Zetetic Astronomy is the magnum opus of Samuel Rowbotham (1816-1884), a self-taught polymath, debater, faith healer, and early advocate of Utopian socialism. Drawing from a wide variety of contemporary sources, Christian scripture, and his own investigative and experimental skills, Rowbotham advocated tirelessly for his thesis that the true shape of the Earth was a plane, refuting all suggestions of rotundity. His arguments continue to captivate, persuade, and entertain up to the present day.

As Rowbotham puts it, "The term zetetic is derived from the Greek verb zeteo; which means to search or examine - to proceed only by inquiry. None can doubt that by making special experiments and collecting manifest and undeniable facts, arranging them in logical order, and observing what is naturally and fairly deducible, the result will be far more consistent and satisfactory than by framing a theory or system and assuming the existence of causes for which there is no direct evidence, and which can only be admitted 'for the sake of argument'.The Newtonian and all other 'systems of nature' are little better than the 'hypothesis of the terrestrial motion' of Copernicus. The foundations or premises are always unproved; no proof is ever attempted; the necessity for it is denied; it is considered sufficient that the assumptions shall seem to explain the phenomena selected."