Advanced Amateur Astronomy

North's seem to have a penchant for writing overview books, but this example is superior than his more recent "Observing the Moon" overview of that subject.Many of the things that North deals with in this book - optics, hardware, seeing, astrophotography, stellar objects (Sun, comets, planets, moon, etc) - have been done in other books, but North is able to take them to the next level rather effectively. Somehow he's able to put just the right amount in each chapter this time.Furthermore, North has been able to include in this book chapters in spectroscopy and radio astronomy that I've not seen in other books of this type.The only issue I have with the book is that some of his information now seems a bit dated. There is not much that can be done about that in such a fast moving field as Astronomy. Having said that, I think that "Advanced Amateur Astronomy" manages to raise the bar for books of this type.Recommended. Heck, its on MY Wish List! 8-)

The author covers quite a range of material, in a very easy to read style. He goes into enough depth to make it a very practical book. Cover basic collimation issues, telescope design- a great book for Amateur Telescope Makers. There's nice number of pointers on astrophotography also. Especially for plaetary/lunar. Some material is perhaps a little dated. Not much on digital image processing, but a good section nonetheless.Finally he concludes with neat radio telescope projects and how amateurs can do more scientific type work of benefit.