A Decade In Stargazing Book Review.

[Sunshine]

Recently I purchased a book on Amazon authored by our own @kev100 called A decade in stargazing, I love astro related books and I read quite a lot. When Kevin explained what the book is about I couldn’t resist, who wouldn’t want to read a decades worth of observing notes and adventures? I couldn’t wait. As soon as the book arrived I was laying on my sofa, book in hand. A decade in stargazing is not a long book, it is a relatively short read compared to the 600 page behemoths I’m used to reading, it’s 70 pages make it very attractive as not all of us have the time to dedicate to large books. 
 

A decade in stargazing is a whirlwind tour through twelve constellations and a myriad of wonderful objects adorning each one, I expected the typical textbook like descriptions of constellations and objects within, but what I got instead was a refreshing and personal tour. Throughout this book I felt as though I was not so much taking in information but was sharing in his experiences, waiting for the next constellation and what lies within. It’s times like this where I wish I was a more talented book reviewer, it’s difficult to explain why exactly I felt a connection to this book, Kevin not only describes the objects within these constellations but he lets us in on what makes them special, why they fascinate him, how many times he has tried and failed to see one before finally seeing it, and we share in the excitement when he finally saw what was so elusive. 
 

There were times when I found myself closing the book and pondering about what Kevin was describing, he would imagine what what the sky would look like to inhabitants of another galaxy, one so different from ours but colliding galaxies! or one with light years long jets shooting from a black hole at its core, what would their night skies look like? imagine. This is a book which was made by us, for us, what I mean is it is the conversation you’ve had with a group of friends in the middle of the night around a telescope, when we reminisce about our favorite objects, when we first saw them and how they’ve changed us. Before I drag on too long I would like to include a paragraph from the book which when I read it, I closed the book for a moment and wondered, a paragraph which basically sums up what amateur astronomy means to all of us.

“it’s truly the case that the social side of stargazing is as much a draw as stargazing itself. The shared sense of awe, and the technical discussions regarding the merits of this or that scope or eyepiece. But surely it’s the sound of human companionship, laughter and voices in the darkness, against a backdrop of the universe, that makes social stargazing so special” 

Could it have been said better? It doesn’t need to be, A decade in stargazing would make a great guidebook for any one of us, I will surely be taking it with me to Starfest this summer where I’ll have my dob under dark skies for a few nights. Oh, I forgot to mention about a new object Kevin brought to my attention, two for one’s! here is a man who lives for those objects which give context, those galaxies which fit within one FOV, I have never specifically searched for such pairs but I would love to see them. My memory fails me as I try to recall a particular pair but reading Kevin’s excitement at seeing pairs of objects in one FOV was palpable. 

Thank you for such a great book, Kevin. 

[Paul M]

Excellent review!

I've been following the discussions about this book, wondering what it's like. I'm now inspired to grab a copy

I really, really can't read for very long, never could but as I get older I'm done after a page at most. I just fall asleep! so books rarely get finished. But this book sounds like I might just stay awake! 

So long as there are pictures... 😂

[Sunshine]

6 hours ago, Paul M said:

Excellent review!

I've been following the discussions about this book, wondering what it's like. I'm now inspired to grab a copy

I really, really can't read for very long, never could but as I get older I'm done after a page at most. I just fall asleep! so books rarely get finished. But this book sounds like I might just stay awake! 

So long as there are pictures... 😂

There are no pictures, your imagination is called upon for this one, much more exciting.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Sunshine

[kev100]

Thank you so much @Sunshine for your thoughtful and generous review. I'm so glad you got what I was trying to get across with the book 🙂

Kev 

[RobertI]

Great review @Sunshine, gives a good taste of what this book is all about. Congratulations @kev100 on a fantastic achievement. Will probably place an order myself. I certainly agree about the joys of “two in a view”! 

[kev100]

9 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Great review @Sunshine, gives a good taste of what this book is all about. Congratulations @kev100 on a fantastic achievement. Will probably place an order myself. I certainly agree about the joys of “two in a view”! 

Thanks Rob. Who doesn’t love a ‘twofer’? My favourites are M46/NGC2438, M13/NGC6207 … there’s just something about the scales of distance between them…maybe we should start a favourite ‘twofer’ thread 🙂

[RobertI]

20 minutes ago, kev100 said:

maybe we should start a favourite ‘twofer’ thread 🙂

I was thinking exactly the same!

[kev100]

12 minutes ago, RobertI said:

I was thinking exactly the same!

Go for it 🙂

[JeremyS]

Great read so far @kev100. Just got to Taurus. 

Intriguing that you weren’t that impressed by the views thru the 24inch Obsession in Namibia. Hopefully better when you go back next year.

And what model of 20 x 80 bins were you using?

[kev100]

For most things the scope was amazing, but oddly, it didn’t do well on the eagle neb, or stephans quintet .

sorry, forgot about the bins. They’re your standard Celestron SkyMaster 20*80s. I know there are better makes, and there are often quality control issues mentioned in relation to them, and indeed this is my second pair, but for around £100 (at least that’s what they cost me), they’re fantastic!

kev

Edited February 11, 2023 by kev100

[Sunshine]

When I read about the trip to Namibia I had another one of those close the book for a moment and wonder, I tried to picture your surroundings, I can’t imagine what the sky must have looked like but I had fun imagining. 

[kev100]

19 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

When I read about the trip to Namibia I had another one of those close the book for a moment and wonder, I tried to picture your surroundings, I can’t imagine what the sky must have looked like but I had fun imagining. 

It was incredible! https://theastroguy.wordpress.com/?s=Namibia+&submit=Search

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/394837-stargazing-holiday-in-the-southern-hemisphere/#comment-4248055

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by kev100

[JeremyS]

Did you ever find out what the pigeon fancier truck was doing?
I was fearing a guano attack on your kit.

[kev100]

I didn't, no. I seem to remember there were other SGLers there that night ... @AdeKing ?

[Sunshine]

Jeremy, please resist posting an image of kevin's book in flames with a scathing review when you discover the word "takahashi" did not appear anywhere. 🤣

[JeremyS]

8 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Jeremy, please resist posting an image of kevin's book in flames with a scathing review when you discover the word "takahashi" did not appear anywhere. 🤣

Kevin’s observations transcend telescope makes 👍🏻

[JeremyS]

Just finished the book. Super read 👍🏻

[kev100]

9 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Just finished the book. Super read 👍🏻

Wonderful! Glad you enjoyed it

[Sunshine]

What I would like to do is use it as a guide, I will choose  a particular constellation and make notes of objects within so when I'm out on a dark sky session I can chase down those same objects. For someone like me who hasn't seen most of these objects, this book will be my goto for those times when I can take my dob to darker skies.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Sunshine

[kev100]

15 hours ago, Sunshine said:

What I would like to do is use it as a guide, I will choose  a particular constellation and make notes of objects within so when I'm out on a dark sky session I can chase down those same objects. For someone like me who hasn't seen most of these objects, this book will be my goto for those times when I can take my dob to darker skies.

That's fantastic! Thank you 👍

[Vito2390]

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Edited August 18, 2023 by Vito2390