The 23rd cycle

the long version

"The 23rd Cycle traces the previously untold history of solar storms and the ways in which they were perceived by astronomers - and even occasionally covered up by satellite companies. Odenwald shows how solar flares, which were once a curious nuisance, can come to pose a potential worldwide disaster in light of our accelerating dependence upon sophisticated technologies - from computers and cell phones to the thousands of space satellites and complex, high-speed cables that are wired into homes, businesses, government databases, and air traffic control systems. What once caused telegraph machines to give off sparks, or people in their living rooms to puzzle over a spontaneous change of channels, could now blanket the earth in darkness and chaos. The 23rd Cycle includes a history of the record of auroral sightings, accounts of blackouts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, industries sensitive to solar storms, and radiation and health issues."--Jacket.