IAU C196 coincided with the 8 June 2004 transit of Venus, producing the exciting, eclectic mix that can be found in these proceedings: the amazing history of the English North-country astronomers of the seventeenth century- the AU at a precision of 1.4 m- the explanation for the infamous black drop effect- a possible Mayan observation of a transit of Venus in the thirteenth century- the vexed question of leap seconds and time scales- history, distances, parallaxes, the solar system at exquisite precision and future space missions that will revolutionize astronomy.