Everything you ever wanted to know about the rainbow, some things you didn’t realize you wanted to know about the rainbow, and a lot of stuff about the rainbow that will almost certainly fill you with indifference. There a short but enlightening introduction on rainbow mythology; however, author Carl Boyer was primarily a historian of mathematics, and it shows. Just about every Greek, Latin, Arabic, medieval, Renaissance, and Enlightenment philosopher and/or scientist had something to say about rainbows, and Boyer tracked every one down; as a result the book has more incorrect geometrical diagrams than anything I’ve ever seen. Boyer felt compelled to illustrate every wrong conception anybody came up with; thus there are carefully labeled illustrations, some from the original work and some redrawn, of light rays doing some jaw-dropping things. A sadist might assign this book to a geometry student to study the diagrams and explain what these people actually thought they were doing. The end result is something to be dipped into now and then rather than read through. ( )

While this book is an interesting look at rainbows, some of the geometry of the early writers on the subject was hard to follow. It was interesting how long in took people to figure out the causes and the correct optics for forming a rainbow. Not only was progress in fits and starts but various writers on the subject kept reverting to earlier and erroneous ideas, in particular, those of the Greeks.

Recommended for those with an interest in the history of science and, in particular, the history of optics.