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alecras2345

By alecras2345
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alecras2345

alecras2345

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Hi my name's Ash and I live in North Wales.  I haven't posted on this site for a while as I lost interest and I wasn't getting anywhere, but now my interest has come back.  I have started to read a book called teach yourself Astronomy by Patrick Moore.  I find it helpful as it has a list of things to remember at the end of each chapter, although the chapters do go on a little about the history of say the sun before it explains about coagulation  which is interesting.  Im also worked abut the information being out of date. Has anyone read the book, is it worth reading?

 

 

 

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Putaendo Patrick

Putaendo Patrick

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My understanding is this book first came out in 2010, before Sir Patrick passed away in 2012, and was revised in 2015 by Percy Seymour. So the second edition should be reasonably "up-to-date" albeit in a field that seems to be changing rapidly almost day by day!

The book certainly has a ton of information, but sometimes it seems to cram just too much in that it loses clarity. It tries to cover the historical development of astronomy, the results of recent scientific investigation, and practical information for the amateur astronomer. I personally would prefer to read three books each dedicated to one of these areas.

Sir Patrick created a small industry of writing astronomy books, and encouraging others to do so, and frankly some are pot-boilers. So again personally, I feel many of his earlier books are better from a literary point of view, although of course in some areas well out-of-date.

What you will get from Teach Yourself Astronomy rather depends on what you're looking for. If you are looking for a specific theme, the Sun for example, there are dedicated books which probably cover the material in a better and more organised manner. But for a general browse, it has its meat.

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Putaendo Patrick

Putaendo Patrick

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I agree with Des, The Amateur Astronomer was probably Sir Patrick's classic! I've just checked my own ninth revised edition copy of 1978, and it first came out in 1957. The twelfth revised edition came out in 2006, I don't know if that was the last. But that's a pretty good innings! I reckon at least half the forum members here owe a lot to that book :book1:

It would be interesting to see how the revisions developed over the course of fifty years - I guess you'd get a good history of astronomy for the 20th century :icon_biggrin:

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Ash and welcome back to SGL. In my view, any of the books written by the late SPM; are worth having, as an historical reference of the era in which they were written.

Times do change, however, so any questionable data can be checked against present day information, enjoy the forum :) 

 

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