It took me quite a while to read this book, and it’s entirely my fault. I recall very little from those physics classes taken a few decades ago, and so it was a poor choice for sleepy reading before bed. It required actually paying attention, and once I was able to commit to it properly it ended up quite interesting.

Even the Sun has spots, the saying goes — but how much did I actually know about sunspots before this book? (Very little, it turns out) And as a matter of fact, how *do* we actually know what we know about the Sun? How did we go from a deity in the Sun to seeing it as a light source attached to the celestial firmament to understanding it as the incandescent ball of gas (or - correction, sorry - plasma?)

(Speaking of incandescent gas, this book deserves an extra star just for introducing me to this song:

”The sun is mass of incandescent gas,
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees.”

And a correction re: plasma separately recorded by They Might Be Giants:

The sun is a miasma
Of incandescent plasma
The sun's not simply made out of gas
No, no, no
The sun is a quagmire
It's not made of fire
Forget what you've been told in the past)

This is the story of how we came to understand what we know about the Sun, including those mysterious sunspots (which certainly became less mysterious once I was done with the book, although not less fascinating). It starts heavy on history and slowly becomes heavy on science and solar physics. We go through astronomic observations in Ancient China, Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia; the transition from the Christian Church view of the Earth in the center of the world, heavily influenced by Aristotle, to the heliocentric view, and eventually to the modern understanding of the Universe. There are extensive quotations from the astronomers of the past, and it’s fascinating to hear their voices in this way, with quite a bit of context.

The sunspots, those seeming imperfections in what was supposed to be perfect, had a periodicity to them, the titular clock in the Sun. Of course we humans would immediately want to assign all kinds of things to be the consequence of solar cycle, from weather to economy to business cycles, and Sokolsky spends quite a bit of time analyzing those theories. All while the solar wind, the consequence of magnetic field of the Sun, reaches all the way to us, causing pretty auroras among other things.

And by the end the science is heavier, with spectroscopy and solar neutrinos and magnetic dipoles and the behavior of magnetic fields in plasma and solar wind. Sokolsky does not shy away from the science, even including an appendix on electromagnetic fields and atomic spectra, but he manages to stay just on this side of comprehensible.

Rounding up to 4 stars. I learned a lot, and it was actually interesting.

__________
Thanks to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You can find my review on Open Letters Review:

https://openlettersreview.com/posts/the-clock-in-the-sun-by-pierre-sokolsky

Pretty good! I have read more than my fair share of astrophysics and cosmology, but a lot of the details discussed here were new to me. That does mean that it's quite possibly a pretty niche book, to be fair. But it's worth reading for anyone who's interested in that particular niche. I just wish the ARC I was reading had fewer broken/placeholder diagrams - I bet I would have followed the finer points a lot better with the proper visual aids.

In The Clock in the Sun: How We Came to Understand Our Nearest Star, Pierre Sokolsky does a nice job in covering the history of solar mechanics and exploration, concisely and clearly explaining things in his own language but also, in one of my favorite aspects of the book, offering up a number of lengthy passages from his source material, letting us hear those early thinkers in their own words.

The early sections on pre-Scientific Revolution observations are detailed and often fascinating, as he covers solar recordings of sunspots and eclipses from ancient China, Mesopotamia, and Russian, before delving into the contributions to astronomy/astrology from the Greeks, the Arabic world, and the western Medieval world. With the introduction of Galileo and his application of the telescope, we enter into the modern data collection time period. Here is one of those strong uses of original writings, when we get a liberally quoted back and forth in letters between Galileo and Christopher Scheiner as they tussle over sunspots, with Galileo more willing to break free from the traditional views and Scheiner (a meticulous observer despite his theoretical failings) was more conservative.

As we move forward in time, the book becomes less historical and more science based, as Sokolsky covers various inventions, discoveries and theories (some more successful than other), including but not limited to the solar wind, speculation over if the sun could be inhabited, possible links between solar activity and economic cycles (and even human behavior), the impact of the sun on our weather, mapping of the sun’s various aspects like the corona and photosphere, the effect of solar storms, how the sun is powered, cycles and variations in the sun’s energy output and sunspot activity, use of tree rings and ice cores.

While all the expected big names are here: Galileo, Herschel, Lowell, Sokolsky also brings in some far less familiar names, some of which you might recognize if you read a lot of popular astronomy books (I did and I do) and some of which will be new to you even if you have (they were and I have), including resurrecting the names of women scientists whose work all too often gets obscured or out and out erased. One of my favorites in the “lesser known” category was Henrich Schwabe, a full-time pharmacist and amateur astronomer who though (like many) he might be able to find a planet orbiting the Sun inside of Mercury’s orbit. This of course necessitated lots of solar observations and so, staring in 1826, after “seventeen years of observation and careful recordkeeping” he ended up discovering “an approximate ten-year periodicity to the sunspot number,” for which he was eventually award the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). As Sokolsky notes, Schwabe “compared his experience to that of biblical Saul, who went out to search for his father’s asses and found another kingdom instead.” The president of the RAS said of Schwabe:

Twelve years he spent to satisfy himself — six more years to satisfy and still thirteen more to convince mankind. For thirty years never has the Sun exhibited his disk above the horizon of Dessau withing being confronted by Schwabe’s imperturbable telescope . . . He has made 9000 observations … an instance of devoted persistence … unsurpassed in the annals of astronomy. The energy of one man has revealed a phenomenon that had eluded even the suspicion of astronomers for 200 years [He] has taught us that there are still mines rich in ore, though they lie deep buried.


As noted, for the most part the writing is clear and accessible, though we occasionally get lines like these: “Since these now have the opposite polarity to the Sun’s original poloidal field at the beginning of a cycle, the upward and downward-traveling magnetic flux tends to oppose the existing polar field.” But such moments are extremely rare and only show up at the very latter stages of the book. And even then, most of the harder language is more in insets or notes than the main portion of the text. The number of illustrations also are helpful in making the science accessible. Following the main text, we also get some appendices on electric and magnetic, electromagnetic waves, and some further technical details on the makeup and charge of atoms. These are followed by a number of quite interesting notes (recommended to not skip) and a useful “for further reading” section.

Recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this ARC. While it does not speak to the quality of the book, the ARC came in a format that made it quite difficult to read, and unfortunately detracted from my reading experience - I won't use this to dock points off the book itself, but it did contribute to my experience.

As a science, space, history lover, this book called my name as soon as a I saw it. There is lots of interesting information about how different cultures, and different eras of the world viewed the sun, it's meanings, and their unique discoveries through time. It's an interesting read, and I think would have been incredibly enjoyable as a physical copy.

This is a fun and interesting read. A good choice of book, even if you are just mildly interested in the subject.

This is a comprehensive exploration of the scientific journey to understand the Sun. The book traces the history of solar studies, from early observations to the latest advancements in solar physics. As a theoretical and mathematical physicist, I will evaluate the scientific rigor, depth of theoretical content, and overall contribution to the field presented in this work.

Sokolsky’s narrative is rooted in a solid understanding of solar physics. The book effectively covers the fundamental processes governing the Sun's behavior, such as nuclear fusion, solar magnetic fields, and helioseismology. The descriptions of these processes are precise, aligning with current scientific consensus and incorporating recent research findings.

One of the strengths of "The Clock in the Sun" is its contextual richness. Sokolsky adeptly weaves the historical development of solar studies with biographical sketches of key scientists, providing a narrative that is both educational and engaging. The book highlights the interdisciplinary nature of solar research, showing how advancements in physics, astronomy, and technology have converged to deepen our understanding of the Sun.

Sokolsky also touches on the practical implications of solar research, such as its impact on understanding climate change and developing space weather prediction models. These sections underscore the broader significance of solar physics in addressing contemporary scientific and societal challenges.

I found Sokolsky’s writing clear and engaging, making complex topics accessible without overly diluting the scientific content. The use of analogies and illustrative examples helps demystify intricate solar processes for a general readership. However, this approach may occasionally frustrate readers with a strong background in theoretical physics who are looking for more detailed and technical discussions.

From a critical standpoint, while the book excels in providing a broad and accessible overview of solar physics, it could enhance its appeal to a specialised audience by incorporating more detailed theoretical and mathematical analyses. Expanding on the advanced models and quantitative aspects of solar phenomena would provide a deeper understanding for readers well-versed in the field.