Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide, Eighth Edition

I am a Biology Professor and I am learning Astronomy as a hobby. I've read countless books on Astronomy, but not a workbook. I love this book!!! I'm on the 3rd chapter of the book, and as of now I've don all the exercises up to this point. Yeah, I couldn't wait 'til I was done to give the review, and that's how excited I am about this book! I read all the reviews about this book before I purchased it. The reviewers who gave it low ratings due to the math or having to know prior scientific knowledge are correct. They are not lying. It helps to know the basics on metric conversions and knowing how to manipulate formulas. Most people hate math! I learned to respect it because math confirms everything, and math helps you to understand science better. I encourage you not to skip through the math without giving it a try. It will help you to understand the sky, your telescope, light waves and your lenses much better. The more you understand, the deeper your appreciation will be for the science of astronomy even if you're only doing it for a hobby (and it aint that serious). When I began the hobby of astronomy 10 ten years ago, I would skip through the math. I wanted to see the planets and the moon and call it a day. Now I want to know everything!!!! Since I've become more hungry for knowledge, I love astronomy that much more! Buy this book. Everything is well explained. Take your time with it. You will feel more empowered and more confident in the science.

If you are more interested in a book for observing the stars and the planets this may not be a great book. It is more on the intricate information on the scientific nature of our galaxy. Although interesting a lot of information, think about a Science Class, I do not want to know. If you are a want to be Astronomer this book would be perfect. I like the book Astronomy for Dummies, 4th addition.... it is a gold mine of information for those that want to observe the Sun Moon and Stars...

I've always enjoyed looking at the night sky, and I've picked up a fair amount of astronomical knowledge on the street. I bought this to fill in the gaps, and it was perfect for that. Some of the material was new to me and some was not, but all of the explanations were clear and the self-teaching style keeps you honest :-)

I bought this book a few weeks ago so I could study up before my first astronomy class. The book has really helped me learn most the basics but it can be hard to fully understand something's. I've had to google certain words to get better definitions, I also had a hard time locating stars on the star maps. Overall I believe this text book has helped me prepare for my class.

never paid attention much to astronomy. Wanted to learn so bought this book. Material is well presented and dense. By this I mean pay attention because a lot is said and words are not wasted. Good starting point for the topic as well as listing other resources. Although the book is dated the fundamentals covered are not. Simple concise diagrams. One critical point missed is celestial sphere is stationary relative to planet Earth's rotation but most people will figure this out.

Maybe the best self teaching book I’ve ever purchased. Deepened my knowledge of the cosmos and the wonder of it all. Generous inclusion of websites such as Hubble. No wonder it has gone 8 editions. Many stars.

When I read the reviews about this book I assumed it was a fairly simple self teaching guide, however it is far from that. I am familiar with astronomy so the book was not for me, it was more for my wife. When I received and reviewed the book, it was not as simple as I had hoped. Not that my wife is a simple minded person either, but the book is based on someone who should have prior knowledge of astronomy rather than a beginner. I would not recommend this book as a self teaching guide, in fact I would not recommend this book at all. Save your money or buy Night Watch which is an EXCELLENT beginners book to astronomy.

Grandson loves it help him with the telescope

This is a great introduction to astronomy, pitched somewhere betwwen a popular science book and a basic textbook. Coverage includes theory of observing (the celestial globe and coordinates, strengths and weaknesses of observing in different wavelengths etc), solar system objects, star types and lifecyles, galaxies and cosmological issues (e.g. cosmological expansion and redshift) for a beginning audience. There is some maths but it's pretty basic, and questions at the end of each chapter to test your newly acquired knowledge. Inspired me to go a bit futher with Ian Morison's excellent Introduction to Astronomy and Cosmology, which explores the same ideas but in more depth and with more of the maths. Finding this one a bit of challenge, but getting there, and Moche definiteky deserves some of the credit.

Good

Ill be quite honest i learned a lot from this and decided tk take a class in college. This helped me understand the topics more and a few more tips and knowledge when talking about specifics.

Informative and easy to read.

従来より、量子宇宙物理の最先端テキストで勉強しておりましたが、先日、梶田さんのニュートリノの本で、「太陽の中心から光が表面まで出てくるのに非常に長い時間がかかる（これ、太陽物理の常識だそうで、驚くべきことに２千万年ほどかかるそうです）」という事実を知って、自分の無知に愕然としてしまいました。そこで、天文学の基礎固めをしようと、ベーシックな天文学の最新テキストを探していて行き着いたのが、この本でした。全体に簡潔にまとめられ、網羅的であり、何よりも、ページ数が少なく、簡潔明瞭な英文で記載されている点が非専門家にはありがたいところです。天文学というと、日本語の最新テキストが少ないので、この本は、その点を補完するものとして大変有用である。