A wonderful book that I wish I had read long ago.

Raymo, like Lorne Eiseley before him, is a scientist with the soul of a poet. I have read a number of his books and each one (with the possible exception of his novel about St. Valentine, which wasn't his best) leaves me with a sense of wonder and a renewed awe in creation. I am always amused when Raymo, who is Jesuit trained, says he doesn't believe in God. Certainly the God he doesn't believe in is one I couldn't believe in either, and yet his work is unmistakably spiritual, arousing in this reader a deep sense of the holy. His book, "When God is Gone Everything is Holy," is one of the most spiritually enriching books I've ever read.

In this book he tackles the night sky, and although I lack the scientific background perhaps necessary to completely understand everything in this slim, yet weighty, volume, Raymo's writing is simply so beautiful, his prose so alluring, and his wealth of knowledge so vast, that even someone like me is entranced by every mystical and enlightening essay.

Raymo guides the reader through the stars, and refreshes at each new constellation by sharing the myths, poetry and stories humans have created about them generation after generation. Although Raymo is a meticulous scientist, his quest here is not into the mathematics of night (although there is some of that) as it is into the title's soul of night. The essays are elegant, lyric and mysterious. His erudition shows as he quotes everyone from Thoreau (with whom he has been compared) to Roethke, Rilke, Shelley, Thoreau, Buddha, the Bible and the Koran. His comparison of the night sky to Melville's great White Whale, is inspired.

Originally published two decades ago, The Soul of the Night is a classic work that is a must for those interested in the relationship between science and faith. ( )

Many more by this author