Selected book reviews from the JBAA
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Deep sky companions: Hidden Treasures by Stephen James O'Meara
Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-83704-9. Pp xvii + 584, £25.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Nick Hewitt
Mathematical astronomy morsels IV by Jean Meeus
Willman-Bell Inc., 2007. ISBN 987-0-943396-87-3. Pp 373, $29.95 (hbk).
Reviewed by Sheridan Williams
Observing the Moon (2nd edition) by Gerald North
Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-87407-6. Pp xi + 408, £25.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Tony Cook
Patrick Moore on the Moon by Sir Patrick Moore
Cassell, 2006. ISBN 1-84403-536-0. Pp 239, £14.99 (pbk).
Reviewed by Ron Johnson
Towards Mars! Extra by R. Pellinen & P. Raudsepp (Eds)
Oy Raud Publishing (Helsinki, Finland), 2006. ISBN 952-9689-18-7. Pp 168, hbk.
Reviewed by Richard McKim
The Herschel 400 Observing Guide by Stephen J. O'Meara
Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-85893-3. Pp x + 370, £35.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Lee Macdonald
Introduction to astronomical photometry by Edwin Budding & Osman Demircan
Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-84711-7. Pp xvi + 434, £45.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by David Boyd
Nightwatch: A practical guide to viewing the Universe (4th edn) by Terence Dickinson
A & C Black, 2006. ISBN 0-7136-7939-5. Pp 192, £29.99 (pbk).
Reviewed by Martin Morgan-Taylor
The comet sweeper: Caroline Herschel's astronomical ambition by Claire Brock
Icon Books, 2007. ISBN 1-84046-720-7. Pp x + 292, £9.99 (hbk).
Reviewed by Lee Macdonald
The de Vaucouleurs atlas of galaxies by Ronald J. Buta, Harold G Corwin & Stephen C. Odewahn
Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-82048-0. Pp xii + 344, £70.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Stewart L. Moore
State of the Universe 2007: New images, discoveries and events by Martin Ratcliffe
Springer/Praxis, 2007. ISBN 0-387-34178-1. Pp xiii + 187, £15.50 (hbk).
Reviewed by Jacqueline Mitton
The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the Stars by James B. Kaler
Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-521-81803-6. Pp ix + 324, £35.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Roger Pickard
Handbook of space astronomy and astrophysics by Martin V. Zombeck
Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-78242-2. Pp v + 767, £50.00 (hbk)..
Reviewed by Richard Miles
The Stargazer of Hardwicke (The life and work of Thomas William Webb) by Janet & Mark Robinson (eds.)
Gracewing Publishing (2 Southern Ave., Leominster, Hereford. HR6 0QF), 2006. ISBN 0-85244-666-7. Pp xxiv + 260, £14.99 (hbk).
Reviewed by Don Miles
Meteor showers and their parent comets by Peter Jenniskens
Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-521-85349-4. Pp xi + 790, £85.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Jonathan Shanklin
The birth of stars and planets by John Bally & Bo Reipurth
Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-521-80105-2. Pp x + 295, £25.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Nick Hewitt
The amateur astronomer by Patrick Moore
Springer-Verlag, 2005. ISBN 1-85233-878-4. Pp viii + 293, hbk.
Reviewed by Martin Morgan-Taylor
Fundamentals of solar astronomy by Arvin Bhatnagar & William Livingston
World Scientific, 2005. ISBN 981-256-357-1. Pp 445, £20.00 Amazon (pbk).
Reviewed by Dave Airey
Giant planets of our solar system: an introduction by Patrick Irwin
Springer-Praxis, 2006. ISBN 3-540-31317-6. Pp xxv + 320, £38.50 (pbk).
Reviewed by John H. Rogers
Star clusters and how to observe them by Mark Allison
Springer-Verlag, 2005. ISBN 1-84628-190-3. Pp xi + 211, £22.00 (pbk).
Reviewed by Nick Hewitt
The sky at Einstein's feet by William Keel
Springer/Praxis, 2005. ISBN 0-387-26130-3. Pp xiii + 246, £19.50 (pbk).
Reviewed by Roger O'Brien
Digital astrophotography - the state of the art by David Ratledge (ed.)
Springer(Verlag, 2005. ISBN 1-85233-734-6. Pp viii + 177, £22.00 (pbk).
Reviewed by Nick James
Comets II by Michael C. Festou, Uwe Keller & Harold A. Weaver (Eds.)
University of Arizona Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8165-2450-5. Pp xvii + 745, $85.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Jonathan Shanklin
An acre of glass by J. B. Zirker
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8018-8234-6. Pp 345, £20.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Tom Boles
Saturn and how to observe it by Julius L. Benton, Jr.
Springer-Verlag, 2006. ISBN 1-85233-887-3. Pp vii + 182, £19.50 (pbk).
Reviewed by David Graham
David Levy's guide to variable stars by David H. Levy
Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-60860-0. Pp xiv + 262, £18.99 (pbk).
Reviewed by Janet Simpson
Revolutionaries of the cosmos - the astrophysicists by I. S. Glass
Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-857099-6, Pp xiii + 317, £35 (hbk).
Reviewed by Sheridan Williams
The Martian climate revisited: atmosphere and environment of a desert planet by Peter L. Read & Stephen R. Lewis
Springer/Praxis, 2004. ISBN 3-540-40743-X. Pp xxv + 326, £61.50 (hbk).
Reviewed by Richard McKim
The Moon and how to observe it by Peter Grego
Springer-Verlag, 2005. ISBN 1-85233-748-6. Pp xi + 274, £19.95 (pbk).
Reviewed by Nick James
Planetary geology: an introduction by Claudio Vita-Finzi
Terra Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-903544-20-3. Pp viii + 168, £19.95 (pbk).
Reviewed by David Rothery
The Hatfield SCT lunar atlas by Jeremy Cook
Springer-Verlag, 2005. ISBN 1-85233-749-4. Pp 122, £24.95 (hbk)
Reviewed by Alan Wells
Great Observatories of the World by Serge Brunier & Anne-Marie Lagrange
Firefly Books, 2005. ISBN 1-55407-055-4. Pp 240, £35.00 (hbk)
Reviewed by Maurice Gavin
Robert Hooke and the English Renaissance by Paul Kent & Allan Chapman
Gracewing Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-85244-587-3. Pp xii + 191, £15.99 (hbk)
Reviewed by Anthony Kinder
Atlas of the Moon by Antonin Rukl
Sky Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-931559-07-4. Pp 224, £25.24 (hbk)
Reviewed by Colin Ebdon
Visual astronomy under dark skies by Antony Cooke
Springer-Verlag, 2005. ISBN 1-85233-901-2. Pp ix + 180, £24.95 (pbk)
Reviewed by Stewart Moore
Fred Hoyle - a life in science by Simon Mitton
Aurum Press, 2005. ISBN 1-85410-961-8. Pp xi + 369, £18.99 (hbk)
Reviewed by Roger O'Brien
Astronomy with a home computer by Neale Monks (Ed.)
Springer-Verlag, 2005. ISBN 1-85233-805-9. Pp v11 + 202, £24.50 (pbk)
Reviewed by Callum Potter
Sky phenomena by Norman Davidson
Lindisfarne Books, 2004 (revised). ISBN 1-58420-026-X. Pp xvi + 207, £13.40 (pbk).
Reviewed by Bob Mizon
Centauri dreams: imagining and planning interstellar exploration by Paul Gilster
Copernicus Books, 2004. ISBN 0-387-00436-X. Pp xv + 302, £19.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Roger O'Brien
The transits of Venus by Bill Sheehan & John Westfall
Prometheus Books, 2004. ISBN 1-59102-175-8. Pp 407, $28.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Peter Hingley
Observing variable stars, novae and supernovae by Gerald North & Nick James
Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp ix + 230 + CD-ROM. ISBN 0-521-82047-2 (hbk), £30.00.
Reviewed by Roger Pickard
The Real Mars by Michael Hanlon
Constable, 2004. ISBN 1-84119-637-1. xiv + 250 pp, £25.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Richard McKim
Collins atlas of the night sky by Storm Dunlop, Wil Tirion & Antonin Rukl
Collins, 2005. ISBN 0-00-717223-0. Pp 224, £20.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Neil Bone
Introduction to comets by by John C. Brandt & Robert D. Chapman
Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp viii + 441. ISBN 0-521-80863-4, £75.00 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-00466-7, £35.00 (pbk).
Reviewed by Nick James
Icy worlds of the solar system by Pat Dasch
Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp xii + 351. ISBN 0-521-64048-2 (hbk), £30.00.
Reviewed by Bob Lambourne
The new amateur astronomer by Martin Mobberley
Springer-Verlag, 2004. Pp ix + 229. ISBN 1-85233-663-3 (pbk), £24.50.
Reviewed by David Boyd
Global warming: the complete briefing (3rd edn) by John Houghton
Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp xxx + 351. ISBN 0-521-81762-5, £50.00 (hbk); 0-521-52874-7, £22.99 (pbk).
Reviewed by Jonathan Shanklin
An introduction to galaxies and cosmology by Mark H. Jones & R. J. A. Lambourne (Eds.)
Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp vi + 442. ISBN 0-521-83738-3, £75.00 (hbk); 0-521-54623-0, £29.95 (pbk).
Reviewed by Dominic Ford
The Clementine atlas of the Moon by Ben Bussey & Paul Spudis
Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp lii + 316. ISBN 0-521-81528-2, £50.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Colin Ebdon
Star & planet almanac 2005: A monthly guide to the sky at night by Liesbeth Bisterbosch
Henry Goulden Books, 2004. ISBN 0-904822-15-X, £12.99 (pbk).
Reviewed by Patricia Barber
An introduction to astrobiology by Iain Gilmour & Mark A. Sephton (Eds.)
Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp vi + 358. ISBN 0-521-54621-4, £75.00 (hbk); 0-521-83736-7, £29.95 (pbk)
Reviewed by John H. Rogers
Mary Somerville and the world of science by Allan Chapman
Canopus Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-9537868-4-6. Pp xv + 157, £12.95 (hbk).
Reviewed by Jacqueline Mitton
John Herschel's Cape Voyage: private science, public imagination and the ambitions of empire by Steven Ruskin; Ashgate Publishing Company, 2004. ISBN 0-7546-3558-9. Pp xxix + 229, £45.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Terry Mahoney
Starry Night Pro Plus: computer software for Windows & Macintosh
Reviewed by Mike Carson-Rowland
Impossible extinction: Natural catastrophes and the supremacy of the microbial world by Charles S. Cockell
Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-81736-6. Pp ix + 181, £18.99 (hbk).
Reviewed by Edward Hanna
Babylon to Voyager and beyond: A history of planetary astronomy by David Leverington
Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-80840-5. Pp x + 558, £65.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by John Rogers
NASA'S Voyager missions - exploring the outer solar system and beyond by Ben Evans & David M. Harland
Springer/Praxis, 2004. ISBN 1-85233-745-1. Pp xviv +284, £24.50 (pbk).
Reviewed by David Graham
Cometography: A catalog of comets. Volume 2: 1800-1899 by Gary W. Kronk.
Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-58505-8. Pp xiii + 837, £120.00 (hbk).
Reviewed by Guy Hurst
The Maunder Minimum and the variable Sun-Earth connection by Willie Wei-Hock Soon and Steven H. Yaskell
World Scientific Publishing, 2004. ISBN 981-238-274-7, £57.00 (hbk); 981-238-275-5, £28.00 (pbk). Pp xviii + 278.
Reviewed by David Gavine
Observing and measuring visual double stars by Bob Argyle (Ed.)
Springer-Verlag, 2004. ISBN 1-85233-558-0. Pp xii + 326 (pbk) + CD-Rom, £26.00.
Reviewed by Martin Nicholson
Astronomy of the Milky Way, by Mike Inglis. Springer-Verlag, 2004.
Reviewed by Stewart Moore
Volume I: The Northern Sky. ISBN 1-85233-709-5. Pp xiii + 242 (pbk), £19.95.
Volume II: The Southern Sky. ISBN 1-85233-742-7. Pp xiii + 236 (pbk), £19.95.
Expedition Mars by Martin J. L. Turner
Springer/Praxis, 2004. ISBN 1-85233-735-4. Pp xxi + 321 (pbk), £24.50.
Reviewed by Nick James
Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars by Harm J. Habing & Hans Olofsson (Eds.)
Springer-Verlag, 2004 (Astronomy and Astrophysics Library). ISBN 0-387-00880-2. Pp ix + 559 (hbk), £73.00.
Reviewed by Callum Potter
The Modern Moon - a personal view by Charles A. Wood
Sky Publishing Corporation, 2003. ISBN 0-933346-99-9, Pp xix+209. $49.50 (hbk).
Reviewed by Hazel Collett
Exploring Mercury: The Iron Planet by Robert G. Strom & Ann L. Sprague
Springer/Praxis, 2003. ISBN 1-85233-731-1. Pp xxx + 216 (pbk), £24.50.
Reviewed by Ron Toft
Nearest Star: The Surprising Science of our Sun by Leon Golub & Jay M. Pasachoff
Harvard University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-674-01006-X, pp. xii + 267. £11.50 (pbk).
Reviewed by Lee Macdonald
The Edge of Infinity: Supermassive black holes in the Universe by Fulvio Melia. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-81405-7, pp. ix + 148. £18.95 (hbk).
Reviewed by Roger O'Brien
A practical guide to lightcurve photometry and analysis by Brian D. Warner . BDW Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-9743849-0-9. Pp xiv + 266, $40.00 incl. air mail postage (pbk). [Available through http://www.MinorPlanetObserver.com]
Reviewed by Richard Miles
Cometary Science after Hale-Bopp: Volume I and Volume II by H. Boehnhardt et al. (eds.) Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003. ISBN 1-4020-1288-8, pp. 343 (Vol. I); ISBN 1-4020-0978-X, pp. 524 (Vol. II); £119.00 each.
Reviewed by Jonathan Shanklin
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Amateur Astronomy by Michael E. Bakich
Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-81298-4. Pp xii + 342 (hbk), £35.00.
reviewed by Martin Mobberley
The Smithsonian Book of Mars by Joseph M. Boyce
Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002. ISBN 1-58834-074-0. Pp xiv + 321, £26.95 (hbk.)
reviewed by Richard McKim
New Worlds in the Cosmos: The discovery of exoplanets by Michel Mayor & Pierre-Yves Frei, translated by Boud Roukema
Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-81207-0. Pp xii + 248 (hbk), £18.95.
reviewed by Roger O'Brien
Masks of the Universe: Changing ideas on the nature of the Cosmos by Edward Harrison
Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-521-77351-2. Pp ix + 331, £20.00 (hbk).
reviewed by Jonathan Reynolds
Soyuz: A universal spacecraft... by Rex D. Hall & David J. Shayler
Springer-Praxis, 2003. ISBN 1-85233-657-9. Pp xv + 459. £24.50 (pbk).
reviewed by Nick James
Au plus pres de la planète Mars by Philippe Morel & Giles Dawidowicz (Eds.)
Société Astronomique de France/Editions Vuibert, 2003. ISBN 2-7117-5335-2. Pp 290 (pbk), 30 euros.
Un siècle d'Astronomie by Audouin Dollfus, Roger Kieffer & Michael Sarrazin (Eds.)
Société Astronomique de France/Editions Vuibert 2003. ISBN 2-7117-5330-1. Pp 532 (hbk), 60 Euros.
reviewed by Richard McKim
Observer's Guide to Stellar Evolution:... by Mike Inglis
Springer Verlag London, 2003 (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy series). ISBN 1-85233-465-7. Pp xvii + 236, £26.95 (pbk).
reviewed by Roger O'Brien
Observing Cometsby Nick James & Gerald North
Springer-Verlag, 2003. ISBN 1-85233-557-2. Pp x + 234 + CD ROM, £26.00 (pbk)
reviewed by Guy Hurst
Asteroids III (Space Science Series)by William F. Bottke Jr., Alberto Cellino, Paolo Paolicchi & Richard P. Binzel (Eds)
The University of Arizona Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8165-2281-2. Pp xviii + 785, $110.00 (hbk).
reviewed by Richard Miles
Deep-sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects by Stephen James O'Meara Sky Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-933346-97-2. Pp xv + 484, $39.95 (hbk).
reviewed by Stewart Moore
Philip's Astrophotography: an introduction to film and digital imaging by H. J. P. Arnold. George Philip & Co., 2003. ISBN 0-540-08312-7. Pp 256, £9.99 (pbk).
reviewed by R.J. Neville
Towards Mars! by Risto Pellinsen & Paul Raudsepp (Eds.) Oy Raud Publishing, [Albertinkatu 17, FIN-00120, Helsinki, Finland], 2000. ISBN 952-9689-11-X. Pp 410, £46.00 (hbk).
reviewed by Richard McKim
Observing variable starsby Gerry A. Good. Springer(Verlag, 2003. ISBN 1-85233-498-3. Pp viii + 274, £24.50 (pbk).
reviewed by Chris Jones
How to observe the Sun safely by Lee Macdonald. Springer(Verlag, 2003. ISBN 1-85233-527-0. Pp ix + 176, £19.50 (pbk).
reviewed by Peter Meadows
The practical astronomer's deep-sky companion by Jess K. Gilmour Springer-Verlag, 2003. ISBN 1-85233-474-6. Pp xiv + 140, £25.00 (pbk).
reviewed by Nick Hewitt
Photographic atlas of the Moon by S. M. Chong, A. C. H. Lim & P. S. Ang. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-521-81392-1. Pp ix + 146 (25×31.5 cm), £40.00 (hbk).
reviewed by Alan Wells
- More small astronomical observatories... by Patrick Moore (Ed). Springer(Verlag, 2002 (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy series). ISBN 1-85233-572-6. Pp viii + 241, £24.00 (pbk).
reviewed by Maurice Gavin
- How to use a computerized telescope
(ISBN 0-521-00790-9. Pp xvi + 223,pbk) and Celestial objects for modern telescopes (ISBN 0-521-52419-9. Pp xiii + 268, pbk) by Michael Covington. Cambridge University Press, 2002, £39.99 for both.
reviewed by Martin Mobberley
- How to Identify the Night Sky by Storm Dunlop & Wil Tirion. Collins, 2002. ISBN: 0-00-710361-1202. Pp 256, £12.99 (pbk).
reviewed by Stephen Brooks
- Asteroid Rendevous: NEAR Shoemaker's adventures at Eros
by Jim Bell & Jacqueline Mitton (Eds). Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-521-81360-3. Pp xiii + 115, £27.95 (hbk).
reviewed by Richard Miles
- The Moonlandings: An eyewitness account
by Reginald Turnill. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-521-81595-9. Pp xix + 456, £19.95 (hbk).
reviewed by Roger O'Brien
- Flash!: The hunt for the biggest explosions in the Universe by Govert Schilling Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-521-80053-6. Pp xi + 291, £18.95 (hbk).
reviewed by Nial Tanvir
- Meteorites: A journey through space and time
by Alex Bevan & John de Laeter. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002. ISBN 1-58834-021-X. Pp 215, £30.50 (hbk).
reviewed by Greg Holland
- Practical amateur spectroscopy by Stephen E. Tonkin [Ed]. Springer(Verlag, 2002. ISBN 1-85233-489-4. Pp x + 210, £24.00 (pbk).
reviewed by Maurice Gavin
- Planets (Teach Yourself Books)
by David A. Rothery. Hodder & Stoughton Educational, 2000. Pp vii + 226, £8.99.
reviewed by Roger O'Brien
- The observing guide to the Messier Marathon - a handbook and atlas
by Don Machholz. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-521-803861. Pp xiii + 157, £18.95 (hbk).
reviewed by Stewart Moore
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