Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium (Wiley Classics Library)

Rating:
Summary: A classic in astronomy, but not worth the price for students
Review: Here, Spitzer introduces many fundamental concepts in astronomy, and at the time it was written was perhaps the only single publication that covered all of the topics in the table of contents from a fairly fundamental level. When I paid $80 for this book for an InterstellarMedium course about 5 years ago, the instructorsaid he would not have required it had he known the price. Now it stands at $112!If this material is important to you and you do nothave a well developed graduate level curriculumto study from, then perhaps it is worthhwhile, otherwise I recommend "Astrophysics of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei"by Donald E. Osterbrock for $36 as an excellent substitute, though you won't find much on dust grains and kinetics in it. For those topics youshould go to review articles and a statistical mechanics text anyway!Spitzer was a great astronomer and he wrote what was at the time an indispensible book, but at this price think carefully before you buy.