The Sun is so powerful, so much bigger than us, that it is a terrifying subject. Yet though we depend on it, we take it for granted. Amazingly the first book of its kind, CHASING THE SUN is a cultural & scientific history of our relationship with the star that gives us life. Richard Cohen, applying the same mix of wide-ranging reference & intimate detail that won outstanding reviews for By the Sword, travels from the ancient Greek astronomers to modern-day solar scientists, from Stonehenge to Antarctica (site of the solar eclipse of 2003, when penguins were said to sing), Mexico`s Aztecs to the Norwegian city of Tromso, where for two months of the year there is no Sun at all. He introduces us to the crucial `sunspot cycle` in modern economics, the religious dances of Indian tribesmen, the histories of sundials & calendars, the plight of migrating birds, the latest theories of global warming, & Galileo recording his discoveries in code, for fear of persecution. & throughout, there is the rich Sun literature -- from the writings of Homer through Dante & Nietzsche to Keats, Shelley & beyond. Blindingly impressive & hugely readable, this is a tour de force of narrative non-fiction.