The Cosmic Verses: A Rhyming History of the Universe

by James Muirden

From mankind's ancestors to Professor Stephen Hawking, James Muirden cleverly and humorously examines our quest to make sense of the cosmos in wonderful rhyming couplets. If you've ever wondered about the universe, or wanted to broaden your horizons, here are the theories, discoveries, writings and sayings of Aristotle, Plato and Pythagoras, Ptolemy, and the Arab astronomers and mathematicians who flourished during Europe's Dark Ages, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Boyle and many more by way of Einstein and so to the present day…and now the education is fun! Here also are the thoughts of space scientists, alchemists, writers, and theologians all weighing in on the cosmos as, through Muirden's delightful presentation, he spins the history of science on a new axis. Here's a short excerpt from The Cosmic Verses :
Pythagoras thought the world a sphere,
(a new and startling idea!),
but his enduring claim to fame
is through the proof that bears his name.
Draw any triangle that you dare,
one corner being nice and
the shorter sides call a and b,
the long hypotenuse call c…
then c2 equals you will find,
the squares of a and b combined.

Genres: Poetry, History, Nonfiction

223 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 2006

About the author

James Muirden has written some thirty books on astronomy and space, in addition to A "Rhyming History of Britain" and "Shakespeare Well-Versed." He has also been a film reviewer and telescope maker. He lives with his wife and children in Devon, England.

Reviews

[Julie (jjmachshev) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another hilarious and edifying book. The history of the earth in iambic pentameter!! You'll laugh your way through the book, only to realize in the end that you've learned something too. Also great for parents of tweens, teens. They may be more willing to read this overview because it's so funny...

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cosmic Verses: A Rhyming History of the Universe is a cleverly written (in rhyming poetry) book detailing the history of the universe and all the theories surrounding it from ancient times to the present, covering all the great minds in the field from Plato to Professor Stephen Hawking. It should prove to be a fun and educational read for teens and adults who are interested in cosmology, astronomy and the history surrounding these scientific fields.

[SaraKat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd presentation of a history of astronomy. The poetry was often a barrier to truly understanding the topic being presented since it had to be stated in often stilted ways that made it hard to decipher what was being said at times. It was engaging and really fun to read aloud. It did its job of enticing me to read it since that is pretty much the only reason I picked up a book on this topic. It is a good overall view of the contributions, but be prepared to look some stuff up or read another book to really get to the meat of the topics. The tale of Galileo and the Church made me a little less sympathetic to Galileo than I used to be. The Church was not outrageously anti-Galileo as I've heard in other histories. He had to really anger them by writing a book with a twit representing the Church to really get them mad. He was asking for it. :)

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[Josh Sarna · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the composition of verse within this book is impressive, the content unfortunately isn't particularly interesting - at least to someone looking for a history of the universe. Despite the title, this is a history of the study of astronomy. Most of the book outlines the various incorrect things humans have at various times thought about the universe, and very little is said about its actual origins or state.

[Crista · Rating 1 out of 5]

I mean, it was funny in parts, bit I'm not that into poetry