Choosing and Using Astronomical Eyepieces by William Paolini

[YKSE]

Bought this over 400 pages book about eyepieces as Christmas gift to myself   Having read it a couple of times, here comes my short review of it.

Begining with a short introduction of eyepiece history, Bill goes through the basic terminology of lens, eyepiece, common design of eyepieces, and detailed explanation of some eyepiece phenomina (such as kidney bean and ghosting) and different eyepiece aberations with illustrative pictures.

Chapter 2 is about strategy of choosing eyepieces and observing, many different methods are discussed, some telescope related eyepiece issues are brought up.

Next come the accessaries to eyepiece like barlows and filters, also examples of some eyepieces not suitable for barlows.

Chapter 4 is, IMHO, highlight of the book, eyepieces are discussed in 7 classes by their AFOV (40/50/60/70/80-90/100/120), with some detailed accouning of the top-tier eyepieces in each class.

Some Amateur astronomoers give their advices in Chapter 5, just as you can expect, many different views.

Chapter 6-10 are reference of most (if not all) current and some discontined eyepeices, with short descriptions and their competetion eyepieces, easy for cross-check.

An excellent written book, warmly recommended.