A Year in the Life of the Universe: A Seasonal Guide to Viewing the Cosmos

I put off buying this book for an entire year. I figured that between the internet and my other coffee-table gee-whiz books, the last thing I needed was another book full of pretty pictures. I was so wrong. Take Rob Gendler's gorgeous astrophotos--there is a shot of Omega Centauri in here that makes me want to weep!--add concise, up-to-date descriptions, coordinates, seasonal sky maps, with every object ranked by right ascension, and you've got a pretty-picture book that doubles as a deep-sky guide and observing planner for backyard astronomers. Plus you will pick the book up just to leaf through it and enjoy it. And the production value is unbelievable, with a solid hardcover and excellent full-color reproduction on heavy glossy paper. I have no idea how they are able to sell this book at this price, but hey, their loss is your gain. If you are a stargazer, you WILL use this book, and when you do, you will kick yourself for not getting it sooner. If you're not a stargazer, no worries--if you are even remotely interested in the universe, you will enjoy this book. And it might inspire you to look up.

When you look at such a spectacular set of photographs you have to be struck by the beauty of our universe. As the author says in the Preface, this book showcases the sky's most beautiful objects. Arranged in a way that the casual reader will enjoy. This is an assembledge of significant images of objects visible from from the Eat throughout the year. Many, perhaps even most of the images are from observations taken of items within the Milky Way. But there are also brilliant images of our local galaxy group and some more of galaxies and galaxy groups from much further away. No less than the photographs are the explanations. While brief, here are matter of fact comments about our local group. There in a description of galaxy NGC 3079 (60 million light years away) there is a pair of dots labeled Q0957+562, a gravitationally lensed quasar ever discovered - 9.1 BILLION light years away. I've taken a lot of pictures, but nothing like these. Dr. Gendler but in a different class than most of us, including a 20 inch telescope installed at an inky-dark, high-altitude site in New Mexico, and controlled over the Internet. But that's just the equipment. To go with it is a lifetime of skill. This book is an absolutely delightful read for any amateur astronomer, or want to be.

Beautifully done by a world class imager. During any season of the year the deep sky offers wonderous objects of beauty and wonder. Dr. Rob Gendler has captured the beauty of galaxies and nebula in a spectacular display of color and accompanies each image with useful descriptions.

This book, by Robert Gendler, one of the best known and most prolific amateur astrophotographers, is assembled mainly from his own images and incorporates some by other astrophotographers. It is a milestone in amateur astronomy. Many of us didn't know we were waiting for such a book, but when it appeared, I ordered it without hesitation. I'm not disappointed. Among other places, Gendler's images have appeared in Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, and on the Astronomy Picture of the Day web site. It's great to have them in book form both to enjoy personally as well as to share with those who are interested in the visible universe. [....]

After I received this book, I downloaded quite a few of the author's images from [...] and had them framed for my home. I can't imagine anything as beautiful as our universe! Rob Gendler's incredible efforts are bringing an awesome appreciation of the universe to our planet. I'm ordering 6 now, and probably a lot more, as holiday gifts. SEGMD