We'll read anything by David Berlinski. Quirky, profound, literate and learned.
...the science that replaced astrology—Newton's science of mechanics—and
astrology itself, although differing very considerably in intellectual
power, nonetheless share a strong family resemblance—the same strong
bones, wide-set eyes, and slightly goofy expression. What I found most
interesting about astrology as a failed science is that in some sense
it lives on despite its official and widely-noted death rattle.
Astrological forms of thought are present in biology, a most
astrological endeavor, and even in contemporary mathematical physics
itself. Astrology has always been a magical discipline inasmuch as it
has always been committed to some form of action at a distance, the
very mark of magical thinking. Magical thinking has not disappeared
from modern science: It has simply been disguised by a brilliantly
effective mathematical screen. Where the screen is thinnest, as in
molecular biology, the magic is still very notable.
Beyond this, the problems that the astrologers faced had the quality of
great depth—action at a distance, free will, causes that incline but do
not compel; and the men and women struggling to meet these problems
evoke a sense of shared sympathy...
His new book, researched with his Berkeley-classicist son, is based on primary sources in Greek, Latin, French, German, and English. They had a little help with the Arabic.