Even though Hamacher dumbed it down as much as he could, I’m sure, a lot of the content of The First Astronomer went over my head. I was more interested in how First Nations people applied what they observed, using the stars to predict weather, navigate, encode Law, etc. Hamacher mentions these applications, but his focus is more on what they saw and why/when they saw it. Proper stargazers – amateur and advanced – will enjoy The First Astronomers and get a lot out of it. Readers like me might need a few more for-dummies guides first, though.

Read my full review of The First Astronomers on Keeping Up With The Penguins.