Customer Reviews

Starlight Nights: The Adventures of a Star-Gazer

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"A hymn to the sky" -Levy. To me, no book more beautifully captures the spirit of amateur astronomy that Peltier's Starlight Nights. I first read this book several years ago and still remember marveling at Peltier's intensely personal autobiography. In writing of his childhood in Delphos, Ohio, he spares few details of life on the early 1900's farm, and we wait spellbound with him as he orders his first telescope after catching the astronomy bug as a young teenager. We breathlessly await the partial eclipse of 1918 (the teenaged Leslie lacked the funds to travel the 500 miles necessary to see totality in the US's first total eclipse of the century), and are swept away again that very night as he was one of the first to note the spectacular Nova Aquila as it rose to a stunning -1.4 mag.

Peltier's descriptions of his experiences are as elegant as they are simple. His deep respect and admiration for nature are woven into every page, not only for things astronomical, but terrestrial as well, for he was a naturalist of varied interests.

This reissue comes with a new foreword by David Levy, as well as several rare photographs (on the cover and back, as well as a few in the foreword) of Peltier, his early telescopes and homes. If you are familiar with this book, take this opportunity to read it again. If you've never read it before, set aside a long evening - you won't put it down after you start.

Remember those movies where an old man tells his story in the form of a flashback? The kind that makes you wish you could go back in time to hang out with them, experience their life? Starlight Nights is one of those stories.
Leslie Peltier's book is full of warmth and humor. He takes us back to a 1905 farm and describes what it was like to grow up without electricity, television. The beginning of his story predates the spread of the automobile. We watch as he buys a small telescope, and without the benefit of a college education, becomes the friend and colleague of the eminent astronomers of his day. We experience the thrill of finding comets and novae, and at the same time, the quiet joy of country life a century ago.
The book is wonderfully illustrated by Mr. Peltier himself, and the introduction includes family photographs.
Absolutely recommended for everyone, not just stargazers.

This is a jem. The author would likely fail to recognize the world of 2002, and would certainly be horrified to awake in it.
He lived, really lived, in an earlier era when discovery of a new comet by an amateur simply looking through a telescope, without the CCDs and other fancy technology, was celebrated, and civilization grew at a pleasant pace in the midwest where he lived, away from the hustle, rush hours, and UN crisis. His humility in accepting the gifts of slowly increasing aperture telescopes and the way in which alone, he found good ways to use them to their best are balm to the soul.
Get a copy of this little book, turn off the TV and computer and regress to Peltier's world of worthwhile ways of spending your time while seeing the universe. Fortunately, you don't really have to wait weeks to get a copy if you'll dial up Sky and Telescope.

This is one of my all time favorite books. It is the autobiography of Leslie Peltier, a legendary amateur astronomer. It tells the story of him growing up in the midwest and his interest in nature. This eventually led to him becoming an amateur astronomer, discovering several comets (which bear his name), and performing variable star observing and recording for the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO).

His writing style shows his early 20th century, midwest upbringing and at times is simply poetic.

I've read this book at least 4 times and each time brings a calm and inspiration not common in todays world.

I very highly recommend this book to anyone interseted in astronomy, nature or an escape from modern day chaos.

Starlight Nights: The Adventures of a Stargazer by Leslie Peltier is a wonderful book, which embodies the heart and soul of stargazing. It was out of print for many years, but has been republished by Sky Publishing, and is available through Amazon and through the Sky & Telescope Store online. I obtained a copy last year and read it. Once started, I couldn't put it down.

Peltier begins when, as a child of five, he first saw the Pleiades. As a young teenager he saved up his money and bought his first scope, made his own observing pier in the pasture, and hung out every night learning the night sky. The book covers about 60 years in Peltier's life, including his stargazing honeymoon out west. He observed every night he could, undeterred by cows in the field or snow on the ground.

He became an avid variable-star observer and a comet hunter. He tells the story of bicycling into town on a dark November night in 1925 to telegraph his first comet discovery to Harvard College Observatory. One of his early telescopes, a six-inch refractor, had a wooden (mahogany) tube. When he found each comet he neatly carved the date in the tube of the telescope.

Over the years he built his own observatories, and obtained castoff FAMOUS telescopes (a twelve-inch refractor made by Alvan Clark), when Miami University of Ohio, 125 miles from his home, wanted to upgrade theirs. He became famous among astronomers, but always lived a simple life, shunning publicity, and not straying far from the family homestead in Delphos, Ohio. Leslie Peltier was a gentle soul, self-effacing and honest, and "real". He writes as if he were talking to a friend, telling a favorite story.

This book captures the romance of amateur astronomy. Peltier embodied the "heart and soul" of a stargazer. As David Levy says in his foreword, this book explains the "why" of astronomy, and not just the "how".

It's a book every stargazer should read.

A classic wonderful book by Leslie C Peltier and forward by David H Levy. 240 pages and a few nice family pictures. An easy read and can be read in 1 day but DONT. Here is a book to savor and take your time with. There are many astronomy books on how to find stars and explaining them but here is a book on the love a man has and the why he is interested in Astronomy.

Peltier was a giant among amateur astronomers with 12 comets, 6 novas and 132,000 variable star observations. Remember these discoveries were in the early 1900s to mid 1900s before CCD cameras,computer, assisted astronomy software, imaging and giant 30 inch plus amateur scopes. His first telescope was a 2 inch refractor.

We see him growing up as a small boy on the farm and his love of reading and all forms of nature and the good times he and his family have with little money and much love. There was no electric, running water or indoor plumbing. Typical rural farm early 1900s living.A much simpler time.

Eventually he makes his own mount for his scope on the family farm. Also his father and him build Leslie an observatory on the farm for his later 4 inch refractor but he has to send this telescope back to the Variable Star Association he belongs to. However they send him a wide field 6 inch refractor that is good to find comets with. Later he marries Dottie his sweetheart and they go to the southwest. Together they share Dottie's love of Archeology and Leslie continues his love of Astronomy with more discoveries. Later Leslie gets a 12 inch Clark Refractor donated to him. After repairing it he gets spectacular views.

Here is a very humble man who loved the simple life, his family and really had no need for the spotlight.

I'm an amateur astronomer of over 40 years and have a 20 inch telescope, the best eyepieces, mallincam camera, computer, software etc. Peltier had none of these to assist his discoveries. The great discoveries and shear volume of his discoveries with much simpler equipment is truly remarkable.

I'm sorry I never had the opportunity to met him. I too have bought an old farm/ranch where I plan to have an observatory built for my telescopes to explore the heavens. Someday after my passing, Leslie Peltier may we meet in the heavens to explore its wonders. I'll meet you at the HorseHead nebula.

Buy the book and slowly read it and savor it. You wont find another book that expresses such love as to why to view the stars and comets.

The problem with a book that relies on nostalgia as its arc device is the raw, almost cloying, sentimentality involved. And this book simply drips with sentimentality, flowery writing, and a languid (and myopic) view through rose-colored glasses. Which is fine, except this book is supposed to be one of the seminal POV astronomical books out there relating the observational trials and tribulations of one the the world's foremost comet hunters.

That's what it is supposed to be. Starlight Nights doesn't even come close. Its sub-title "The Adventures of a Star-Gazer" also fails to deliver in spectacular fashion. Unless by "adventures" you mean a long and loving look at facets of Peltier's life that have NOTHING to do with star-gazing. Not that I mind that. This is, after all, a retrospective. But must there be so much? Must the astronomy and the science play such a minor role?

Apparently Peltier felt that it did.

All I have to say is if Starlight Nights is considered the bar then the field of astronomy has a LONG way to go before we get something both well-written *and* conveys the majestic sweep of the cosmos -- neither of which are apparent in this effort by Peltier.

Here's an example:

"Then, one night in February 1946 it (T Coronae) stirred, slowly opened its eyes, then quickly threw aside the draperies of its couch and rose!"

That doesn't make much sense on any level. Unfortunately, there's a lot of that "Little House on the Astronomical Prairie" kind of writing here. And by a "lot" I mean the entire book. Peltier makes the amateurish mistake many writers make when writing about his past. He's to close to the source material. He can't see beyond the dripping nostalgia that forms the foundation of his memory. He relies so heavily on flowery imagery and anthropomorphism the main thrust of the book -- the astronomical reminisces of a famous comet hunter -- fall by the wayside and are lost among strawberry patches, geology expeditions, and the shadows of cows hidden among haystacks.

In fact there is very little about comet hunting at all, compared to the rest of what Peltier delivers regarding his life. It's too bad, really, that Peltier made the editorial decision to concentrate on sentimentality above science, but that's what you're going to be faced with if you decide to read this book.

Sorry. I cannot recommend this book at all. It was a big disappointment, imo.

Start reading Peltier's Starlight Nights at your own risk and you'll want to observe on crummy nights as well as good ones. Be prepared to lose a lot of sleep out under the sky night after night! Peltier's enthusiasm for observing the night sky in all conditions this side of hopeless is contagious. After all, he didn't make 132,000 variable-star observations by holding off until a pristine night!
This is the classic cloudy-night book, that'll have you going outside every few minutes and sometimes staying out even when the sky is not cooperating, just for what you can eke out. Remember, Peltier did his amazing accomplishments mostly with well-worn equipment, much of which would be considered modest or even sub-par today. It's a tribute to his farm background's make-do & repair skills that the equipment was kept in such usable condition.
Ah, for the era Peltier speaks of when we didn't have to deal with a lot of fearful people leaving yard-blaster lights splattering in every direction all night. Even with rural electrification nearly complete by the late 1940s there were good dark skies near & even in cities, with no need of so-called "security lights" (what a contradiction in terms) trashing the skyscape. As Peltier's era had the challenge of getting serviceable astronomical equipment, the challenge of overcoming light-pollution is ours today.

A wonderful introduction to the love of star gazing by the world's foremost amateur astronomer, Leslie Peltier, discoverer of a dozen comets. The reader is treated to not only the night sky, but also the agricultural life and connections to nature of the farmer at the turn of the 20th century, decades before rural electrification. The book is a compelling read with insights and lessons for the 21st century world.

This book is a straightforward telling of Leslie Peltier life as an amateur astronomer. Although it is a simple story without much drama it draws you into his world and never gets boring.

The dark night sky is a free resource we need to preserve. Our ancestors gazed up on the same stars we see today. When you go out at night you can be the latest in a long line of humans who have looked up to the heavens and wondered about their place in the universe.

If this book doesn't inspire you get out and observe, nothing will.