I got an interesting book,

The Amazon site

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BLKXV68/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and
the Military (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Series)
by Neil de Grasse Tyson (Author), Avis Lang (Author) 2018 book

And actually, he spends a fair hunk of pages on
both Ancient and Medieval scientific / geographical
/ navigational discoveries.

Looks like you can currently get the big heavy hardcover
delivered to your door for a total of just $5.25 !

"An exploration of the age-old complicity between skywatchers and
warfighters, from the best-selling author of Astrophysics for People in
a Hurry.

In this fascinating foray into the centuries-old relationship between
science and military power, acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson
and writer-researcher Avis Lang examine how the methods and tools of
astrophysics have been enlisted in the service of war. "The overlap is
strong, and the knowledge flows in both directions," say the authors,
because astrophysicists and military planners care about many of the
same things: multi-spectral detection, ranging, tracking, imaging, high
ground, nuclear fusion, and access to space. Tyson and Lang call it a
"curiously complicit" alliance. "The universe is both the ultimate
frontier and the highest of high grounds," they write. "Shared by both
space scientists and space warriors, it’s a laboratory for one and a
battlefield for the other. The explorer wants to understand it; the
soldier wants to dominate it. But without the right technology—which is
more or less the same technology for both parties—nobody can get to it,
operate in it, scrutinize it, dominate it, or use it to their advantage
and someone else’s disadvantage."

Spanning early celestial navigation to satellite-enabled warfare,
Accessory to War is a richly researched and provocative examination of
the intersection of science, technology, industry, and power that will
introduce Tyson’s millions of fans to yet another dimension of how the
universe has shaped our lives and our world.

Reviews say
― Joshua Sokol, Washington Post
"Through ample research and nimble storytelling, Tyson and [Lang] trace
the long and tangled relationship between state power and
astronomy....Deep and eloquent."

― Jennifer Carson, New York Times Book Review
"Extraordinary....A feast of history, an expert tour through thousands
of years of war and conquest....Condenses multiple bodies of work into
one important, comprehensive and coherent story of the symbiotic
developments of astrophysics and war....The lesson is not merely a
wake-up call for astrophysicists, but for all of us, for anyone with the
misapprehension that science somehow marches on separate from the rest
of culture"

Customer reviews give it a 4.7 out of 5

The Goodreads site is at
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44157732-accessory-to-war

Hmmm, their readers rate it a 3.60 ???

An interesting paragraph
"Economic constraints decide on the research priorities. And the
entire annual budget for astrophysics is enough to cover the
defense budget for a few days in most states. Given a choice,
many researchers will opt for a pact with the military. Better
to research with martial focus, than not at all. And the
technologies, machines and research priorities are identical to
some extent. From there onwards, either telescopes or missile
launchers will be installed

Here is a 6 minute video interview of Neil on the book --

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-dcola-068&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-068&hspart=dcola&param1=1&param2=cat%3Dweb%26sesid%3D9e7649d7d76d422b88b0f289e019c58a%26ip%3D71.227.211.204%26b%3DChrome%26bv%3D101.0.4951.64%26os%3DWindows-10%26os_ver%3D10.0%26pa%3Dgencoll84%26sid%3D5774e91fcb248f3949db66e3f6cace0f%26abid%3D%26abg%3D%26a%3Dgsp_wfd468acegsyomqwpvfc_00_00_--x1-AB2222--%26sdk_ver%3D%26cd%3D%26cr%3D%26uid%3D%26uref%3D&p=Accessory+to+War+de+Grasse+Tyson&type=gsp_wfd468acegsyomqwpvfc_00_00_--x1-AB2222--#id=1&vid=2c62e54e6d3511f410538f7cf7efae46&action=click

On 5/27/2022 4:25 PM, a425couple wrote:
> I got an interesting book,
> ---
> Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and
> the Military (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Series)
> by Neil de Grasse Tyson  (Author), Avis Lang  (Author) 2018 book
>
> And actually, he spends a fair hunk of pages on
> both Ancient and Medieval scientific / geographical
> / navigational discoveries.
>
An interesting & influential medieval book:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mandeville

Sir John Mandeville is the supposed author of The Travels of
Sir John Mandeville, a travel memoir which first circulated
between 1357 and 1371. The earliest-surviving text is in French.

By aid of translations into many other languages, the work
acquired extraordinary popularity. Despite the extremely unreliable
and often fantastical nature of the travels it describes, it was
used as a work of reference: Christopher Columbus, for example,
was heavily influenced by both this work and Marco Polo's
earlier Travels.

also tied in:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odoric_of_Pordenone
Further information: Europeans in Medieval China
"Seventy-three manuscripts of Odoric's narrative are known to exist
in Latin, French and Italian: of these the chief, of about 1350, is
in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.