Review by C.J. Bunce
It may sound like something frivolous, and yet it is everything in so many ways. The Backyard Stargazer’s Bible is the one book I’d put into every second grader’s hands if I could. How many kids want to “study space”? Pretty much everyone at one time looks up into the stars and wants to know more. The Backyard Stargazer’s Bible is not a kids’ book–this is a one-stop, complete introduction and deep dive into the study of astronomy. It could be an Astronomy 101 textbook for a college course, including the history of what humans know, why we know it, and when and how we first learned it. It covers our current knowledge of the stars, suns, and planets, with star charts for anyone to step out into their yard and begin their own exploration.
This all-new hardcover volume from Mary McIntyre, Ian Ridpath, and Rachel Federman–a full study of space with introductions to astrophotography, technology, and even space artwork, filled with star charts–is available from Abrams Books for pre-order now here at Amazon, available tomorrow in bookstores everywhere.
The Backyard Stargazer’s Bible takes a refreshing, holistic approach to astronomy. It begins with a history of the men and women scientists who paved the path for future stargazers, documenting what they saw, using mathematics to understand changes in the stars, why some stars appeared brighter, why some objects took different routes. In looking at the people who studied the stars readers can develop understanding in how humanity’s viewpoint has changed over the past centuries.
It takes readers through the 88 constellations, explaining in detail the origins of their names, their locations in the galaxy, and how to locate them via star charts. It digs down to the level of the brightness of each star within each constellation. It also discusses the Chinese star system and how it had 283 constellations not based on myths but everyday occurrences. Another section explains how colors of galaxies explain temperature, with photographs reflecting historical and recent findings.
All the usual suspects can be found here: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Halley, and Hubble, and some you might not know, like Ulugh Beg, a Mongol who measured the length of a year within 25 seconds of accuracy in the 15th century, William Herschel, who developed important telescope technology, Henrietta Leavitt, who developed a method for measuring distance in space, and Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who determined stars consist mostly of two glasses, hydrogen and helium.
This holistic approach wraps with the interplay between art and science, reflecting how humans have depicted what they see when looking up at night throughout history, further discussing how readers can use current technological tools to see and reproduce what they see via multimedia methods.
The Backyard Stargazer’s Bible includes a glossary and index. Sure to spark the imagination and passion of any person young or old interested in knowing more about the universe above and a must for every library, The Backyard Stargazer’s Bible is available from Abrams Books for pre-order now here at Amazon, available tomorrow in bookstores everywhere.
