Publisher's Synopsis
This collection of over 1,000 pencil drawings by John Oxenham Goodman includes images of the gods and historical persons after whom the modern constellations, planets, dwarf planets, minor planets, moons and chemical elements were named. Astronomers, who have taken months or even years to decide on names for the heavenly bodies they discovered, might surely be interested in seeing these pencil drawings which number over 1000. They can now put visual images to the names they have chosen. The stars and planets are not only of interest to astronomers but to the whole of the human population of our earth. Astronomy can be popularized through art and the fascinating stories of gods, goddesses, legendary heroes and heroines. This book also contains pencil sketches of ancient Chinese heavenly bodies such as the 10 Shang Dynasty Suns, the Seven Luminaries, the 28 Lunar Mansions, the 9 Northern Dipper Stars and the 6 Southern Dipper Stars thus giving Eastern and Western perspectives of astronomy. Finally at the end of the book the Five Elements of ancient China are employed as suits in a Chinese version of Tarot using Mahjong symbols and concepts from China's 13th Century Ma Diao playing cards. I commenced these drawings in the summer of 1984/85 attempting to depict some of the Shakespearean characters after whom the moons of Uranus were named. It was in the 1980s while working in the University of Sydney Library that I had access to useful information on astronomy, Greco-Roman history and art, a prerequisite for someone wanting to depict the mythical heroes after whom the constellations, planets and their moons were mostly named. At first I wrote about each of these hundreds of mythical or historical figures and then began drawing the 88 Constellations. In 2006 I drew the remainder of the moons of Uranus which by then had grown to 27 and the moons of Neptune followed. It was only in 2010 after retiring and living in China that I completed drawings of the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and the other planets followed by the ancient Chinese planets and stars. Thus it has taken 30 years to complete this project which now incorporates a Chinese version of Tarot. This book is also a visual representation of the measurement of time using Chinese, Japanese and Western traditions. The 5 Elements of ancient China combine with the sun and moon to give us the 7 days of the week. Anglo-Saxon and Roman gods are depicted as representing the days of the week in the Western calendar. Then the animals of the 28 Chinese Lunar Mansions complete the lunar month while the 12 months of the year are represented by the monthly flowers on the Japanese Flower Cards (Hanafuda). The 12 Earthly Branches represented by 12 animals give us a 12 year period and when combined with the 10 Heavenly Stems they give us the 60 year cycle of the traditional Chinese calendar. Then there are seasons and China's 24 Solar Terms into which the year is divided as well as the 12 signs of the Western zodiac.
