LivingNDixie
Lord of Ferrets
Reged: 04/23/03
Posts: 15923
Loc: Hoover, AL
|
|
So what books do you feel should be on every bookshelf or ones you have read recently you liked?
My favorite spaceflight book is A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin. However To a Rocky Moonby William Hartman is a very close second.
My favorite guide book is Burnhams Celestial Handbook
I also enjoyed Mars: The Lure of the Red Planet by William Sheehan & Stephen James O'Meara and Mapping Mars by Oliver Morton.
I like The Once and Future Moon by Paul Spudis, however the book on Multi-ring Impact Basins by the same author is pretty tough reading.
I have yet to read a David Levy book that I didn't like.
I am just starting Volcanoes of the Solar System by Charles Frankel. So what books are your favorites out there? 
--------------------
Preston
Celestron 11" Nexstar GPS XLT
Tak FS 78
Lunt LS60T/Ha 60mm f/8.33 (on order)
Vixen Porta Mount
|
csa/montana
Den Mother
Reged: 05/14/05
Posts: 30263
Loc: montana
|
|
Preston: I love these two of O'Meara's:
The Caldwell Objects
The Messier Objects
Carol
--------------------
Carol
AstroTech 16" Dob (Thanks ASTRONOMICS!)
AstroTech 66ED / Vixen 80MF/AstroTech Voyager
Masuyama's 7.5, 15, 25W, 35mm,
Tak LE 5mm B/TMB 3.2
7mm Pentax XL, 10mm Pentax XW
14mm Meade 4000 UWA
22mm Pan, 35mm Pan
DreamCatcher Dobservatory, #2
|
LivingNDixie
Lord of Ferrets
Reged: 04/23/03
Posts: 15923
Loc: Hoover, AL
|
|
I have checked out the Messier book from the libary, but I never got to reading it  . When I get the book stack next to the bed a little smaller I may have to get it again  .
--------------------
Preston
Celestron 11" Nexstar GPS XLT
Tak FS 78
Lunt LS60T/Ha 60mm f/8.33 (on order)
Vixen Porta Mount
|
kestrel0222
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/21/06
Posts: 2338
Loc: Milford, Michigan
|
|
My library just keeps on growing. Some I have not read yet, others I have. Of the ones I have already read, my favorites are:
Deep-Sky Companions: The Messier Objects by O'Meara
Star Watch by Philip Harrington
Through the Telescope by Michael Porcellino
The Dobsonian Telescope by David Kriege and Richard Berry
Star Testing Astronomical Telescopes by Harold Richard Suiter
Burnham's Celestial Handbook: Volumes 1,2, and 3
Now, on my wish list are (X-Mas is coming!!): 
Celestial Sampler by Sue French
Nebulae and How to Observe Them by Steve Coe
--------------------
Tom
|
chexmix
sage
Reged: 12/01/04
Posts: 346
Loc: Arlington, MA, USA
|
|
Preston -
Glad to see so many Moon books on your list.  I am not sure why I enjoy reading about the Moon so much, unless it's the fact that I grew up with the U.S. Space program (I was 8 years and 1 day old when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out onto the surface of the Moon, with Michael Collins hurtling by overhead).
This morning I started reading Chuck Wood's /The Modern Moon/ on the train to work. So far, it's great! Outstanding discussions of lunar features and the history of lunar observation(s). My only caveat is that it's a bit large for the seats on the trains out of Grand Central in NY. If someone's sitting next to you, that is ...
--------------------
8" Discovery DHQ
Celestron C102-HD
9x63 Orion mini-giants
(2) Frontally-placed visual organs, incl. lens, vitreous/aqueous humors, assorted rods, cones.
|
desertstars
Deja moo
Reged: 11/05/03
Posts: 30449
Loc: Tucson, AZ
|
|
I don't have time to list everything in my astro to-be-read stack... 
--------------------
Tom W.
SVP8 'She turned me into a 3-legged Newt' EQ
Ralph, the All-Purpose 102mm Refractor
Under the Desert Stars
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. - Galileo Galilei
|
John Flannery
sage
Reged: 12/03/04
Posts: 320
Loc: Dublin, Ireland
|
|
Hi all,
Reading "Comet of the Century" by Fred Schaaf at the moment. Have ordered the "Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Stars" by Jim Kaler ... looking forward to that one being a good resource on the birth, life, and death of stars.
I picked up Ken Libbrecht's "Field Guide to Snowflakes" recently. It sounds a bit odd getting a book like this when we only get snow for one day in the year in Dublin Amazing pictures and a nice complement to Libbrecht's larger tome "The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty".
atb,
John
--------------------
Oscail do Shuile D'iontas na Cruinne/Open Your Eyes to the Wonder of the Universe
Bliann Idirnáisiúnta Réalteolaíochta 2009/International Year of Astronomy 2009
|
Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5897
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
|
|
Right now I'm reading 'For All Mankind' by Harry Hurt III. I think you'd like this one, Preston.
--------------------
 *Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
CN Gallery
Photo Gallery
8"SCT ~ 120achro ~ 90Mak ~ 80ST ~ 11x70s ~ 22x100s
|
Michael Morris
Member
Reged: 01/05/05
Posts: 1366
Loc: Worcestershire, UK
|
|
The best astronomy book I've read in ages is definitely Charles Woods's 'A Modern Moon'. It has the enviable and rare properties of being both a good reference work and a good read.
--------------------
Michael Morris
8" LX200 classic
Orion 80ED
ETX 90 (Grab 'n' Go)
Observatory Almira Observatory Website
Co-author of NightCal Astronomical Observing Calendar Software http://www.nightcal.co.uk
|
RichardHK
sage
Reged: 11/25/06
Posts: 392
Loc: Hong Kong
|
|
'Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel' by Robert Zimmerman (just released in softback) is an engaging read. From 1958 to 2002, Sputnik to the ISS, it covers an amazing amount of surprising history - mainly a Russian space story!
Sadly, the book also shows how America lost its space leadership and is unlikely to recapture same unless the NASA bureaucracy and paperwork can be tamed. 
Richard
--------------------
Richard Entwistle, Hong Kong
ETX-125, SV90TBV, & PST scopes
Canon 15x50-IS & Fujinon 7x50 bins
|
bombadil78
sage
Reged: 10/16/06
Posts: 351
Loc: Johnson City, TN
|
|
timothy Farris "Seeing in the Dark" if you haven't read it, you may want to. Gives and excellent history of backyard astronomers, and their contributions to science. Its one that I could read again and again.
--------------------
XTI 10 inch
|
Bandoblue
sage
Reged: 07/15/04
Posts: 208
Loc: Rockville, MD
|
|
I like a lot of the books Preston already mentioned. Here is my short list of must-haves for every astronomer's shelf...
Space Exploration:
A Man on the Moon, Andrew Chaikin
Mapping Mars, Oliver Morton
Traveller's Guide to Mars, William K. Hartmann
(these last two work very well together and will give you a comprehensive update on the current state of Mars science)
Guidebooks (for the novice):
Starwatch, Phil Harrington
Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope - and How to Find Them: Books: Guy Consolmagno, Dan M. Davis
Guidebooks (for the journeyman):
Celestial Sampler, Sue French
Deep-Sky Companions: The Messier Objects by Stephen James O'Meara
Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects by Stephen James O'Meara
Moon books and Charts
The Modern Moon, Charles Wood
S&T Field Map of the Moon
Star Atlas:
Sky Atlas 2000, Wil Tirion
Telescope tricks and practical observing advice:
Astronomy Hacks, Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman
Cloudy Nights Reading:
Starlight Nights: The Adventures of a Star-Gazer, Leslie C. Peltier
First Light: The Search for the Edge of the Universe, Richard Preston
Seeing in the Dark, Timothy Ferris
History of Astronomy
Coming of Age in the Milky Way, Timothy Ferris
Cosomology (pro-string)
The Cosmic Landscape, Leonard Susskind
Fabric of the Cosmos and The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene
Cosmology (anti-string)
haven't had a chance yet, but eager to read Lee Smolin
--------------------
Erik Ledbetter
TV-102 on Gibraltar
Orion 127 on CG4
Orion ShortTube 80
16x70 FMT-SX on P-mount
8x42 Nikon Monarchs
|
LivingNDixie
Lord of Ferrets
Reged: 04/23/03
Posts: 15923
Loc: Hoover, AL
|
|
Erik,
I have read several of those books on your list, you have a better list then I could have come up with!
--------------------
Preston
Celestron 11" Nexstar GPS XLT
Tak FS 78
Lunt LS60T/Ha 60mm f/8.33 (on order)
Vixen Porta Mount
|
ngc6475
Fearless Spectator
Reged: 03/02/02
Posts: 4790
Loc: Northern Sierra Foothills
|
|
O'Meara's edited works of Walter Scott Houston, Deep Sky Wonders, is a terrific book. It's as fun and relevant now as Scotty's columns were when they were originally published in S&T!
--------------------
Walter
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
-Mark Twain
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
