Amateur Telescope Making (Vol. 3) [Hardcover]

Albert G. Ingalls (Editor)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 618 pages
• Publisher: Willmann-Bell (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0943396506
• ISBN-13: 978-0943396507
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,502,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most marvellous book about this subject, October 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Amateur Telescope Making (Vol. 1) (Hardcover)

Now updated, this book is the definitive introduction to the subject. It is against this book that others should be judged. If you are interested in Amateur Telescope Making you should buy it (and probably at least Vol.2 and maybe Vol.3). In my opinion this is one of those books that really deserves 6 stars.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great book!, March 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Amateur Telescope Making (Vol. 1) (Hardcover)

What a great book! I decided to make my own scope, and so I bought this book, ground and polished a piece of glass, and I had a telescope! This book has one problem. It can get too technical at times. This can be desirable, but not when you are dealing with beginners.

If this book was revised to be simpler, I am sure it would be the choice book for amateurs.
--Matt Hanson

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic - Dated, but good reference, January 31, 2006

By 

Larry Gilstrap (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amateur Telescope Making (Vol. 1) (Hardcover)

This book was written in the first half of the 20th Century, as one of three related volumes. In 1996, publisher Willmann-Bell rearranged the hodge-podge collection of articles, into a more logically arranged edition, also of three volumes. This first volume deals exclusively with: Newtonian Mirror Making, Optical Testing, Workshop Wisdom and Observatory Buildings.

Together, these stand-alone articles detail the thoughts, methods and techniques of that bygone era. A modern reader might find such practices "primative" these days, but one must remember that using the simplest of tools and measurements, ordinary (non-technical) folk were able to produce some excellent optics.

Still, this should no longer be considered a beginner's book of telescope making. Though the general concepts and principles remain, the actual materials, fabrication techniques and measurement methods have greatly improved, or at least no longer apply to the text. Instead, this book should be considered as a resource for ATM's with some actual experience, and who might have the historical or technical curiosity to see how others accomplished marvels a century before, without the benefit of personal computers, light emitting diodes, or off-the-shelf telescope hardware.