astronomy

Obviously there are no people who are completely clueless about astronomy since we all were taught as children (at least I was) about the planets in our solar system and about other galaxies. Beyond that most people would not know much about astronomy; which is where this nice little book comes in handy. It has enough information on astronomy subjects without mathematics and without being textbook-like. I think the value of this book is the combination of illustrations and text that stimulate an interest to explore the topics (in another, more extensive book) if this is so desired. And if not, then it is still a good overview of astronomy. Good book for the price!

I think that as an introduction to astronomy, this book is just great!! It helped me to understand the stars and planets, as well as related scientific theories, better.

Wanting to teach myself a little astronomy, I purchased this book, since it somehow had acquired a noble status among similar literature. Upon receiving the book and looking through it, I simply wondered "how?". It seems that most books of this type suffer from similar defects. The design seems to be based off a children's activity book. Wide margins, plentiful empty, white space, and text that is big and ugly. Is it possible to publish a book of this purpose with a crisp, small font, several paragraphs per page, and clean, sharp diagrams/illustrations? Apparently not. Perhaps I'm alone in desiring an efficient, textbook-like layout. It seems possible that the complete text of this book could have been printed on 50 pages. Anyway, there's more. The book has been reprinted several times due to its popularity. Again, I'm at a loss for why. Though the cover, perhaps, has changed, the photos that litter its pages, seem to have not. Imagine for a moment taking a photo of Jupiter through a sheet of black tracing paper. Now imagine the resultant sharpness and resolution. Breathtaking, no? The overall quality of diagrams, illustrations, and photos is woeful. Lastly, this book, in sharing the rudiments of astronomical science felt compelled to discuss the wonderful world of SETI!!! SETI is a money-sucking escapade in speculative failure. This book, as most others do, discussess the pseudo-scientific merits of the SETI program, complete with reproductions of the diagrams we've sent along into outer space of a generic ( though peaceful looking), naked man and woman. Hmmm... You will find some science in this book, but if you hope to master the basics of astronomy and take part in an honest discussion regarding the limited understanding we still have of many things universal, I recommend looking elsewhere.