Astronomy Books

My son and I love this book. He originally saw it in his school library when he was in kindergarden and wanted to have his own copy at home. It is very easy to read and has some wonderful illustration. Unfortunately it is very hard to find in the book stores so we were thrilled to find it on line. Three years later, it is still one of his most cherrished books in his home library.

I use multiple copies of this text in my fifth grade class to teach landforms, and weather. This book is way better than any textbook I have ever seen. Each topic has full color pictures, and easy child friendly text. The key vocabulary words are in bold print, and the index makes for easy finding of information. The hard back has kept up well in my room this year, as it is treated like the other text books I issue the students (we all know what happens to those). I could not be more pleased with this book. I highly recomend this book to anyone researching physical science.

This is a superb book, if a little complex. You do need some mathematical and physics background to really follow all the topics. Well written, and having taken a class from Imke de Pater at Cal, a great representation of her work.

What's the best book to use as a text in a senior-year course on planetary science? This one gets my vote! It seems to cover everything.

After a nice introductory chapter comes the first test for this book: a 20-page chapter on dynamics with 5 pages of exercises. And this book does a great job. It explains Lagrangian points, orbital resonances, the chaotic nature of the orbit of Pluto, tides, the Yarkovski effect, and so on. And it just gets better after that, with more than 70 pages on planetary atmospheres (structure, composition, clouds, winds, photochemistry, escape). This is followed by hefty sections on planetary surfaces, planetary interiors, and planetary magnetospheres, each of which discuss the individual planets and satellites separately.

Next is a chapter on meteorites, along with radiometric dating. A chapter on asteroids: their orbits, size distribution, collisional evolution, surfaces, structures, and asteroid observing techniques. And a chapter on comets, including their origins and constraints on planetary system formation theories.

We return to dynamics for the ensuing chapter, on planetary rings: thicknesses, resonances, density waves, and shepherding. Following that is a chapter on planet formation, followed by a short concluding chapter on extrasolar planets.

The exercises are instructive and useful throughout. I learned a great deal of material from this book, even though it was nowhere near my first exposure to planetary science.

I recently bought this book for my second grader. We were so impressed that we plan to buy the other books in the series.

The writing is very clear. My daughter was able to read it to me, although she needed help on words like "oxygen", "atmosphere", and "asteroid". There is an easy-to-understand glossary in the back of the book, so she was able to look these words up.

The book begins with an overview of the solar system, then each planet is profiled in its own chapter. Each chapter asks, What would it be like to visit this planet? It also gives facts about the planet such as what the planet is made of, how long it takes to go around the sun, where its name came from, as well as stories and legends about the planet. The watercolor illustrations are easy to understand, and there are also many photographs.

The experiments are very good, although not necessarily something you might do for a science fair. They are designed to quantify size and distance. For example, one experiment has a solar system built out of fruit. Jupiter is a watermelon, while Earth is a cherry and Mercury is a pea.

At the end of the book is a really fun game where kids can match "postcards" with the planets. The kids read the postcard which tells about the conditions of the planet, then try to guess where the postcard came from. My daughter doesn't usually enjoy science books, but this one she read from cover to cover.

Another thing I like about this book is that the author doesn't write in absolutes. She uses words like "scientists think" or "may", because we don't truly know what happened in space or what is in the center of the planets, we can only theorize.

And yes, Pluto is included as a planet in this book. It was written in 1998, before Pluto was plutoed.

I have recently purchased "The Planets" by Cynthia Nicolson. It has been a wonderful resource for my 8 yr old son and I to share. This is especially a good resource for children who are just beginning their exploration of space, and planets. We have especially enjoyed the easy experiments that aid the child to make a "real connection" with our solar system. This is really a "must have" book for every child who desires to learn about the wonders of our solar system! Definately a five star book! We were also pleased with the affordable price!

--Gloria and Jacob Pickering Issaquah, Washington.

I've been an astronomy buff for 28 years and this is the most detailed planisphere I've found. It is simple and easy to use. You can look up the night sky by standard and military time and each day of the month. Most planispheres only show days by groupings, not individually as this one does. The brighest stars are named without destroying the readability. Also included is the declination and right ascension for the more advanced user.

A planisphere allows you to calculate the positions of the stars, by aligning the date (outer dial) and time (inner dial) for your location. A twist of the dial that is divided into 24 hours shows the positions of the stars at that particular time, on any day (the outer dial), for a particular latitude. This particular planisphere is for Latitude 42 degrees North, which is fine for me since I'm at 45 degrees north latitude. Other planispheres are designed for different latitudes, so choose one that is closest to your latitude.

The name 'planisphere' refers to the representation of the celestial sphere on a two-dimensional plane (this means that the constellations near the southern horizon are slightly distorted or stretched along the horizon).

Because of the motion of the earth, the appearance of the sky changes with each hour of each day of the year. A planisphere is more useful than a star chart for identifying the constellations in your sky because you can dial it to the correct date and time. The brighter the star, the larger its representative dot on the planisphere.

Detailed charts such as those to be found in "Norton's Star Atlas" will be useful later in your astronomical career when you are ready to observe fainter objects such as galaxies and nebulae in the heavens.

Once you have your planisphere, all you will need is a small flashlight with a piece of red celluloid taped over the lens. This set-up will allow you to look at your planisphere without ruining your night vision.

This is a first of its kind book and Samskrita Bharati should be congratulated for taking the initiative for publishing this much needed preview of scientific advances in Vedic India. The book is the proverbial last nail in "Max Mullerian theory" coffin about Indian History and civilizatin. While no single book can do justice to the Scientific advances in Vedic India, "Pride of India" succeeds brilliantly by providing tantalaizing glimpses in areas as diverse as, Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, surgery etc. This is long due excellent quality first book in this area. A must reference and general review book.

I have always known that vedas contained not only the highest philosophical thoughts,but also a lot of facts related to science. I read several articles over many years that talked about the science facts from the vedas, whether it be Mathematics,Metallurgy,etc. But when confronted with a question, "can you point me to the source", I have always been at a loss. Now thanks to Samskrita Bharati for bringing out this book, I am not only able to confidently point to the source but also can give an approximate timeframe when the source was compiled. And it is amazing to know that so much progress was made in Science so looooooong ago. Hopefully Samskrita Bharati will bring more of these kinds of publications to help us and educate us all.

Dr. Ginzburg's work is amazing in that it uses the spiral to map out a unified theory with real numbers and real physics. Other new theorists need to take note of the meticulous math and physical models Dr. Grinzburg lays before the world. It gives meaning to many physical constants and describes the sub-atomic and atomic world through a pretty sophisticated model of toroids. It gets into the unification of gravity and the electromagnetic forces and creates a much simpler view of the particle zoo in today's standard models. Vladimir is not just a theorist, but seems to have his roots in modeling and comparing that model to today's real science. There is also an interesting history of science and the spiral given in the beginning of the book. The end of the book lays out his theory and lays it side-by-side with known science and constants and atomic and sub-atomic structure known today.

I bought all five of Ginzburg's books at one go, on the recommendation of Dr. Jim Oschman, noted author of the book, Energy Medicine. The covers alone on these five books, all of them done by the author's son, would make these books particularly attractive. What I found inside was a truly fresh look at the possible shape of the universe and everything in it. Dr. Ginzgurg, a mathematician and mechanical engineer, is an Archimedean at heart. The idea of pure form entrances him. He makes a good argument for his case that all of creation is spiral (or helical); spirals built around spirals. "Every line is a helical spiral," he boldly statees in the introduction to his first book, and we're off and running. His books are a very interesting mix of mathematical formulations that will leave a layman panting, couched in the most inviting storytelling form. For Ginzburg is an excellent story-teller. He takes the reader on a journey through the history of science by inviting us into the lives of the scientists themselves. Fascinating. Compelling. I learned so much that I was never exposed to in school. By the time I had followed the mysterious path through history of the theory of the spiral, I was hooked. I wanted to know the answers as badly as the author. And that is his plan. Indeed, he brilliantly prepares the child in us to receive the answers he has paintakingly prepared for us. As a student of the biophysics of ecstatic altered state experience, I found his books, which are all self-published, extremely interesting. One caveat, the books are quite uneven in their English editing, which was also a home-made job, the work of his daughter. But some of the editing errors are delightful if one recognizes the attempts of one whose first language is not English, to use English idioms. Ginzgurg is a real unknown at this point, but I am guessing that he will be discovered soon. His theories might hold answers to some of our most profound questions about the nature of the universe.

This is one of the classical books on star systems written by a Nobel prize winning astrophysicist. While somewhat dated now, this book applies classical dynamics to stellar dynamics, the distribution of matter and motion in star systems. This can be in our Galaxy, in external galaxies and in star clusters. This book provides a heavily mathematical orientation to the problem.

In addition to the basic text, two later papers by Dr. Chandrasekhar are reprinted from the technical journals in which they first appeared.

The following information is taken verbatim from the publication information page:

Biographical Note

This new Dover edition, first published in 1960, is an unabridged and unaltered republication of *Principles of Stellar Dynamics* as originally published in 1942 by the University of Chicago Press. The following articles are also included and are unabridged and unaltered:

*Dynamical Friction*, Parts I and II, as originally published in 1943 by *The Astrophysical Journal*, Volume 97, No. 2.

*Dynamical Friction*, Part III, as originally published in 1943 by *The Astrophysical Journal*, Volume 98, No. 1.

*New Methods in Stellar Dynamics* as originally published in 1943 by the *Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences*, Volume XLV, Article 3. It is reprinted by the kind permission of the New York Academy of Sciences.

With nearly a thousand pages of information, nearly seventy black and white photos, and hundreds of line drawings, Protostars and Planets V is a winning selection for any serious college-level holding strong in astronomy. It's the newest volume in the Space Science Series and contains articles from over two hundred contributing professionals, building on the latest advances in astronomy and providing fine cross-disciplinary approaches to the genre. From how stars form and different formations to issues of life in the universe, astronomy students receive an exceptional, in-depth coverage.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The Protostars and Planets V conference was held on the big island of Hawaii on October 24-28, 2005. The conference attracted 805 participants, half of which were from 30 countries outside the United States. This conference, which is held every half dozen years or so, is times so that very substantial progress in a field can be made.

This book, which contains some 58 chapters which correspond to the talks given at the conference and together they represent the state of the art in our present understanding of star and planet formation, young stars, and the early solar system.

Among the major strides made between IV and V include:

. The number of extra solar planets has grown by a factor of 10.
Multiple plants being discovered around some suns.
.New submillimeter detectors.
.Sophisticated numerical simulations on ever-more-powerful computers.
.X-Ray studies of star-forming regions.
.Brown dwarfs has now become part of mainstream astrophysics.
.Much new research into comets and the Kuiper belt.
.Refined dating techniques that established an age of our solar system of 4567 million years.

I downloaded this to my Ipod. I love the way Berendzen talks about the development of science since the begining till now, and all the great minds who contributed to it. This is like listening to a vast and mystical drama. I only wish that this was in book form so, I could easily revisit parts of it.

It was a wonderful way for an interested layman to get updated on what has been learned in the field of astronomy since space flight has added to our knowledge. Dr. Berendzen is able to bring a wealth of detail into perspective. Also, he added personal information about various key physicists that humanized the subject.

For a quantum mechanics begginer, like me, this book was sensational, because it is simple, objective, and contais all of the pertinent information, diferently of others books.

I basically really love this book. It was my first exposure to the subject 15yrs ago and I still flip it open every once in a while. Moreover, I used this as a course text twice so far (in graduate Quantum Chemistry). It covers the topics I tend to focus upon in my class: (quantum dynamics, scattering, perturbation theory, use of operator notation, Dirac notation, etc...). It is very readable (even for students who have not had a prior undergraduate exposure to the topic and the problems are both do-able and require some physical insight. It's too bad more people do not know about this little gem of a book. It's a bit light-weight for a solid grad-level quantum course aimed at theory students. For a chemistry course, it's OK, but you need to suppliment the text with molecular examples here and there. At the Univ. of Houston, our students take a separate course in "Molecular Spectroscopy", and "Chemical Bonding" which covers more practical applications of quantum theory and at a MUCH lower level ( i.e. organic and analytical chemists take these courses), so this book fills in a nice nitch for physical chemistry students and gives them a modern feel for the subject, its language, and its application.