Astronomy Books

Most of the topics in this book will be somewhat beyond those that a casual amateur astronomer would want to pursue. However, the book is worth buying just for what you will learn about the different topics. Of course, if you want to try some of the scientific work then you are all set with the material given.

Worth a read for the in depth discussion of observation, imaging with CCDs, practical issues with both, and an understanding of observational and imaging science.

I recommend it.

Astronomy is one of the very few sciences where amateurs can make significant contributions and where amateur contributions are valued by the professional community. I returned to serious astronomy several years ago. I wanted to do more than just star gaze and taking pretty photos (which I still love). If you have felt the same way, then this book is a must read. Buchheim presents a plethora of different research programs that can be undertaken with modest (or even no) equipment. One of my particular interests is photometry, the measurement of light to study such things as variable stars and asteroid light curves. Buchheim takes the novice through all of the concepts and presents this material in a manner that allows the reader to understand the basic concepts and how to undertake a number of observing programs from differential photometry to all-sky to asteroid light curves The same is true for astrometry and the search for asteroids. And, these are just two of the areas of research discussed. In short, if you want to move from "just observing," and get into astronomical research and make valued contributions to science, this book will guide you through to success.

I agree with the other reviews I've seen here: this book is excellent!

Are you ready to move beyond visual observing or taking CCD pix for aesthetic appreciation? Do you want to feel like you're doing a bit of science? If you answered yes to these questions, then this is undoubtedly a good book for you. It contains a survey of a wide range of areas where YOU, with relatively inexpensive amateur gear, can do observations that go far beyond the "Oh, isn't that pretty!" (Not, though, that I have anything against "pretty!")

This book is well written, and unlike many other books in our hobby, gets into the nitty-gritty details of how-to-do-it! It's well written and the author speaks with authority. Each chapter has an excellent reference at its end. Using these references allows you to do additional reading.

Although it doesn't go into much depth on the topic, this book has a short and adequate introduction on spectroscopy. The overview is good and it has references on where to find further info. I've found spectroscopy very exciting. Without much work, with a simple webcam & tiny scope, in the city, without a lengthy or complicated observing program, you can be analyzing the composition of distant stars! Now THAT'S science! (The Rainbow Optics or StarAnalyser spectroscopes are a great introduction.)

This is a really neat book! It opens up a whole new kind of amateur astronomy;real research projects where you make observations that are useful to professional astronomers.Amateur astronomers can gather new information or make new dsicoveries,using skills that are common amoung experienced stargazers,and equipment that is widely available. Here is a step-by-step instruction manual for getting started in these projects,from learning why each project area is important, to the equipment and procedures that are needed, and how to analyze your results.The chapters are organized roughly in order of increasing difficulty of the projects, from simple(naked-eye meteor counting) to complex (extra solar planet searches and supernova discovery). I was paticularly pleased that each project includes an explaination of how and where to submit your results, so that they will be useful to "real" astronomers.
I do not think there is any compairable book available. There are plenty of "advanced observing guides", and many "textbooks",but this book fits right in between them. It gives careful description of celestial objects or events,and how and why you should try to see them, so it's sort of an observing guide(although there are not any spectacular photos).It also explains why the observations are important,and gives a meticulous explaination of the data gathering and analysis procedures for each project,so it is sort of a textbook. But it is not stuffy,pedantic tome. The style is friendly,helpful and encouraging. There are some equations,but if you made it through high school algebra they will not give you any trouble(and only some projects require you to use them).There is even a story line! Short tales about challenges,successes,and memorable experiences are scattered throughout the text. They make it easy to read,and highlite the author's enthusiasm for his subject.
Any amateur atronomer who has ever wished he could be a "real scientist" will definitely find this book worth having on his desk.

For amateurs who have passed the beginner rites of the Messier and Caldwell lists, Buchheims's _Sky_ contains the measured voice of the elder mentor of your astronomy club. If that expert mentor is lacking in your local club, Buchheim's _Sky_ is a must buy that will save you in time many times its purchase. Each _Sky_ observing project is written like an after star-party club coffee meeting, with Buchheim patiently guiding you through practical field problems commonly encountered when starting photometry, double star astrometry or supernovae searching. He includes references to landmark manuals, amateur organizations and internet resources for each topic. Where appropriate, Buchheim fills in with basic observing skills that are often left unexplained as assumed knowlege in other texts, e.g. timing uncertainty reduction when timing asteriod occultations. For this Amazon review, the 18 observing projects are listed in the Table of Contents, listed above. _Sky_ now sits on my "ready reference" shelf - sandwiched between other amateur classics - like Berry's _HAIP_, Sidgwick's _Amateur Astronomer's Handbook_, North's _Advanced Amateur_ or Meeus's _Algorithms_. If you have been hooked in the hobby for two or three years and want a roadmap to the next 10 years, Buchheim's _Sky_ is what you need.

This book is exactly the book I need to continue developing as a space artist. The book has a number of step-by-step exercises, each of different levels of complexity/expertise. Even if you don't use the very same techniques he uses, you can still get a lot out of seeing a painting develop. This development was exactly the Rosetta Stone I needed.
Thanks Mike!

SPACE ART: HOW TO DRAW AND PAINT PLANETS, MOONS, AND LANDSCAPES OF ALIEN WORLDS comes from a leading astronomical artist who explains the basics of styles and paints needed to produce the hues and excitement of alien worlds. Carroll has been a professional space art painter for over 25 years: his experience lends to a blend of science and art ideas which not only provides an overview of techniques, but provides some fourteen paintings, building in complexity, for step-by-step teaching. Any general-interest or art library will find it easily accessible and a popular pick.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I bought this book to gain an idea of how to paint western backdrops for a model railroad. The book is thouroughly illustrated with progressive views of how to create different images. Work of multiple artists are presented, so it goes beyond just one style. Explanations are given over the use of color. I have found it to be a very useful guide, and did I mention, it has lots of pictures!

I learned to paint from the wonderful Walter Foster art book series, which featured titles such as "How to Paint Landscapes," "How to Draw and Paint Seascapes," etc. Every niche of hobbyist painting was covered, from sunsets to still lifes. Typically, each subject would be explored through a series of illustrations showing the development of a painting from simple charcoal sketch, to rough color, to the finished work. Popular masters of the 50's and 60's such as Robert Wood and Violet Parkhurst let us look over their shoulders, sharing their "secrets" with struggling beginners. How I wish Michael Carroll's Space Art had existed back then!

Space Art is not a primer on painting, although a beginner can pick up valuable techniques unlikely to be covered in more traditional "how to" books. While there is a good, brief discussion of media and tools, and an excellent presentation on color, the book assumes a basic knowledge of how to mix and work acrylics. What the beginning painter might find particularly useful, however, is Carroll's discussion, throughout the book, on how to "see" -- how to observe and depict the interplay of light and objects and atmosphere.

Any basic art book will contain a diagram showing how to render and shade the cube, cone, and sphere, but Space Art links this exercise to nature in a way that traditional art books generally do not. For example, most landscape artists rarely paint the moon correctly, either depicting it as a featureless white disk or a weird, banana-shaped crescent. This is, I think, because they haven't made the conceptual leap that allows them to see the moon as a sphere, subject to the same rules of lighting as is an orange in a fruit bowl. They don't see the illuminated part of the moon as its "day" side, and the dark part as its "night." They haven't realized that the dividing line between day and night -- the terminator, to use astronomical parlance -- is an arc of an ellipse: the shape of a great circle seen in perspective. After reading Space Art and attempting its exercises, beginning painters will have a deeper understanding of light and shadow that will make them better artists in any genre of painting.

Space Art takes the reader through fourteen exercises, ranging from the the almost mundane -- "Earth seen from the Moon" -- to the science-fictional landscapes of extrasolar worlds with binary suns. Brief essays by established space artists punctuate the exercises. These essays touch only lightly on technique, but delve more deeply into how space artists interpret the raw data of science and apply this knowledge to imaginatively portray a subject in a way that transcends a mere photograph. The sample illustrations by these guest artists range stylistically from plein air sketches to digital photographic realism. Carroll wisely restricts his exercises to techniques available to the beginner. Although he may sometimes use the airbrush or computer in his commercial work, subtle gradients in the exercises are created using fan brushes and sponges.

Space Art is not only a useful book, but a beautiful one, well printed and rich with color. A reader is likely to learn a bit of astronomy and geology along the way, and Carroll's impish sense of humor comes through in the text, maintaining the friendly tone of a teacher who loves his work. Again, I wish some time traveler had brought this book to me forty years ago. Highly recommended for beginning -- and developing -- artists, in any genre.

Michael Carroll has written, once again,a very fine book. This one meets a specific need in the artistic painting market of today. Space Art is a unique topic that is a favorite of the author's and it shows. The narrative is presented clearly with step-by-step, easy-to-follow directions, including which colors to use, how to create textures, and specific tricks of the trade used to make the artist's space paintings as realistic as possible. The book portrays painting lessons, with colorful thumbnail views, for all levels of students, from beginners to intermediate through to advanced. Michael has also included educational highlights to broaden the painter's knowledge of his/her favorite space subject as they seek to broaden their painting experience to include the wonderful world of Space. It's a great book and very helpful.

"Star Maps" is a new milestone in books about the history of celestial maps. It is in my opinion one of the best works ever written on the subject. Being a collector myself I consider "Star Maps" an unvaluable reference for any enthusiast.

Wow.Wow.Wow,this book is gorgeous,filled with beautiful images of maps. This guy obviously knows his stuff but succeeds in making it understandable.

I'm starstruck with delight! Whoever wants to verify how the stars have been perceived for many millennia across the globe will be very satisfied as well as inspired in reading this star history by Kanas. Thorough, erudite, amply documented with many clear appendices yet also accessibly written for general readers, STAR MAPS is a cartographer's dream. The high quality of the many images (over 80 in color, over 125 in black and white) is first rate as well. Kanas has been very careful in presenting the compendium of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Islamic and other cultures who have contributed as much to our knowledge of constellations and astronomy as the more familiar Classical scientists. Major historical persons like Aristarchus of Samos and Claudius Ptolemy are balanced with the later Copernicus, Kepler, Brahe, Galileo and less known astronomers such as Al-Khwarizmi, Sacrobosco and the polymath Thomas Young. As a valuable resource tool for stargazers and academics alike, this book sets the bar very high as the best available history of astronomy.

Nick Kanas's Star Maps is perhaps the most comprehensive book on astronomical cartography to be published in the last 50 years. It is an inch-thick mass of well-illustrated information and is worth its weight in gold just for the mini-biographies of astronomers spanning three millenia and four continents. Its content belies its very modest price. Star Maps will likely become the standard reference on astronomical cartography for many years to come.
Kevin J Kilburn FRAS.
Secretary, the Society for the History of Astronomy

I received this book as a gift in the fall, and just finished it. It's terrific. I am just a casual observer of astronomy, but this is not really just an astronomy book -- it's about the art and science of mapping the sky from the very beginning. The author has taken a topic out of the reach of many of us and turned it into one fascinating read. This makes a great present. The maps and the history presented are terrific.

Stars is an enthusiastically written guide to modern stellar theory, pared down to the basics for the educated layman. It was written in the early 1990s so it's quite up to date. Advances have been made since then (lots of extrasolar planets detected, age of universe determined, etc), but the theories regarding the internal workings of stars have not been significantly modified. Although few of these theories have actually been proven, the empirical foundation supporting them is voluminous and highly convincing.

The first couple chapters of Stars serve as a refresher course in basic astronomical theory and history. I think it would have been better to jump right into the stars themselves, as there are plenty of other books that do the general astronomy better and presumably the reader would have already learned the basics anyway before getting this book. Kaler spends a lot of worthwhile time on the HR diagram and on stellar spectra. It's simply amazing how much has been deduced from points of light that to the naked eye essentially vary only in color and luminosity. Other major topics include detailed discussions of the births and deaths of stars. Curiously, he chooses to discuss star birth *after* star death. But it helps get his point across that star birth is often triggered by pressure waves produced by dying stars.

The paperback version is in a somewhat unwieldy large format due to the huge margins, which are used for many of the illustrations. The quality of the illustrations is generally very good, especially the charts. Many of the photographs however don't come across too well, because a lot of resolution was lost when the editors shot them down to fit them into the margins.

Overall, recommended to all readers wanting to know how stars work!

In the Belmont Society, we think it's a shame that most of us don't understand how a star works. We glance up at them every night, and look at them through binoculars and telescopes, but for the most part we have no real knowledge of what makes them tick. James B. Kaler has created a significant work of importance in that regard. This book is a manual of detail that describes the workings of stars that is thrilling to read and easy to understand.

To those absorbed in amateur astronomy, Carl Sagan's eloquent phrase, "We are all made of star-stuff", was arguably the most quintessential statement of the late 20th century. Over three decades later, James B. Kaler paraphrases the statement with equal facility by asserting that stars are "...the principal means for the conversion of matter into energy, and are the sources and sustainers of life itself." The book represents an exploration of the supreme stellar mystery - the origin of luminosity. Why do the sun and stars shine so brightly?

Kaler begins (quite logically) by taking us on a tour of the Sun. He presents in vivid detail, the complete solar assembly. We're shown everything from core to corona, discovering astonishing particulars, like the characteristics of granules and supergranules, and the tumultuous conditions at different stratta.

We are given understandable explanations of the chromosphere, photosphere, corona, solar flares, mass ejection, sunspots, prominence, etc. And we're "clued-in" to some as yet unsolved mysteries, such as the strange period from 1645 to 1715 known as the Maunder Minimum, when sunspot activity was virtually non-existent, nudging the Earth into a minor ice age. "To know the Earth and stars we must know the sun".

Kaler describes "How to Build a Sun", and describes the incredible conditions necessary for hydrogen fusion to take place, giving us a generous understanding of stellar dynamics, and their correlation to luminosity. We learn about the birth of stars, their life cycles, and their violent endings. And we come to realize that a star's mass is the controlling discipline that determines how long a star lives and how it will die. In addition, there are explanations of how a Cepheid Variable works, and what goes on inside RR Lyrae and Mira stars.

There are illustrations and graphs to augment the text. There are also some formulas. If you're a whiz at calculus and chemistry you'll be happily familiar with them. But that kind of background isn't required. Trust me - you'll still "get it". That's the merit of "Stars". Although not quite down to that level, Kaler has basically written us a manual for dummies.

The Belmont Society has selected Stars as the latest addition to its "Required Reading" list for the amateur astronomer. We feel it is written in a style that is easy to digest by all levels of interest. If you have any curiosity at all about the sun and the stars and how they work, this book will greatly ease your comprehension. Highly recommended.

Easy to read overview of modern astronomy, with a focus on, of course, stars. The reference begins with a discussion of the reference frame we use to observe stars in the sky, for example, the celestial meridian and the celestial equator. Various telescopes are then discussed. The physics of a star's motions and gravity is discussed, as well as the spectrum it emits. The life cycles of stars are discussed, with attention to supergiants, supernovae, pulsars, and black holes. The reference concludes with a cosmological perspective of stars. Of interest, since only helium, deuterium and lithium were made at the start of the Big Bang, we should be able to observe some (even just one) very old stars that contain no higher metals. But, no metal-free star, even the oldest ones observed, have been found yet. Although there are many reasons to explain this phenomenon, for example, such old stars may no longer remain, it would be reassuring to Big Bang theory if even one metal-free star could be found.

Without stars, the universe will be dark and dull. Most importantly, only stars can create elements (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorous) indispensable to all forms of life. That is, we owe our very existence to the stars.

This book presents the above key messages and many other interesting topics systematically. It starts by introducing the ancient views on the night sky, followed by describing the tools people have been using in discovering the wonder of the stars, and then their properties (how stars are grouped and why they behave differently). Finally, the magnificent birth and dramatic death of stars, viewed as if they are organic matters, are depicted.

An outstanding feature about the book is its abundance in figures and photographs. I found one on almost every page and more than that on many.

Kaler's writing is lucid and the book is generously spaced. If you are a beginner in astronomy, this book is ideal to start with because it's not going to discourage you with jargons and pages after pages of texts. If you want to obtain an overall view and to update your knowledge on stars, this revised edition is a good choice.

Overall, I highly recommend "stars" and I wish I had read it earlier.

If you are not comfortable reading about atomic spectra, nuclear fusion or magnetic flux, you probably should find a star book that is more basic than this one. But if you've got a strong high school background in physics and chemistry, then you will enjoy an amazing journey when reading this book. Rich in diagrams and photos, "Stars" won't lose you between any of its pages. Although I thought the section on celestial orientation (azimuth, etc.) was unnecessary and a little weak, the material on stellar structure and evolution is the best I've seen.

Although not cheap this book is worth every penny to anyone interested in the history of navigation and the navigators instruments themselves. lavishly illustrated with colour photographs and drawings the text is authorative and leaves little of the subject un covered.

Centuries ago, Arab (or perhaps Chinese) mariners began using an instrument to help find their latitude, called a kamal (or in Chinese chhien hsing pan), which was nothing more complicated than a credit card-sized rectangle of wood or ivory.

The navigator held the kamal before him so that the bottom edge rested on the horizon and the top edge on a star. A string came out of the center of one of the flat sides of the card. The mariner took the string in his teeth and tied a knot to mark how far out he had to hold his kamal.

Meanwhile, Pacific Islanders were using a more sophisticated system, but one with less potential for improvement.

Trying to measure the angle of a star (or sun or moon) from a rolling deck was tricky, all the more so when it involved staring directly into the sun. The big breakthrough came in 1731 when an Englishman, John Hadley, proposed a "double reflecting" arrangement that used mirrors to bring the horizon together with the celestial target.

There followed some of the most beautifulo and efficient machines ever devised. Scores of them are pictured, most in color, in "Taking the Stars."

The book is co-published by The Mariners' Museum at Newport News, Va., where author Peter Ifland has donated his large collection.

In many ways, sextants (the favorite form of Hadley's invention) were the key instruments in the evolution of modern life.

A sextant had to resist corrosion, be strong and light and have extremely accurate measuring marks. Jesse Ramsden achieved fame with his "dividing engine" for marking the degrees of a circle, and his engine was then turned to a multitude of varieties of precision machine work for the Age of Industry.

No fundamental change was made until the invention of an artificial horizon, for use when the real horizon was obscured. (This was usually the case on land, where -- unlike Polynesian navigating techniques -- the mariner's system was readily adapted.)

Sextants and their relatives maintained a grace and style even as they acquired a variety of gizmos and trick devices, but by the 20th century the combination of utility and beauty was about to be broken.

Part was due to aviation, which required even more rapid calculations, and part to practicality -- the beautiful lines of the frames either were enclosed in (usually) black crackle plates or eliminated by use of prisms.

Plus, the sextants acquired awkward looking gyroscopes and counters. Where once their function was open to any inquiring eye, by World War II most sextants were truly black boxes to the uninitiated.

"Although not nearly as photogenic as the beautiful old brass seagoing sextants," writes Ifland, "the modern aircraft sextant fits nicely in the hand, provides a stable mounting for the optical system and is easy to store and use in the confined spaces of an aircraft."

Just so, but visitors to The Mariners' Museum probably will linger longer over the ancient tools.

It's all history now. First, land-bases radio guidance systems began superseding star and sun sights. Though recreational sailors still shoot the sun, sometimes with inexpensive but fairly accurate plastic devices, professionals are becoming dependent on satellite-based geographic positioning systems.

In 1999, the Naval Academy stopped teaching celestial navigation after 143 years.

I have spent days savoring this delicious work. Ifland has set a new standard against which all subsequent instrument books must be judged. The illustrations are magnificent; the text is lucid and I particularly like the fact that, in many cases, instructions are given for actual use of the instrument being discussed. Thank you, Peter Ifland!

There are a few books on instruments used for nautical astronomy that you must have if you are interested in this field: Mörzer Bruijns "The Cross Staff", Stimson " The Mariner`s Astrolabe", Albuquerque "Instruments of Navigation" and Cotter "A History of the Navigator`s Sextant". This last book - although full of facts - is sadly lacking in good illustrations. "Taking the Stars" has both: a thorough and detailed history of instruments used for making astronomical observations right up to the latest developments and beautiful illustrations that show in detail what the text is talking about. It is rather rare that one finds such a well informed text in a book which can easily pass as a "coffee table book". My first copy of this book was destroyed by water; I ordered a new copy the next day.

Today the very idea of using a sextant seems crazy when you can just switch on your GPS and be told where on the planet you are. This book takes you through some of the scientific instruments used to find your position on the earth. The author has taken the time not only to display excellent photos of the instruments but also describes their use. If you have an interest in either astronomy, celestial navigation or even scientific instruments I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Very nice. Takes you back to the "Romper Room" or Kindergarten of astronomy. Book allows you plenty of "breathing room" in mastering the building blocks of today's more complicated concepts by thoroughly explaining material. Nothing is left to "guess work." This book should be a "tool" in everyone's "toolbox."

Textbooks that remain in print for more than a few years with their contents essentially intact are a rare commidity nowadays. The fact that this little book has been around for almost 75 years in essentially its same form for such a period is a testament both to the timelessness of the material it contains and to the expository abilities of its author.

Written by William Marshall Smart, a prominent British professor of astronomy and a prolific writer on the subject, it covers almost all aspects of positional astronomy, including the geometry of the celestial sphere, co-ordinate systems, measurement of time, precession, nutation, aberration, reduction of astronomical photographs, and even eclipses and occultations. Written in Smart's pedantic but eminently readable style, it is easily consumed in a few days or even hours by anyone with a working knowledge of college algebra, trigonometry, and elementary calculus. No other work on the subject has surpassed it for clarity and rigor. Consider that another of Smart's books, "Celestial Mechanics" (Longmans, 1953; reprinted 1960), is so revered that it now sells for several hundred dollars or more on the used book market (despite its rather common availability).

After Smart's death in 1975, revisions for "Spherical Astronomy" were undertaken by R. Green (author of a separate book on the subject) in order to keep it up-to-date with current astronomical practice, mainly in the area of accurate timekeeping in the face of the variable rate of rotation of the earth.

A classic little book whose reading (and re-reading) is like sipping a fine old Claret from the wine cellar.

If you are interested in any subject of position astronomy (motion of the moon, stellar navigation, astrometry, etc.) you must stat by reading this book. Eventhough it is basically a reviewed old text, it is still the most concise and complete reference on the area.

It contains from the basic formulas of spherical trigonometry to the full explanation of the conditions necesary to observe a solar eclipse, or principles of star parallax measurement, for example.

I think this book is useful not only for amateur and pro astronomers, but also for undergraduate mathemathicians and physicists, and even for highschoolers.

I'm a student of astronomy, and for last 2 years I've used this book for my main reference. It covers every aspect of spherical astronomy from the very beginnings: Basic concepts in mathematics (the spherical triangle) and its formulas. And then it slowly advances to more practical topics in astronomy: the coordinate system of astronomy and its transformation from one system to another, the reduction in object's position: refraction and aberration, timekeeping system (calendar included), planetary and solar motion, calculating eclipses (lunar and solar) and occultations, and even more interesting topics: astrophotography (if you want to photograph the skies, it helps to know something about spherical astronomy). In short, this books covers all aspect of spherical astronomy and it's application. Furthermore, this book has a variety of problems at the end of each chapter, from theoretical, proofing formula, to practical. The only weakness of this book is the lack of solution for some problems. But this book is still the best. It's amazing for a book written in 1926!

I've used this book many years ago. In it learned lots on interesting things, including the forecast of solar eclipses and occultations of stars and other bodies by the Moon, planets, asteroids, etc.

I have in my bookshelf many other spherical astronomy books, most of them newer, but I always use Smart's book.

Long ago I lost my copy of the original book and felt really sad. Thanks God there is this a reedition of that clasic.

Congratulations for that, good books should never die.

Beautifully illustrated and story line leaving plenty of room for a young imagination to fill in. We love this book and have read it nearly every night since we purchased it!

Davey is bored even though his move to Mars from Earth should be exciting. He and his robot dog find adventures easily - until curiosity leads to a big discovery. Large-size drawings provide a read suitable for those moving from picturebooks to the next level, while an adventure-packed space story adds exciting attraction, especially for reluctant readers.

Reviewed by Matthew Feliciano (age 7) for Reader Views (2/08)

Davey's family moves to Mars because they want to get away from Earth because there are too many people. Davey knows that there is nothing to do on Mars so he doesn't want to go, but he has to. One day he and his dog, Polaris, go on his scooter to go around Mars and explore. They soon find a crater that the dog sniffed out. When they are digging in the crater, there is a loud CRACK and water starts gushing out of it. More people start coming to Mars because there is water there. Davey goes surfing one day and when he comes back his mother says "There are too many people here. We have to move to Saturn." And Davey knows there is NOTHING to do on Saturn!

"There's Nothing to Do on Mars" was fun to read. The illustrations were not that great and I didn't really like them, but the story was so good that I could ignore the pictures. It was cool to be able to imagine living on Mars.

THERE'S NOTHING TO DO ON MARS is the delightful and charming book of a very bored boy named Davey Martin. His family has just moved to Mars (in a spaceship, which resembles a pre-1950s Airstream trailer!) and he is contemplating that age-old question of "there's nothing to do!"

Written by award-winning illustrator, Chris Gall, it is filled with unique illustrations. I especially liked how Polaris, the dog, looked just like MY dog! (Well, except for the little antenna tail!)LOL Davey was portrayed in the coolest manner as well. His face and spacesuit were reminiscent of the art from the 1930's - 1950's. And totally loved his tennis shoes!

The Martians and monsters on Mars were scary and fun! Unfortunately they smelled really, really BAD - because they hadn't bathed in like forever!

Join Davey and Polaris, his dog, as they set out for adventure on Mars; build forts; and make discoveries...on Mars. It will help all students and kids come to the realization that you can explore and find fun and excitement WHEREVER you go!

This book is a treasure for old and young alike. It would be especially helpful as a gift for any youngster whose family is moving or who is "the new kid at school." And if your child is constantly complaining, "Mom! I'm BORED! There's NOTHING to do!" - well, it would be sooo totally appropriate.

While the other reviewers noted the charm of this book in general 'fun and nice for a child' ways, I have a different slant. Being a child of the Apollo days and growing up when the idea of going to another planet was the only thrill that could be imagined I've become a bit empty over the decades noticing that that excitement is no longer a major force in our children's lives. Politicians talktalktalk about Education (the industry) while they slashslashslash the budgets of programs that actually make children have a reason to want to learn anything.

But on I hope.

My son is now four and I have looked several times for space oriented books but have overwhelmingly found only science books targetted at 10+ kids (and even then the mentions of Humans on other worlds are depressingly tinged with the yellow of it all having happened three generations in the past, making the excitement level about as high as hearing about Columbus; Mildly important but not anything that that seems like something that they can grow up to do themselves and definitely not something that a little kid can ponder doing right now in their current little bodies).

While poking through the store shelves, with a copy of SkippyJohnJones in my hand I spotted this... luckily far away from the science books and instead "where the fun books are, daddy"

The artwork (amazingly *Hand-Engraved* out of clay covered board, it explains in very tiny print on the copyright page) is like a mix of 30's pulp scifi but with a touch of atomic age, and the simple text, not more than a handful of sentences on each page, made it really jump out as being quality but also easy for a little guy or girl. These lush, but also simple, pictures span both pages and the story takes up just a sliver down either side; Absolutely perfect for the Story Times at a preschool (I join my son sometimes in such a circle when I can pick him up early enough and have observed that this kind of format is something that the teachers prefer because it seems to work well).

And about that story... it is the little things that make it so special. There is no banging the kid over the head but there is actual learning in the words.

Point one: The "treasure" that Davie and Polaris were looking for - and that they dug up; That "the treasure" Is there just a bit below the surface (as we adults now know for a fact) and that it makes all the difference to Mars and to people on Mars is presented so well.

Point two: Something that my son just asked about all by himself tonight - on one page the boy builds a fort(!) and it's really easy for him to build a great one because on Mars he can pick up big rocks all by himself; my son said "why can he do that, daddy?" and I could say casually 'because on Mars things weigh less and little guys can do big, strong things there' I saw his mind turning that one over for a little while (After all, doing big strong things is important to little people who often feel powerless, isn't it?)

Point three: That last page that other reviews have mentioned is more than just a cute little twist. Once Mars is ours some Humans with desire will be looking even higher for more worlds to explore.

Now, you might think me some nut Father, trying to push my child into something... maybe so but I do try to not press, I just want to expose my child to the excitement of possibilities beyond just one already-explored-and-known place. And it's so hard to find those possibilities expressed in ways that he can understand.

Chris Gall does it with this book.

Maybe, maybe some child who has a parent or grandparent read it to them will get a spark and maybe turn that spark into a real space exploration again (or even grow up to be a politician who can think beyond next week's polls and actually do a big thing instead of just talking big ... I have faith that that can happen too ... call me a romantic ;-)), but at the very least if only for a few minutes this book will make your child aware of the fact that other planets aren't just pictures that lifeless robots take for us watch-it-on-tv comfortzoners, that they are places that real people can go and do special things that even a kid would want to do.

I got the book at the store that night (along with SkippyJohnJones)... and tonight after my son picked the book out himself from the shelf and asked me to read it to him I came to Amazon to buy a copy for his school.

A kid has to dream that he can make a difference, right?

Totality by Mark Littman, Ken Willcox and Fred Espenak was a pretty interesting book. This book explained the stages of eclipses of the sun. It also explained how to safely view eclipses and the history of eclipses. Mark Littman( a professor in science writing and astronomy at the University of Tennessee), Ken Willcox( was a professor of physics and astronomy at Bartlesville Wesleyan College) and Fred Espenak( an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center) explained everything about eclipses very well. They explain the parts of the sun and the stages of the sun. The authors used many examples of past eclipses to back up there information. There were many interesting and detailed pictures to look at. They showed pictures of the stages of eclipses and famous people such as Albert Einstein and Joseph Norman Lockyer. I enjoyed this book most of the time but sometimes it got a little boring. I would recommend this book for people who enjoy reading about solar eclipses and people who want to observe solar eclipses themselves. This book is good for people just starting to observe solar eclipses because it gives safety rules to use when looking at and eclipse. Also it tells you what kind of telescopes and cameras you should use and at what focal length to get the best picture you are looking for. I am sure this book could help out a beginner in observing eclipses. The most interesting part of this book to me was when I read observing a total eclipse. I was fascinated when I learned that animals and plants were affected by total solar eclipses. There were many examples of this. Also I was interested in learning about the many different eclipses. There were many different examples of eclipses to read about. The least interesting part to me was when the authors talked about the history of eclipses. That part was a little boring , but overall this was a pretty good book.

very good book for understanding all the aspects of solar eclipses; gives advice on how to view them, and conveys why they are special events; after reading this book, I was lucky enought to travel to Aruba to see my first total solar eclipse right beside the authors--it was great!

Even if you have other eclipse books at home, TOTALITY provides fresh information about this fascinating phenomenon. This book describes in clear language what makes a total solar eclipse so special. The authors explanation of the science behind eclipses helps to demystify the eclipse, while the chapter devoted to impressions from a group of dedicated eclipse chasers, gives a sense of the magic of a total solar eclipse. There are plenty of drawings and photographs complement the writing, with an excellent set of references in the appendix. Highly recommended, Jerry Levy ....

"Totality" is a superior reference providing a very comprehensive coverage of solar eclipses. I highly recommend this book for advice on understanding, enjoying, photographing, and experiencing solar eclipses, especially total solar eclipses. The information provided is easy to understand as well as practical and useful. I have about a dozen books on eclipses and this is one is the best. "Totality" is a must read for anyone preparing to experience a solar eclipse.

After being three times under the Moon's shadow, I already know very well what kind of excitement, marvel and amazement a person can feel during a total eclipse of the Sun. Reading "Totality", not only you learn, understand and comprehend better everything concerning the "most awesome sight in the heavens" (sic from the book's review), but feel again those very special sensations you only expect to find during totality. If you are not infected by the eclipse bug after the 1999 European eclipse, perhaps this book will do the work. I only miss a bit more extent on science (chapter 9) and about historical eclipses (chapter 5). Anyway, a very well-written, complete and fascinating book.

My husband bought me this book for my birthday, we are both engineers for NASA, and I truly appreciated the clear and concise way that Mr. Tribble presented the material. This is a great book for non-technical and technical people alike. A very pleasant, entertaing and informative read.

Tribble's book is wonderful. It describes the many challenges that engineers have faced, and overcome, in getting humans into space; it also explains some of the truly fascinating questions that are now being answered because scientists have access to space-based laboratories.

It's superb reading, as Tribble not only discusses real-world science and engineering, he also mentions classic movies like 2001, October Sky, and - of course - Star Trek.

If you're at all interested in space, go buy a copy.

This book is destined to be a classic -- right up there with "The Tao of Physics" and "A Brief History of Time." Once I started, I could hardly put it down. My only regret is that the book got me so excited about the final frontier but I can't get there -- at least not for a while. But one thing I can do is share the book with my children, since I'm certain it's a lot more interesting than what they're reading in school. If you are a parent, I can think of no better Birthday, Christmas, or Hannukah gift for you to give your child than "Alan Tribble's Guide to Space!"

Tribble parlays his name into an entertaining, lightweight overview of the history of space exploration and the basics of spaceflight science and engineering. I didn't find it too enlightening, but someone with limited prior knowledge about the subject would likely find it helpful.

I have my usual quibbles: Apollo 17 wasn't the first mission to depict the liftoff of the lunar module, just the most successful. And Tribble reports two "urban legends" as fact, one being the story that HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey was a deliberate one-upmanship on IBM (go back one letter in the alphabet for "IBM" to see what I mean), something Arthur C. Clarke denies. But as usual those are trivial. Overall, Tribble provides a clear, if basic, explanation of the key issues of space flight, and I didn't detect any errors in the core of his presentation.

Recommended for those looking for a basic introduction to space flight.

_A Tribble's Guide to Space (How to Get to Space and What to do When You're There)_ is a succinctly and entertainingly written introduction to the core issues of manned and unmanned spaceflight, playing off the well- known technologies and plot devices of the Star Trek series. Author Alan Tribble, a Real Rocket Scientist, conveys to his reader what the main issues are, why they are issues in the first place, and what needs to be considered in addressing those issues. He does this

without scrutinizing any of his topics to the point of tedium. His discussion of orbits is a good example of how a topic progresses: he describes what an orbit is, gives something of the history and personalities involved in the development of our understanding of the physics of orbits, what it takes to get into orbit, why that depends on where you start from, and what the implications of all those things are. His discussion of orbits provides a useful vehicle for illuminating digressions on gravity, the history of rocketry, current launch vehicles and power sources, Trek power sources, and both real and fictional interplanetary and interstellar travel times. Along the way he uses examples from 20th century space endeavors, as well comparisons to Trek Mythology, to concretize these ideas. And that's all in Chapter 2! The remaining chapters are similarly rich in content, without being daunting, overburdened, or unduly academic, and cover the full spectrum of topics including the space environment, the uses of space, and manned and unmanned spacecraft design. Altogether, Tribble has produced an engaging volume appropriate for those seeking an introduction to the real core issues of manned and unmanned spaceflight. The book is most appropriate for the average intelligent (i.e., not adverse to thinking) person of high school age or greater, although I certainly would not hesitate to give a copy to an interested and motivated junior high student. One can only hope that this book will be well enough received to induce Tribble to write further on popular topics in the physical sciences.

Hi! I am also one of Andrew Fraknoi's former students and we used this book in our class. It's awesome! It is very well written and he makes it very easy to understand everything about the planets and the Universe. He is also an awesome teacher so if you have the opportunity to take one of his ASTRO classes at Foothill College-you should take it!

I'm one of Andrew Fraknoi's student at Foothill and this book is as excellent as his lectures there. It's simply, however, in-depth written book with several new fantastic pictures. It should be a part of every home library

Simple, yet fairly in-depth, and has lots of good pictures to help illustrate the concepts. Easy enough reading for the budding astronomer to use, but also provides detailed information useful for more complicated research. Everthing from focal length to electron emission!

This book is great if you want to get a feel for all the different astronomical objects, what they are and how it all fits together.  I like the way the authors start with the Earth and then move on to the other planets, the stars, galaxies, clusters and eventually to Relativity and the Big Bang, without digging too much into the details.  It's a thought-provoking book and I recommend it to anyone who is eager to get into the field.

If you have any interest in Astronomy, this is a must have book for an introduction to the subject. It is a non-mathematical introduction to the subject and is extremely well written. The book was intended for a non-major science subject in college, but even if you are not attending a class on the subject, this is still a great book to learn from.

I personally don't have the hard cover edition but I have the paper back edition. I plan to purchase the hard cover edition when I have the money for it. I can expand a little on the subject matter of the paperback edition, which I'm sure is simply a stripped down version of the hard cover book. It covers the history of astronomy to the latest theories in the field. Such topics as gravity, planets, the Sun, stars, thermo-nuclear fusion, black holes and quasars are explained in a easy to digest manner. I found the topic of how thermo-nuclear fusion especially facinating as I always wondered how stars (like our sun) generated it's energy, I knew it was fusion but did not understand how it functioned, all was made clear to me.

There are also plenty of visual aides and pictures in book. A large majority of images are directly from Hubble Space Telescope that will leave you breathless at the beauty and vastness of space. The book also directs you to websites that will expand on the material covered in the book. Great stuff!

Fraknoi, Morrison and Wolff have done a tremendous job in writing this book. Kudos to the authors for taking to the time to do it right.