Customer Reviews

Giant Telescopes: Astronomical Ambition and the Promise of Technology

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very well-researched history of the twists and
turns of post-war US large telescope astronomy and its
desire to retain leadership against growing competition
from Europe and Japan. The story involves a seemingly
endless conflict between private and publicly-funded
astronomers and differing mirror technologies and their
outspoken advocates, against a backdrop of
international partners attempting to join the US effort
and simultaneously knock some order in the US process.

McCray has worked hard to produce a very readable
account. Whether you are a practising astronomer or
interested in how hard it is to synthesize US scientific
opinion, this is well worth reading.

I got this book as a present and really liked it. It tells the story of how ground-based telescopes have developed since the 1940s. The book is very readable and covers the subject very thoroughly. The scientific material is presented clearly, especially for non-specialists.

For the reviewer who didn't like that there were "too many people": this isn't a technical manual, it's a history. I was really impressed that the author conducted more than 120 hours of interviews with scientists and engineers, in addition to visiting numerous observatories. You can't understand the development of these telescopes without explaining how people and institutions decided what projects to pursue.

Focuses (sorry about that) a bit more on proposals and politics than technical matters, which is what I am interested in. Still a good book.

I really enjoy reading about and visiting big telescopes. In addition to reading at telescope web sites on the internet, I have enjoyed finding out what I could from limited descriptions in many of the general astronomy and astrophysics books that are my hobby. I have visited Mauna Kea, Mount Wilson, Arecibo, VLA and the LIGO at Livingston. I was overjoyed when I saw Giant Telescopes, a book that looked like it would be ideal for my interests.

I have been disappointed with the book in general. While many people have been relevant to telescope development, I was so swamped with personalities, that I could not enjoy the "facts" about giant telescopes. Approximately 200 people are introduced, many with just a short bio and a few with a substantial bio. I felt like I was being introduced to a new person on every page (and at 305 pages of text, I was not too far off.)

There is interesting information in this book but it was not much of a pleasure for me to extract it.