The Backyard Astronomer's Guide

This is one of the few books you can put in the hand of a novice and say "This is It!" It is comprehensive and informative in all areas of amateur astromomy from choosing the best telescope (one that you will use, not necessarily the most expensive) for your goals and objectives, to finding all manner of planets, stars, nebulas, and other objects in the night sky. It even covers astrophotography and the equipment necessary to take the pictures you desire. I found this book very informative and helpful and its price will definitely save you a bundle in mispurchased equipment if you follow the advice of the authors. An excellent, easy-to-read book for all amateur astronomers.

I have bought around ten books on astronomy and this one is my favorite. It is a joy to read. It is written in a style of english that is understandable and a pleasure to read. It has hundreds of high quility pictures of state of the art information to date. It covers everything that you could possibly want to know about astronomy. It covers types of telescopes and which ones to stay away from buying to how to observe planets and deep sky objects. It covers the basics on how to use your first telescope. I love this book so much that I would recomend to anyone that want to know about the fun stuff that one would want to know on this subject. I'm not kidding this book is beautiful and I spend more time on this book reading over and over subjects that I want to know more about. If you want my honest opinion you will be very happy with this fine book.

You should not consider buying this book. You should just buy it. I held off purchasing it since I already knew a fair bit (or so I thought) about amateur astronomy, had already bought a great telescope and a bunch of accessories, and I knew of many other more specialized resources for specific topics (what to look at, astrophotography, physics of the objects we look at, where to find star parties and so on). Plus, published in 1991, it seemed like the book was bound to be outdated soon. However I ended up purchasing it, and reading this thing is a truly eye-opening experience. It is hard to imagine a more well-rounded, well-written, enjoyable and authoritative text on amateur astronomy. It covers many topics but somehow manages to avoid treating them superficially. Sure, if you get deeply into photography or optical design you'll want to get single-topic references. And you still need a star chart! But this book will help you get off and running in all phases of amateur astronomy. If you read this, you'll be transformed immediately from a beginner to one of the people "in the know" in your astronomy club and your enjoyment of the hobby will be heightened greatly.

1. Nightwatch -by the same author- provides an introduction and star maps.2. A pair of good 7X50 or 10X50 binoculars.3. A red flashlight.4. A subscription to Astronomy or Sky and Telescope.5. This book. Period.A definitive guide to amateur astronomy and probably the best available anywhere at any price.

I picked this book up and didn't put it down until I had read it from front to back. It covers everything from equipment and star atlases, to techniques for finding objects and photographing them. Every page has wonderful illustrations, all photographed or drawn by backyard astronomersRather than spreading itself too thin, "The Backyard Astronomer's Guide" concentrates on backyard astronomy as a hobby, staying away from much of the science behind the objects we view. This is one of the book's best qualities. The science and naturalization of objects in the sky is important, but there are plenty of other books dealing with this subject.The authors have a lot of experience in backyard astronomy, and it shows.