David Baron (2) (1964–)

In American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World, David Baron traces the lives and experiences of several individuals – inventor Thomas Edison, educator and reformer Maria Mitchell, astronomer James Craig Watson – and examines how their lives and experiences intersected with the hopes of a century-old nation seeking to establish its scientific prowess during the eclipse of 1878. The path of totality carved from Alaska down through the Rocky Mountains to Texas and finally the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists, inventors, laypeople, and more rushed to the towns and cities along the path following the Centennial Exposition of 1876 in order to document the event, collect data, and make discoveries that would make up for the dismal efforts in 1869.

Describing the rising eclipse fever in the days leading up to its crossing in July 1878, Baron writes, “In their workaday lives, the people of Denver, like those of the rest of America, spent most of their time with their heads down, focused on earthly affairs of commerce and production, but even this go-ahead city saw reason to pause for what was about to happen overhead. ‘Many persons went down to their graves at the ripe old age of three score and ten, without witnessing so sublime a spectacle in nature as a total obscuration of the sun’s disk by the moon,’ wrote a local correspondent in the Rocky Mountain News” (p. 125).

Baron concludes, “The accumulation of scientific knowledge does not occur in a simple, linear fashion. Doctrines embraced in one generation are jettisoned the next. Seemingly productive avenues of research abruptly dead-end. Scientific discoveries and events acclaimed in their day fade into obscurity with the passage of time. Such is the case with the total solar eclipse of 1878” (p. 233). Further, “Even before the eclipse, the United States was fast on its way to becoming a formidable scientific power. It is fair to say, however, that the celestial event helped push the country toward that destination, and not solely because it inspired and educated a broad American public” (p. 234).

Baron’s thoroughly researched account begins with an examination of other historic eclipses, particularly during the Enlightenment, before tracing the events immediately leading up to the eclipse of 1878. He dramatizes these events in such a way that they come alive for his reader, with the climax of his narrative shifting perspectives during totality in order to describe what it meant to each of the people whose narratives he follows. American Eclipse is a first-rate work of science history that non-historians and non-scientists alike may read. It takes on added interest with the upcoming eclipse of 2024.… (mehr)

This book perfectly captured the thrill of seeing a total solar eclipse, and gave me some interesting background on the scientists who pinned all their hopes on what the 1878 eclipse would bring them.

In the end, it was probably a lot more background than I really wanted, for instance, on Thomas Edison, whose invention (to be tested at the time of the eclipse) turned out to be just really...unimportant.

I did find it interesting to read about the female astronomer Maria Mitchell, fighting for women to be recognized as equals in the field of science. Also the scientists who were just sure that there was another planet between Mercury and the sun, and who figured they could find it during the eclipse. (They named their postulated planet Vulcan. Hehe.) Or the poor guy, Cleveland Abbe, who wanted to watch the eclipse from the top of Pike's Peak but succumbed to altitude sickness, and had to watch it from his sickbed much further down the mountain.

Yes, those things were pretty interesting. But the greatest achievement of this book was to make me remember in vivid detail what it was like to see the total solar eclipse of this year, 2017. Most everyone in the U.S. had the opportunity to see it as a partial eclipse, but I will forever be grateful that I had the circumstances and relative proximity to go stand in the path of totality. Honestly, I still think about it pretty much every day and I shiver: that "WHAM" moment when the moon's shadow came for us with a sinking, racing darkness, and we could tear off our glasses and stare transfixed at an alien sky.

I marvel that such an experience will NEVER be able to be properly captured by a camera of any sort (it doesn't look like what it looks like in a photo). How many things are there that you can experience only with your own two eyes, and never, never, never replicate? It was, and I do not exaggerate, a spiritual experience. So, when this book describes how even professional men and women of science found themselves trembling and emotional as hour zero approached, or how one scientist reveled in the fact that he had no experiments to perform but could throw his whole heart into watching...yeah, it resonates with me. Or, when I heard (since this was an audiobook I listened to in my car) about poor Cleveland Abbe on his sickbed observing the lightbeams coming out from behind the moon at 90-degree angles, and thinking they were tricks of light but then realizing they weren't, and I banged on my steering wheel and cried, "That's WHAT I SAW!"

I loved the descriptions of the sky and the sun and the moon at the time of eclipse...a very dark warm blue (the mind reels at that combination, but it's accurate)...an ebony pupil surrounded by a pearly iris...

The book made me feel a kinship with those who watched a total solar eclipse nearly 150 years ago. It's a beautiful thing to realize that some experiences evoke feelings in the human heart that are universal and timeless. Observing a total solar eclipse is certainly one of those.

P.S. If you haven't seen a total solar eclipse, do it. It was one of the best days of my life.… (mehr)

Interesting look at the 1878 solar eclipse and what it meant for three individuals, James Craig Watson, Maria Mitchell, and Thomas Edison. The book goes into the history of each person and why they want to view the solar eclipse. I was hoping to read more about what the solar eclipse was like for everyday people at this time in this book, but there was maybe a sentence or two about it. The book goes into a lot of detail about the three people's lives and can get pretty "sciencey" at times at an advance level that went over my head.… (mehr)