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Astrologers were well-known and important people during the Renaissance.
Girolamo Cardano, whose life is followed in Anthony Grafton’s Cardano’s
Cosmos, was world-famous. It was a dangerous time to be so (he fell foul of
the Inquisition), although astrologers acknowledged that worldly events or
divine interference could subvert their predictions. The invention of printing
was a powerful aid to astrologers and their finances. It still is. The book is
elegantly produced. Published by Harvard University Press, £21.95, ISBN
0674095553.