Sky & Telescope - April 2024 - 61

BOOK REVIEW by Peter Tyson
A Total Delight
TOTALITY: The Great North American Eclipse of 2024
Mark Littmann & Fred Espenak
Oxford University Press, 2023
384 pages, ISBN 9780198879084
US$18.95, softcover
TOWARDS THE MIDDLE of this richly
authoritative yet eminently accessible
book, the authors ask, " What is this
sight that lures people to travel to the
ends of the Earth for a brief view at
best, a substantial possibility of no view
at all, and with no rain check? " This
book is their answer.
Totality: The Great North American
Eclipse of 2024 provides everything you
need to appreciate what a total solar
eclipse (TSE) is all about and to prepare
yourself for witnessing the event. Even
if you've read a lot about TSEs and experienced
totality yourself, you might find
much of interest here because of the
sheer depth and breadth of the authors'
expertise. Fred Espenak, aka Mr.
Eclipse, is one of the world's top experts
on eclipses, and his coauthor Mark
Littmann has written award-winning
books about solar eclipses, giant meteor
storms, and Halley's comet, among
other literary accomplishments.
After an initial chapter on the
experience of totality, they explore the
complex celestial mechanics involved
in an eclipse. But they quickly caution
the reader: " If for any reason your eyes
begin to glaze over, stop reading this
chapter immediately and go right on to
the next. " The chapter does get fairly
technical, and they don't want that to
dampen the reader's enjoyment of " the
wild, wacky, and wonderful things " that
people have said about and experienced
with TSEs.
Tales from eclipsophiles other than
the authors themselves is one of the
book's highlights. Littmann and Espenak
insert amusing anecdotes that some
of the most dedicated
eclipse-chasers over the
past half-century have
shared with them. There's
the story of the airline
cleaning woman who
accidentally remained on
a chartered plane leaving
to chase an eclipse after
the door had closed and
shouted to be let off -
only to be " flabbergasted "
by what she was forced to
observe. Or of the woman
who, once totality began, " began hammering
on [her] husband's back with
both fists and screaming " - and later
had no recollection of her reaction.
History provides other entertaining
stories. For the 1724 eclipse, for one,
Jacques Cassini, director of the Paris
Observatory, invited a marquis and his
silk-stocking lady friends to observe the
eclipse with him. When they absentmindedly
showed up after the eclipse
had ended, the marquis said, " Never
mind, ladies . . . M. Cassini is a great
friend of mine and he will be delighted
to repeat the eclipse for you. "
It's not all light and fluffy, of course.
The authors go thoroughly and engagingly
into ancient mythology and
historical eclipse-chasing as well as key
things to remember when attending
a total eclipse. They provide valuable
advice and tips on safety, photography,
weather conditions, and much more -
all to help readers prep themselves for
and fully relish the April 2024 eclipse.
The information is useful for any TSE,
of course, but as the authors remind
us, even though the Moon will eclipse
the Sun 48 times between 2024 and
2045, the next TSE to cross most of the
contiguous U.S. won't occur until that
final year, 2045.
The authors pepper
Totality with fascinating
facts about solar eclipses.
They explain how totality
itself can actually
reduce certain types of
cloud cover, for example,
and how even when only
1% of our star remains
uncovered by the Moon
during totality, the Sun is
still 10,000 times brighter
than the full Moon.
They also remind us of
the curious behaviors animals may display
in a TSE. During a 1715 totality, an
observer in London noted how horses
working in the high roads lay down and
refused to get up. In 1976, as totality
began, eclipse-chasers in Australia suddenly
heard thousands of cows mooing
at once in confusion, a cacophony that
ended as soon as totality did. In 1999,
eclipse-chaser Mike Simmons watched
hordes of ants stream out of the ground
at the height of a TSE in Iran; they vanished
when the Sun returned.
Humans have their own memorable
reactions, naturally. Glenn Schneider
recalls watching the Moon's shadow
approaching in the west during a 1979
eclipse in Montana. When it suddenly
was upon him, he instinctively ducked.
Then there's the ineffable response.
The authors quote David Makepeace, a
veteran eclipse-chaser: " People expect a
total solar eclipse to be a curiosity. They
don't expect it to move their souls. "
Altogether, no matter your experience,
if you want to take your understanding
of TSEs to a new level, you
need no other source than this book.
¢ PETER TYSON joined the worst traffic
in Wyoming history after co-leading an
S&T tour there for the August 2017 TSE.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * APRIL 2024 61
http://skyandtelescope.org
Sky & Telescope - April 2024

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