Customer Reviews

Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide, Sixth Edition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm an armchair astronomer. While I save up to buy that telescope, I read books like this, attend star parties (dark sky gatherings where amateur astronomers let wannabes like me peek through their scopes) and daydream about the day when my future telescope sees first light.
This is a great book for people like me. It's the equivalent of a very thorough undergraduate "Introduction to Astronomy" class. The author makes good use of illustrations throughout the book to explain difficult concepts like stellar spectra, distances to astronomical objects, and how astronomers determine the temperature, mass, and composition of stars.
New discoveries are being made every day in astronomy,and of course it's impossible for a book to be as current as today's newspaper. Readers of this book will want to update themselves on certain topics, such as extrasolar planets, human spaceflight, SETI, the explosion of CCD photography in amateur astronomy, among others. A list of resources to do just that is provided in the back of the book. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to be entertained and enlightened at the same time. If you're like me, preparing to morph from armchair to amateur status, this book provides an excellent foundation.

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 have just completed an introductory course in Astronomy and I was surprised to find out how much is covered in Dinah Moche's book. She is able to cut through to the important ideas and topics without a lot of minute details. If you want to start learning about astronomy, get this book. It is as good an intro you will get, including college.

My son is a selftaught Astronomy enthusiast, and was eager to learn the hard facts about the heavens,but was not able to assist to a course or class due to lack of free time,so he bought this book and found what he was looking for: a organized,step by step,interesting and enjoyable way of understanding our universe.

This book is nicely laid-out. When you're finished with it, you will know your astronomy. It reads smoothly and is easy to carry around -- being a paperback. I recommend it.

This book offers a stimulating introduction to astronomy for beginners. The sixth edition is updated with latest research into black holes, active galaxies and quasars, searches for life in space, origin and structure of our universe. I particularly like the many photos and diagrams included in the book for illustration and that each chapter is organized into small sections for easy learning.

This allows the reader to know a bit more about Astronomy by having questions after each chapter, which is nice.

I have always been fascinated with astronomy but the language/references have been a bit over my head sometimes. I am looking forward to becoming a more savvy "star gazer". The book seems to be what I have been looking for.

This book is a good introduction to astronomy, but, they put the answers for all the tests right next to (and often directly underneath) the questions. That makes it very hard to take the tests sincerely because it's so easy to accidentally glance at the answers.

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.