Apollo's Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination

by Michael Sims

The critically acclaimed author brings a scientist’s curiosity and a poet’s soul to a delightful tour of a single day on Earth

Most of us do not give a second thought to the elemental rhythms of daily life. In Apollo’s Fire, Michael Sims sets out to open our eyes—literally—to the miraculous events that lie underneath the oldest story on Earth: the passing of a single day. In a profound and witty narrative that begins in the darkness before dawn, progresses through morning, noon, evening, and ends, fittingly, back in darkness, Sims takes us on an exhilarating ride through the oft- overlooked journey that all of us make every day.

Apollo’s Fire is popular science at its most engaging—sure to appeal to fans of Diane Ackerman, Michael Pollan, and Dava Sobel.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Astronomy, Mythology, History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Michael Sims is the author of the acclaimed "The Story of Charlotte's Web, Apollo's Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination," "Adam's Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form," and editor of "Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories" and "The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Detective Stories." He lives in western Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly early on in reading this book I began to skip through it quickly. It should have been something I really liked but no, not really. If you think this might be a book to buy read the reviews carefully. There are quite a few people who were put off by the content. Also quite a few positive reviews, so buyer beware.

[Rhys · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pointillist paean to Phaethon's erratic flight across the sky.

[clefaeriez · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was fun to experience the day through its processes and the histories of those process. the coda of phaethon's story ending with the title of the book gave me shivers 💫

[Mazola1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apollo's Fire is structured as a day in the life of the sun, told from the perspective of the earth. It's really lots of little stories strung together from night, to dawn, day, noon, dusk and darkness. Along the way, we learn a bit about many things, some of which are directly related to the daily journey of the earth as it turns on its axis, and some only tangentially related. Some of the topics are clouds, bats, circadean rhythms and Galileo and his telescopic observations.

Some are well known and mundane, while others are obscure and odd. Some are quite fascinating, falling into the category of "who would have known?" A prime example is the little known fact that Edgar Allen Poe came up with an elegant solution to the perplexing puzzle known as Olbers' Paradox (Why is the night sky dark if there are billions and billions of stars out there?)

While the daily journey of the earth was supposed to be the glue that gave this book a unifying theme, somehow all the pieces didn't really seem to come together all that well, and the inclusion of some seemed artificial and forced. Overall, the concept of the book was better than its execution. So although it is well written, even beautiful at times, it was a bit disappointing.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cornucopia of random facts about the day/night cycle. Very interesting read.

[Michael Dewey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author attempts something grand here, with Apollo’s Fire. In a narrative following the course of a day on Earth, Sims uses references from poetry, cinema, literature, mythology, and science to tell the story of our nearest star, the Sun. Each portion of the book captures a moment of that day, causing us to pause and revel in the beauty of our Sun’s cyclical journey across the sky; beauty that would otherwise pass us by during the daily grind, relatively unnoticed.

Sims mostly succeeds. I admit to hoping that I would enjoy this book a little more than I did, however. It took me about three months to read, because I would pick it up, put it down, and then forget about it for a little while. This wasn’t for lack of interest, because the subject matter is deeply fascinating to me. But the author’s tendency to get lost in prose or relatively esoteric references that are obviously deeply personal to him, didn’t quite translate the same from page to page for me. Sometimes I found his writing to be deeply moving. Sometimes I found it tedious to the point of irritating, leading me to the aforementioned pauses. Perhaps it’s partly due to my own limited experience with poetry and classical literature.

I will say that overall, I enjoyed most of it…especially where the author dove into science, mythology, and history. Phaethon’s mythological tale made a nice backdrop for the book, and the last few chapters won me back over. I’m going to give this 3.5 stars, with a firm plan to revisit this after I read some good poetry. Maybe that’ll help me appreciate some of this prose later on.

[Grindy Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author is after some sort of lyrical reflection on the sun, sky, and atmosphere, but this book is just trivia strung together with awkward prose. Don't bother.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

not a bad read, but forgettable.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

more like a reference to literature with mentions about the sun intertwined with some science.

[Randy O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great tour of planet Earth. Fun.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had promise, but for me it failed to deliver. Part of the problem is the structure of the book, how it followed the course of the day, discussing first dawn for a chapter, then midmorning, and so on. The story of Phaethon had to be broken into pieces all across the book, which at times was bewildering. Another miss was the way it tried to be both a science book and a book involved in mythology and culture; now, blending them can be done by some authors, but not in this case. I would have preferred one or the other, but doing both halfway didn't do it for me. I felt like some really interesting things were totally glossed over where I'd have loved more detail.

That said, there were some beautiful passages in this book, and a lot of interesting facts about a broad array of topics. This should get two and a half stars, but I'm rounding down in this case.

[Nazim Suzaly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to grind my way to finish this book. I'm just not a fan of deep literature and history I suppose, and this book provides plenty of that. Generally the book is all about our surroundings that we tend to overlook and not see the deeper detail behind it and the history that it brings along. Relating everything to science, literature, history and even fables.

Well the good thing about this book that it somehow did manage to make me apprehend the present surroundings and appreciate it for the fact that there is a history behind everything (like literally everything from light, to the bloody dust that you can only see with a microscopic eye).

Anyway I got this book cheap (BBW lol) and train rides are boring. So this book did a good job keeping me company for a week haha. I don't recommend it though.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apollo's Fire follows the sun through a day, considering both scientific and cultural aspects of this journey. Best thing about it: it's broken up into discreet episodes. In other words, it's a good quick break book, or for any other, ah, breaks one might take during the day.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned is that the Myth of Phaeton is the first "Dad, can I have the keys, please?" story. This book is alternately fascinating and boring. Just when I'd think I was ready to discard it, I came across something interesting. It gets better towards the end, though, or perhaps I simply have more affinity for darkness. In some ways the best chapter is the one concerning Charles Darwin.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you live 70 years you will have experienced 25567 days. Imagine within the construct of your own biography that you condensed the history and anecdotes of your life during this time to 1 day. What would be your dawn, midday, and sunset? If you like thinking about this then you might like this book. I enjoyed it. That said... perhaps there are some books that are better reads due to the environment from which they are read. Bourbon/water, fireplace and a rainy day anybody? This book is sympathetic to this. Do not read this as too harsh a review because I truly enjoyed reading this book--the bourbon too. But in recommending this book one might pause with the same consideration if they were to recommend a book of poetry. Compare it with Age of Wonder.

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the title and cover I expected this book to be more imaginative, mystical. It turned out to be a kind of basic science book, which is ok, but not what I wanted it to be when I picked it up.
I wish the author had delved deeper into scientific methods and inventions outside the Greco-Roman and European Enlightenment realms, if only to throw in stories that most moderately informed people aren't familiar with.
I enjoyed the pacing of the book and the way it follows a day. It made it easy to read one section or four depending on how much time I had. Overall, not a bad read, but it could have been better.

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apollo's Fire is good for dipping in and out of. The book goes through a day's time touching on some of its many aspects in science, mythology, literature, music. There are brief discussions of various topics, giving ideas for avenues to explore. The annotated bibliography is great - many books to add to my to-read list.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most interesting, attention-keeping, well written scientific narratives I've ever had the pleasure of picking up: the cohesion of the myths, literature, and historical references that Sims includes to anchor and move the information forward is amazing, and if textbooks were written this way, every kid in school would finish his homework.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not a bad book, just not what I thought it would be. I'm sure many people will like it- it's a blend of anecdote, science, literature, and history that probably would have worked for me if I had been in the mood for that. Might be a good book for high school students or an intro level college class.

[Tracey]

529 Sims, 2007 - QPB Catalog Apr 2008

[Jennifer Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get into it. I stopped reading it. My time is too precious to waste on a boring book.

[Michael A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr Sims coined a great term: storm porn. I would recommend my namesake's book to just about anyone.

[Abigail Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautifully written