BOOkS

Hi Simona, welcome! I hope you enjoy the society as much as I have since I joined nearly a couple of years ago. Are you the same Simona that came to the Blackheath observing event on Friday? I suspect its you 🙂 You certainly showed a lot of enthusiasm and you completely outdone me with more knowledge of the constellations than I had!

There is a thread on here where everyone was recommending their favourite books. One book in particular that was highly recommended by Mike and Sumitra was:

Turn Left at Orion
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21240.Turn_Left_at_Orion

which gets rave reviews as one of the best observing guides to the night sky suitable for all levels of budding amateur astronomers from beginners to experienced. With that recommendation, I had bought it and sure enough it is a superb book, so I in turn can recommend that one. My only caveat about the book is that its a very large format and so not a book that is travel friendly. So keep that in mind if you do consider getting that book.

What I would like to know is what is the best travel friendly size guide to night sky observing? Hopefully someone can give us recommendations with that criteria.

Here is the thread that I mentioned, lots of nice recommendation of books for all sorts of tastes.

http://flamsteed.info/forums/topic/space-on-my-bookshelves/

Welcome, Simona!

I know lots of people rave about the book Tej recommended. I don't have it so I'm not sure what's in it but I believe it's a great guide to steering you around the sky.

I found this book quite useful - Philips' Practical Astronomy, by Storm Dunlop. It's more of a 'how to' guide rather than being a guide to the sky itself.

You should also get Stellarium for either your PC or your iPad if you have one - I don't know what other tablets they cater for, but it's a great app. Free for the PC, but there's a charge for the app. Well worth it, though. It shows you the sky and gives technical detail on about 600,000 stars (eg, distance, magnitude, type of star, etc) - and it's great fun to play with!

Dear Tej and Andy,

Thank you very much for your replies 🙂

Yes, I was there on Friday and I really enjoyed to watch the stars through the telescope for the first time 😀

I am definitely going to have a look at the books you both suggested, as I wouldn't know where to start...

Also, thank you for advising about the app... I am going to download one on my mobile later!

I look forward to next stargazing event. Hopefully by then I will have a better idea of astronomy 🙂

Many thanks,

Simona

Hi Simona and welcome I hope to see you at our next meeting, we have Lucie Green speaking.  Well worth attending.

Has anyone read The Paradox Men by Charles L Harness?  I have been given an early copy by a friend.

The Paradox Men

'Fraid I haven't but I like the synopsis:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1003105.The_Paradox_Men

The only element that appears a bit backward is the idea of slavery in the future but I do love that era of science fiction despite their wildly off the mark predictions. I find them more enjoyable than modern day science fiction which often tends be too heavy going for me and also generally lacks the eloquence in narration compared to the golden age writers.