astronomy

I taught from this book (in 2 editions) for 6-7 years. Market forces assure that the content of college level astro books is quite uniform, but what sets Kuhn apart is his strong conceptual approach--he does a better job than most competitors in NOT BURYING the student under a welter of suffocating detail. He also tries to keep vocabulary to the minimum necessary. In other words, he works hard to combat that #1 demon infesting intro. college courses: factual overload. In recent years, other authors have jumped on the bandwagon of making astro texts more concise and focussed--beginning to cater to one of the strongest needs of the typical student--but Karl Kuhn was one of the first and best to blaze the conceptual trail. Highly recommended.

This book is significantly cheaper than the competing books, but more important, it does a better job of explaining many topics.