THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ASTROLOGY

Not, as many will expect from the title, a sheaf of blank pages, but rather a farrago of information about navigation, calendars, magnetism, and other subjects bearing on schedules and cycles; astrology lurks in the wings until the last few chapters. Perhaps this is because Seymour is a professional astronomer (Plymouth Polytechnic Institute, England) who's aware that he tiptoes on professional quicksand, edging into a region toward which most scientists demonstrate ``an appalling lapse in...understanding.'' He circles his goal warily, by laying down what is known about bio-cycles and the environment; most of this is schoolbook primer, although Seymour slips in some zingers—for instance, that early humans knew how to use earth's magnetic field for navigation, or that the Star of Bethlehem was actually a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Finally, he leaves his astronomical colleagues in the dust, outlining his theory of extraterrestrial influence—in a nutshell, that planets affect solar cycles, which in turn affect earth's geomagnetic fields, which in turn affect human fetal development. A neat theory, currently unprovable (although the recent discovery of micromagnets in the human brain gives it credence). The spirit of Michel Gauquelin, pioneer of the ``scientific'' defense of astrology, hovers over this book (which is dedicated to him, contains an afterword about him, and has the same title as Gauquelin's classic). As such, it's as down-to-earth as such starry-eyed productions get. (Diagrams throughout.)