No, I haven't heard of this book - but it looks very interesting, I just requested it through my library. Thanks!

this is all still tentative, mostly unexplored for me at this point, but i think the history of astronomy can be an interesting place to contribute to the critique of political economy

as far as i can tell, these observatories were "doing political economy," and this is the sales pitch they gave the state, and it's part of how the state "sold" private property

so what i'm really interested in is the critique of political economy, insofar as it involves the middle east, from the vintage point of astronomical and meteorological observatories which seem to have conducted themselves according to the principles of political economy

whatever it ends up being when i finish it, i took up the project because i grew increasingly interested in how frequently these observatories feature in records on the extermination of communal property and institution of private property