Customer Reviews

The Star Guide: Learn How To Read the Night Sky Star by Star

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

 

 

This was my very first book on astronomy and it was quickly replaced by another book. There are better beginners guides to buy.

While the maps are of good quality, blue background and divided by the month, I quickly learned that the maps contain errors in placement of some celestial objects. Organization of the description of the constellations in the monthly section is poor because you have to jump around to different pages to locate a description of nearly half of the constellations for that month. While there are in-depth analysis of the most commonly known constellations, the infomation on the lesser known constellations would be better organized as a separate section with a small skymap for each.

The sections on the Moon, Planets and Sun are good, but most amature astronomers veiw this information as a side interest. These sections should be condensed and more space given to the constellations. Better treatment of our solar system would be on how to view these objects.

The planisphere that comes with the book is mediocre. A spiral bound form of the book with dew-resistant pages would be better.

My recommendation would be to get Nightwatch, the Audubon pocket guide, and David Levy's Guide to the Stars.

A large format book with full color throughout, this work takes beginning star-gazers by the hand and quickly shows them what, when, where, and how. Its detail is presented logically and intuitively such that it makes a very nice reference for the experienced amateur astronomer as well.

This book is a great introductory book on astronomy. Not only is it replete with information on and pictures of the moon, planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies, it is a very practical, visually-oriented guide for the amateur astronomer.

This book has been around in prior editions for years, and it's still my favorite reference to this day. I love the month by month star charts, and you can find anything you're searching for (info on constellations, etc.) if you know where to look.

It's a great read for beginners and amateurs alike, and I've always found myself re-reading it every now and then "just because." Otherwise, I love having it easily accessible for the charts. I'm not sure what else the so-so reviews could really be looking for, because this book seems to have it all.

Beautifully illustrated yet still a practical guide to viewing and navigating around the sky from anywhere during any month. Good grounding on stars, Deep Sky Objects, and solar system neighbors.

I bought this because it was recommended in Pennington's "The Year-Round Messier Marathon" as a source to help navigate the night sky. Unfortunately, that part was only one page. The rest was an introduction to astronomy geared to the beginner. As such, it looked pretty good. (So I sold mine to a friend just starting out in astronomy.)

Easy to understand. Includes an actual, hold in your hand, chart of the stars! Wonderful book. Would recommend to anyone ages 5 and up.

While The Star Guide is far from comprehensive, it does provide a nice, usable introduction to the night sky. It is a bit thin on the basic concepts of astronomy, providing only the barest introduction to the processes behind what we see. It does, though, provide admirable resources for a beginner's search of the heavens - brief introductions to various constellations, seasonal and monthy sky highlights and, perhaps best of all, a planisphere that allows one to immediately access a map of the current sky.