع و احوال بدنی-روانی او بر جای می‌گذارند؟ اینجاست که طالع‌بینی اراده نمی‌شناسد و به همین دلیل همواره مغضوب کلیسا بوده است که آدم و حوایشان به اراده، بدی برگزیدند. و همینجاست که بزرگترین دستاوردهای علم مدرن نه در کلیساها، که روی عرشهٔ کشتی‌های اکتشافی محقق می‌شود و هر چه بیشتر، به زبان ریاضی و الگوریتمی برگردان می‌شود.
علم مدرن خلاف سنت متافیزیکی-کلامی مدعی است آنچه اراده خوانده می‌شود، مجموعه‌ای به غایت پیچیده و متکثر از الگوریتم‌های تودرتو و برخوردار از مقیاس‌های گوناگون است که در ابعادی از کوآنتوم گرفته تا میان‌ستاره‌ای، فرم‌ها و حرکات ریز و درشت آنها را در ادارهٔ خود دارند. می‌توان این نیروها را کشف و به زبان ریاضی بیان کرد اگر فناوری بگذارد! زیرا آخرالامر همهٔ آنها مادی هستند؛ وگرنه نمی‌توانستند روی اجسام آثار مستقیم و غیرمستقیم برجای بگذارند.
ما امروز روی خوشی نسبت به طالع‌بینی نشان نمی‌دهیم و آن را مجموعه‌ای از خرافه‌ها و اوهام می‌دانیم. اما طالع‌بینی در بدو امر آمد تا برای همهٔ وقایعی که انسان‌ها محصول موجودات خرافی و اوهام خویش می‌دانستند، دلایل عقلانی و فیزیکی پیدا کند! تصور و درک امروزین ما از طالع‌بینی (یا ستاره‌بینی) با آنچه پیشینیان از آن مراد خود می‌ساختند بسیار دور است. اما نگاه تیرهٔ ما به خودِ طالع‌بینی بازنمی‌گردد، بلکه به انتظارات ما از آن مربوط می‌شود. اینکه شما مجموعه‌ای از ابزارهای سنگی را روی میز خود داشته باشید که فی‌نفسه واقعیت دارند یک چیز است، و اینکه بخواهید از طریق جستجوی الگو و الگودهی به آنها و طبقه‌بندی‌شان، آن داده‌ها را تفسیر کنید تا نزد خود معنادارشان کنید یک چیز کاملاً متفاوت! تفسیرها و الگودهی‌ها همیشه ریشه در امیال سوبژکتیو ما دارند که از اتفاق بخش عمده‌ای از آنها نیز ارادی نیستند. بار دیگر که به گذر ابرها چشم دوختید و چهره‌ها و اشکال گوناگون را در میان آنها تشخیص دادید، از خودتان بپرسید که چرا این اشکال را می‌بینید و نه جز آنها را! اگر می‌خواهیم بدانیم دقیقاً کدام نیروها در بدو تولدمان، در شکل‌دادن به خلق‌وخو، رفتارها، میزان ترشح هورمون‌ها و نظایر آن دخل و تصرّف داشته‌اند، نیازمند داشتن یک پایگاه دادگان به اندازهٔ همهٔ نیروهای فیزیکی کیهان در سه سطح ریزکیهانی، نیوتونی و کلان‌کیهانی هستیم که ساده‌اش این می‌شود: دستکم مطابق با فناوری‌های امروز امری غیرممکن است! اما اگر از طالع‌بینی‌های صفحات آخر مجلات «زندگی» و «زندگی سبز» و «زندگی خوب» چنین نتیجه بگیریم که طالع‌بینی مجموعه‌ای از تلاش‌ها و باورهای موهوم است، مثل این می‌ماند که با تشخیص ندادن اشکال دلخواهمان در ابر، وجود نیروهای مولد ابر و حتی خود آن را زیر سوال ببریم!
پیدایش طالع‌بینی و علوم وابسته به آن یک انقلاب درخشان در مقیاس انسانی بوده و هست. نه تنها بدان‌خاطر که نشان داد چیزهایی در جهان وجود دارد که نه تحت ارادهٔ انسان است و نه قابل فروکاهی به قضاوت‌های او (چنان که سوفسطائیان می‌پنداشتند)، بلکه حتی بیشتر از آن رو که با گشایش فضایی از معرفت که قابل بیان از طریق زبان ریاضی باشد، هر روز بیشتر از گذشته نشان‌مان می‌دهد که حتی اراده نیز بخشی از تقدیر ماست! طالع‌بینی دروازه‌های ادراک انسان را به روی حقایقی گشود که اموری مطلق هستند؛ یعنی هیچ نسبتی با احساسات و هیجانات او ندارند؛ هر چند بارها مورد تفسیرها و تأویل‌های حق‌به‌جانب قرار گرفته باشند و هنوز نیز، قرار بگیرند (همانکه شبه‌علم و سوءاستفاده از علم خوانده می‌شود)!

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful entry into the history of science. Compelling writing and claims duly backed up with data make this an academic joy to read. Definitely written for the layperson rather than a statistician or astronomer - luckily for this reader! I could see this book being used as an exemplar for Statistics 101 courses to make data analysis relatable and enjoyable.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

[W. Nikola-Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Alexander Boxer's A Scheme of Heaven a delightful, though at times difficult, read. His grasp of the historical roots of astrology is impressive and combined with his knowledge of quantitative analysis brings to life this curious and persistent intellectual endeavor. You won't learn how to do astrology by reading this book, but you will broaden your understanding not only of its historical roots, but also of the intellectual environment in which astrology continues to flourish.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was hoping for slightly more "astrology as insight into flawed human habits & psychology," slightly less "history of how things became calculated the way they are in astrology." More why, less how.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tongue-in-cheek history and assessment of astrology by a data scientist, tracing its entwinement with astronomy and asking more interesting questions than a straight, rah-rah-go-science history would. The book moves forward through time, but maybe its most helpful to start at the surprising end: astrology only took a turn toward woo woo spiritualism and personality assessment via Theosophy and Carl Jung in the early 1900s. Before that date it took itself more seriously, was much more complex, and offered itself as of practical use: predicting not just life courses of emperors but also the prices of commodities. It also was regarded doubtfully even by practitioners.

One reason astrology hung on for so long had to do with the late development of statistical thinking. No one knew how to run a chi-squared test or a regression; if they had it could have been thrown in the waste bin much earlier. The author playfully goes through the exercise, crunching the numbers on the star signs of Supreme Court Justices, eg. But he seems not much interested in the results, perhaps anticipating we wouldn't be either. Maybe that was an editorial choice because the slap-down empirical mood doesn't jibe with the generous spirit of the historical portions. Or else, maybe the choice to not press the statistical results was in recognition of the how arbitrarily the signs and coordinates and calendars that determine that "data" were drawn and redrawn over the centuries.

He suggests that although astrology was always bunk the reasons its critics gave for rejecting it were often weak. He endorses Carl Sagan's point that some theories later validated (eg, continental drift) were initially rejected because no conceivable mechanism could support them (tectonic plates were discovered only later), so we shouldn't have rejected astrology merely because we didn't know of a mechanism by which it could have worked. There's something to that, but I wish he had gone further into the "demarcation problem" and in philosophy of science, and how it has treated the paradigm pseudoscience that is astrology. He does cite Feyerabend's "The Strange Case of Astrology," but doesn't explain its content, which is an interesting takedown of both astrology and most of its critics.

Astrology is one of those subjects like psychic research: to the embarrassment of many it historically engaged some great thinkers. That makes it an interesting subject to trace through time, shining unusual sidelights on otherwise familiar developments and personalities in science. This book has a lot of value as a unusual history of thought and explanation of some related science, but it isn't--and, for reasons it hints at, couldn't be--the data scientific treatment it advertises itself as.

[Dan Cassino · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this one, because it manages to effectively do to things. It’s not just a micro-history of astrology (though it is that), nor a story about the development of science, but serves as a primer on statistical reasoning and hypothesis testing. Taking the predictions of astrology, and testing them rigorously using modern data science techniques is a bit of a lark, but explaining what he’s doing means that Boxer has to demonstrate the difference between statistical significant and insignificant correlations, and the importance of theory in shaping those statistical tests, and all of the other things I wish my undergrads knew before taking research methods.
I don’t want to give the impression that this reads like an undergrad stats text; it’s conversational, basically never includes equations, and doesn’t read as didactic. But it does an excellent job of getting the essential ideas of modern data science testing across, and that’s admirable in a book that’s not centered on it (and does a better job than most books that are trying to do just that). There was also plenty of the process-y detail that I love about how horoscopes were actually made during the heyday of astrology, and all the sort of little fun facts you get from a micro-history (get ready for a series of odd connections to Hamlet). Does much more than it had to do, and never drags. Well worth the time.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a mixed bag; not in quality, but in how it landed for me. Alexander Boxer is curious, methodical, and impressively thorough. His deep dive into the history of astrology, from ancient Babylonian sky-watchers to modern-day algorithms, gave me just enough context to understand the cultural and psychological roots of why we’ve looked to the stars for answers for so long.

That said, not every chapter kept my attention. Some sections were more technical or historically dense than I expected, and I found myself skimming in parts. Still, I appreciated the effort. Boxer clearly respects the reader enough to not oversimplify.

What lingered most, though, wasn’t the history or data; it was my own response to the material. I’m firmly in the camp that sees astrology as unscientific, yet I’m still fascinated by it. I roll my eyes at sun signs, but I’ve spent far too much time trying to make sense of my birth chart. That contradiction stuck with me.

Why am I so quick to scoff at astrology while happily embracing personality tests like the Enneagram or Myers-Briggs? I wear my INFJ and Enneagram 9 labels like favorite jeans. There’s something comforting about frameworks, even if I know they’re imperfect. Maybe it’s less about accuracy and more about the invitation to reflect.

All in all, this was worth the read. I didn’t retain most of the history, but I left with better questions — and maybe that’s enough.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8 stars- When I first picked up this book, I wasn’t expecting it to be a history book. However, the research, data, and mini stories that took you back in time were captivating, and I think overall paved the way for a greater appreciation of astrology as a whole, which I think was the author's main purpose. The target audience, however, seems like he wrote it for the curious individual who wants to know more about astrology. At least, that’s how it came across at first and was what drew me in. However, the wording and language of this book doesn’t fit with that purpose. There was a lot of complex terms and language that frankly, were confusing at times. This was not the entire book however, and I actually very much enjoyed the tone of the author's writing. There were many avenues to which the author went down to explain these phenomenons, without really doing much explaining at all. To a non-historian, this could be a bit confusing. The author's extensive research and data to back up his findings was immaculate, and if it weren’t for the excessive language and terms that I found was a bit over the top for the everyday non-scientist reader, this book would’ve hit four stars for me.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

 I found this book to be an enjoyable sprint through the history of Astrology (seriously - it zips through a few thousand years). As an Astrology-sceptic this was good introduction to the key figures and schools of thought. However, I found it hard to really absorb a lot of the information, and I think part of it is that the book is trying to do too many things at once for too many audiences. The main ones I picked up were:

1) The theory that Astrology was the first effort humans made at big data, in their constant endeavour to identify patterns - I found this to be the most intriguing of the theories in the book, but it doesn't delve deeply here. Why do humans look for patterns? What drives us to look for these in the sky?

2) The development of Astronomy is fundamentally intertwined with the development of Astrology and for many years the two were interchangeable - I think it is in this message, the book is most successful. To do this, the book goes to the basics of Astronomy. 

[Rich Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating dive into the history of astrology.

While mostly dismissed as pseudoscience today, astrology has surprising roots in serious science and math. The author, Alexander Boxer, is a data scientist. He explores not whether astrology exerts influence on humanity - it absolutely does - but rather what the nature and degree of that influence are.

Take language, for example. “Mazal tov” literally means “good zodiac sign.” A bad one? That makes you a shlemazel — yes, like from Laverne & Shirley. And if your stars really misalign? That’s a disaster — from Greek dis (bad) + aster (star).

Of course harmful celestial influences are best avoided. One particularly nasty influence or, to use the Italian, ‘influenza,’ was considered responsible for an outbreak of a disease that we now call the flu.

The book is full of great tidbits like that. Or this one: statistically, NHL players are much more likely to be Aquarius or Pisces than either Scorpio or Sagittarius. Like, It’s not even close. Is this due to innate athleticism in the former? Read the book and see!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boxer shares his love of history of science through astrology.

He tells how we've tried to find patterns from nature, tell stories that are relevant to us, and possibly predict the future. If a universe is like a clockwork, why not observe heavenly bodies and find correlations to what is happening around us?

Astrology has been at the core of this pursuit. At first, astrology was not different from astronomy. Astrology used mathematics such as numbers, algorithms, cartography to calculate the movements of the sky. Astrology tried to predict our lives, birth and death. Astrology was based on empirical study and philosophy of nature. Astrology reflected our stubborn insistence on finding patterns and meanings. Hence, astrology has survived and thrived through the scientific revolution and modern world.

Before denying astrology as science, Boxer shows how we can approach astrology from curiosity and wonder.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting read exploring the the historical orgins of astrology in places like Alexandria, Italy, etc; to key historical figures advancing ideas of astrology/ astronomy (the author discusses how these terms were often interchangable for most of history). The book also discusses how poltical figures often had astrologers on staff to help them determine details about pursuing battels, when they might die, etc.

I learned a lot about how astrology was a key way for scientists to make sense of the vast world we inhabit, all the way up until modern day life, where astrology is usually seen as a not so scientific endeavor. I appreicated how Jung was named as a scientist who aimed to bridge the gap between mysitism and science. My guy!

I also thought the stastical analyses applied to test anciet theories about astronomy was a fun take. Grateful for this book on my astrology journey!

[Pranjal Awasthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Astrology is often considered as the quintessential pseudoscience. Karl Popper described it as the best exemplification of science versus non-science. Alexander boxer does a very good job of taking a balanced look at how the phenomena of astrology cropped up in the West. He does justice to astrology giving it its fair share. He, however, does not make unscientific or blanket proclamations to the soothsaying capabilities of astrology. He is a data scientist and he speaks like one and takes a very rational approach to understanding the phenomena of astrology. For this reason, the book is really enjoyable. It's historical in nature and does help you get a landscape of how the streams of astrology and astronomy intertwined to give rise to a larger stream of disciplines driven by numbers

[Kingsleadhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable (and, at times, entertaining) read on a subject so often shrouded in theosophical wonder language. I also loved the tables - the "schemes of heaven" - for crucial historical events.
Perhaps though the book doesn't feel very consistent in the exposition from beginning till the end. The first half offers a very delightful balance between history and the developments actually unfolding in the astro-science, finessed with humor. The final few chapters read like a more conventional history book, rushing through with key names and historical quarrels, losing sight of actually how the art changed in the process, on the ground.
Still, I'd recommend it for both seasoned astro-fans and casual readers.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

It started with David singing psalm and closed with Carl Sagan's wisdom.

A fantastic read, creatively-written, a starry tapestry of science and history. Alexander Bower who got his PhD from MIT (and also a read of history) taught us the important lesson that it is possible to approach the astrology vs astronomy debates (or any other difficult and captious debates) with an exploratory mind without vindictiveness. And therefore we could gain greater knowledge from both sides.

I'm so glad to find this book.

[Cody]

As entertaining as it is to watch Alexander Boxer apply ancient algorithms to modern data, the real value of this book, to me, is in tracing a narrative arc from the intertwining of astronomy and astrology that persisted across millennia and grew out of the shared pursuits of varied cultures and thinkers. It's also an impassioned and timely warning of the chilling effect any form of closed-mindedness has on innovation, scientific progress, and curiosity in general.

[Yitzchok · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well respected PhD data scientist examines astrology through the lens of history and its contribution to the sciences. I really enjoyed this honest examination and exploration of astrology through history. He treated the subject with respect and shared many fascinating details about astrology's place in history. Well done!

[Jon Nadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very delightful read. Author has a great love of science and a gift for making complex things understandable.

This is a scientific book. It is not a book on how you learn to predict the future.

I used to teach astronomy and could have used this as a supplement book for students who wanted to know how astrology and astronomy are connected. (Which was usually half the class.)

[Sohum · Rating 3 out of 5]

boxer betrays a peculiar mix of wonder and skepticism--or rather, treats objects with each in unusual ways, and I would have appreciated a more robust treatment of contemporary 'astrologies' (i.e data driven prognostications), but I still learned a good deal.

[Michelle Corder · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were many interesting aspects of this book but it was not exactly what I was looking for or expecting. I do appreciate that it expanded my perspective on astrology, which is a new subject for me.

[Robert Lambroschino · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice book-supports the phenomenological position on science as, in my words, a skin deep exploration of existence that succeeds by a)excluding as irrelevant what is most humanly relevant; and b)burying what is embarrassing(to the pompous ones)in its past. Made a nice complement with The Black Swan. Now I want to learn to use an astrolabe!

[John Boardley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easier read than the other introductions to the history of Western astrology.

[Rach]

A sweet passion project that I had an extraordinarily hard time following. Don't know if I learned anything...