The Scientific American Book of Astronomy

Why reach for the moon when you can have the stars? And a few planets, some black holes, assorted gamma-ray busters and a nebula or two? What may sound like a boring (read: unreadable) subject --- a series of 30something essays penned by the editors of "Scientific American" magazine --- is actually pretty nifty (read: out-of-this-world) stuff. The most fascinating articles are those that deal with extraterrestrial life and reevaluate of the Big Bang Theory. We promise you will never be able to simply look up at the night sky again and not wonder.

I bought this book after having missed far too many articles on astronomy in Sci. Am. This book offers thorough readings on the developments of astronomy and astronomy related space discovery during the last 10 years. It has great chapters on everything from Gamma Ray bursters to the "Life on Mars Rock".A very nice review of current astronomy issues and is a good complement to the articles you can read in current issues of the magazine.