Customer Reviews

Telescopes and Techniques: An Introduction to Practical Astronomy

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This book leaves much to be desired of it as far as content is concerned. Although all basic--and not so basic--aspects of introductory astronomy are covered here, this is done in an extremely superficial way. Every topic is only touched upon, in most cases, in a couple of pages maximum, giving only a bird's eye view them. The most deficient parts are those dealing with actual observing, about which the author gives very little information. The book is adorned with numerous illustrations, but lacking in text.

James Muirden's "How to Use an Astronomical Telescope" has done a much better job in this respect. Full explanations of where to look and what to find in the sky are given, including full chapters about the sun, the moon, the planets (one by one), comets, and deep sky objects such as galaxies, star clusters, nebulas, etc. Kitchin has done none of this.

But back to "Telescopes and Techniques". One particularly annoying feature of this book is how the editor of this collection has decided to present the text on the pages. Why, oh why, I kept asking myself, should the space of one thrid of each page be left as blank left margin? Longer lines will certainly not harm the reading, but on the contrary will make the reader feel that they have a serious book in their hands, rather than a children's story.

Finally, one must also wonder what justifies the high price of this book. Perhaps, I keep telling myself, it is the high-quality, glossy paper on which it is printed. For the rest, I cannot see any reason why anyone interested in more than just a very superficial introduction to astronomy should by this book.

This book is a very good introductory book. It has all you need to know about the history and practical aspects of astronomy. The technical explanations of optics get a bit detailed (i.e., into the math) at times, but are written in such a way that the principles are understood, even if the math isn't. Very good use of photos and illustrations. The author explains well, and doesn't inundate you in details you don't need