Rating: 
Summary: Great Atlas Section for beginners or anyone
Review: This book and "The Night Sky" (also with maps by Tirion) introduced me to deep sky observing with binoculars from a mountain site with dark skies. Superb photos and illustrations- very reasonable price- I like the softbound version. This is a beautiful and useful book.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic starter and reference astronomy book.
Review: This book gave me the best basic foundation for my now avid hobby of astronomy. I frequently go back to this book for references and also use this book to teach others. It is well written with easy to understand explanations of our solar system, universe, and how to view them. The book even has star charts to guide you throughout the year to the objects of your choice.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful to read, informative and practical
Review: This book is exactly what I was looking for. A perfect introduction for a novice with historical as well as practical information. I highly recommend it to anyone curious about the world above us!
Rating:
Summary: It was fanominal
Review: This book was increadable it is perfect for people like me who are just starting with a new heavy dudy telescope. This book was so interesting. This is a must buy for beginners. Or people whp are just interested in the heavens.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful handbook
Review: This glossy covered handbook is a treasure trove of information aimed at the beginner and amatuer astronomer. The quality of the production is what impressives me most. Wonderful diagrams and photographs throughout compliment informative text. The sky charts are easily accessible and make for a ready reference when identifying constellations. The other chapters include "Skywatching through the ages", "Stars and Galaxies", "Skywatching tools and techniques", "Understanding the changing sky", "A tour of the solar system" and "Probing the universe". This book would make an ideal gift for persons just starting out in astronomy, as well as the more experienced. Highly recommended and a bargain price to boot.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful handbook
Review: This glossy covered handbook is a treasure trove of information aimed at the beginner and amatuer astronomer. The quality of the production is what impressives me most. Wonderful diagrams and photographs throughout compliment informative text. The sky charts are easily accessible and make for a ready reference when identifying constellations. The other chapters include "Skywatching through the ages", "Stars and Galaxies", "Skywatching tools and techniques", "Understanding the changing sky", "A tour of the solar system" and "Probing the universe". This book would make an ideal gift for persons just starting out in astronomy, as well as the more experienced. Highly recommended and a bargain price to boot.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Book
Review: This is a beautiful, informative book with information for all ages. Covers the history of astronomy through various types of stars and star maps. Great for the beginner who wants good, clear information on all aspects of astronomy.
Rating:
Summary: one word - "AWESOME"
Review: This is a wonderful book. It is very informative and very good for the amateur astronomer. I personally have learned a great deal from this book. No matter how many times I sit down and look at it, it never gets old. Has lots of pictures and lots of information.
Rating:
Summary: This book is the best I have found to learn about stars.
Review: This is the book to get if you need an informal course
in stars. I'm an amateur astronomer; I watch the sky for fun and interest
in the night's sky. I'm also strapped for cash on the equipment
I can purchase to view the stars. This book gives a tour of the sky
for those with no more than their eyes and binoculars. Skywatching is packed
with little tidbits of information and details. There are
bundles of small, sidebar bios of skywatching heroes and personalities. Once such bio tells about Arizonan Peter Collins who does pretty
much all of his novae research with binoculars. It's the small stories about science, early discovery and mythological
origins that add fun to learning the sky. The artwork? The artwork is exquisite. If you like a book with
pictures, you will drool on these graphics!
The author spent (perhaps still spending) some time in Flagstaff, Arizona, a long-standing site
for celestial research. Levy, the author has actually discovered comets and knows the
scientists that continue these ancient endeavors. This book
is great if you've ever sat on your back porch at night looking at the stars and felt you wanted to know more than the Big Dipper and
Orion. Once you learn a few constellations you will continue to
refer to this book for the many pages of star charts. It's a complete
reference.
Rating:
Summary: Great for cloudy nights!
Review: This richly illustrated and clearly written book is a pleasure to read. Its author, David Levy, (discoverer of many comets, including Shoemaker-Levy which impacted Jupiter in 1994)is one of the great amauteur astronmers, and communicates his love of the heavens well. The star charts are done by Wil Tirion, the foremost celestial cartographer and author of many important sky atlases.The book itself starts with a valuable historical perspective, discussing ancient astronomy and classical and modern astronomers. It progresses through a presentation of our place in the solar system and the universe, and discussons of planetary and deep sky objects. Various types of instruments for observing are also discussed. Finally, there is a section on each of the constellations, and the objects within them, enriched by historical information and even a guide to pronouncing some of the Arabic and Latin tongue-twisters one encounters. The quality of the publication is first-rate. The illustrations range from ancient Chinese star charts through medievil earth-centric maps to images from the Hubble space telescope. This is a book that will capture your interest, and supply many hours of pleasurable perusing on cloudy nights. The only drawback it that its hardcover, fairly thick format makes it less that ideal for the field.
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