A Princeville author has chronicled his family’s journey to watch the 2017 solar eclipse in the path of totality.
A new book by Michael Thomas, “Moon Mission: Passage to Totality 2017,” was recently released by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.
The author’s family, including his sister, brother-in-law and two nephews, invites the reader to join them on their expedition to Cascade, Idaho, to see the total eclipse of the sun on Aug. 21 of last year.
“By the Grace of God, we happened to be blessed to find ourselves in a perfect place and with enough of the right equipment — that worked when we needed it to work the most — in order to record this remarkable event for all now to enjoy and to relive it for themselves,” Thomas said.
Thomas witnessed his first partial eclipse in 1970 when he was 11, and astronomy has been a passion since he was given his first telescope at the age of 12. He strongly believes that a total solar eclipse is a unique experience that must be witnessed in order to fully appreciate its mesmerizing, captivating, enthralling and addicting attributes.
“Truly, if there were ever a case of ‘you had to be there,’ then a total solar eclipse is it,” he said.
There are those who may be motivated to “chase” eclipses around the globe as a result of their own eclipse experiences, so Thomas dedicated this book to these “Ecliptomaniacs” who yearn for their next totality “fix.”
“I became one such Ecliptomaniac after I witnessed my first total eclipse on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1991,” he said.
The book features photographs that have been carefully selected from high-resolution, still and video images, including aerial footage, to tell the story of his family’s excitement and anticipation of this total eclipse in common with everyone else who witnessed it. The photo captions are short, to the point, interesting, humorous and fun to read.
The book is intended to be a “reality, photo-journalistic visual experience” that does not bore the reader with arcane historical or scientific facts. Rather, it is meant to appeal to readers of all ages. So the author included only brief scientific references that are necessary to describe what the reader is actually seeing in the eclipse photographs.
“A total eclipse wields divine power,” Thomas said. “It commands not only the influence to compel one, so inclined to spend thousands of dollars and to travel thousands of miles without any guarantee of witnessing totality, but also the dominion to thwart one’s observations.”
Moon Mission: Passage to Totality 2017 is a 56-page hardcover with a retail price of $25. The book is available in both hard copy and eBook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, Google Play and IndieBound.
“My family and I had a lot of fun with this book using clever, ‘tongue in cheek’ humor,” Thomas said. “It is written to appeal to readers of all ages.”
