Quotes from Alexander von Humboldt's books, and about them
Cosmos on Elements of Geometry: “So he found a copy of Euclid's Elements of Geometry, and began to read.”
Cosmos on Natural Questions: Chapter epigraph: "Our universe is a sorry little affair unless it has in it something for every age to investigate... —Seneca, Natural Questions, Book 7"
Cosmos on Tao Te Ching: “Twelve lines from Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, translated by D. C. Lau, quoted as a chapter epigraph.”
Cosmos on On the Origin of Species: Chapter epigraph: "...endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. —Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, 1859"
Cosmos on De Stella Nova: “Kepler published in 1606 a book called De Stella Nova, "On the New Star," in which he wonders if a supernova is the result of some random concatenation of atoms in the heavens.”
Cosmos on Popol Vuh: “Quoted as chapter epigraph: "...Are they not by nature simple creatures of our making? Must they also be gods?" —The Popol Vuh of the Quiche Maya”
Cosmos on Somnium: “Kepler wrote one of the first works of science fiction... It was called the Somnium, "The Dream." He imagined a journey to the Moon.”
Cosmos on The War of the Worlds: “These opening lines of H. G. Wells' 1897 science fiction classic The War of the Worlds maintain their haunting power to this day.”
Cosmos on Oedipus Rex: “We do know that of the 123 plays of Sophocles in the Library, only seven survived. One of those seven is Oedipus Rex.”
Cosmos on The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended: “In his last, posthumous work, "The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended," we find repeated astronomical calibrations of historical events; an architectural reconstruction of the Temple of Solomon...”