For the beginning amateur astronomer there is no better aid to learning the stars and constellations than a planisphere - and I think David Levy's new rendition of this old device is as good as they come.

Basically a planisphere is starmap printed on one of two plastic disks which are joined together in the center and free to rotate. Around the edge of one disk are the days of the year while the other disk has the hours of the day. By setting the time, on one disk, opposite the date on the other, it is possible for you to see the sky, through a window in the top disk, as it would appear at that particular day and time.

There are several thing about David Levy's planisphere that recommend it. To begin with it is BIG, 16 inches in diameter to be precise, and the printing is large and easy to read. Secondly, it is a good representation of the sky showing only those stars visible to the unaided eye. Finally, the reverse side contains information about the Moon, planets, meteor showers and a listing of interesting galaxies and star clusters visible in binoculars or a small telescope. If you are a beginning "Stargazer", or thinking about becoming one, this should be your first acquisition.

Amateur Astronomer David Levy is best known as co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which crashed into the planet Jupiter in 1994. However, David is not only an avid amateur astronomer, but a student of English Literature and History as well. His recently published book, "More Things in Heaven and Earth," takes it's title from a quote in Shakespeare, in which Hamlet says to Horatio, "There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy ."

Although David is known as a comet hunter, he stresses that astronomy is not just the study of heavenly bodies, but actually the "study of everything." For the science of astronomy embraces physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology, just to name a few scientific disciplines.

But just as poetry is not just for poets, he says, astronomy is not just for astronomers. It is for everyone. As amateur astronomers, and poets, we are entitled to enjoy the beauty of the universe, just as scientists are entitled to describe it in scientific terms.

Poets are often astronomers, and astronomers are often poets. David's book shows the inter-relationship of scientists who made great astronomical discoveries: Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, with the great poets who wrote about the spiritual and emotional impact of astronomy, people like Robert Frost, Henry David Thoreau, Fances Bacon, Alfred Lord Tenneyson, and Gerard Manley Hopkins.

In his free flowing text, David has selected some of the best examples of astronomical poetry in the English Language, and assembled and described them in an attractively laid out book. Illustrations include not only astronomical photos of comets and other objects taken by David himself, but historical photos of both astronomers and poets. There is even a color section in the front of the book which includes some of the more spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope, illustrating not only the science of astronomy, but the endless beauties of the universe.

As amateurs, moving through the beauties of the night sky, we come to an interest in astronomy from varied backgrounds. And all of these viewpoints are equally valid in their own way. Just so the union of astronomy and poetry. David's unique viewpoint as presented here allows us to explore this relationship, in a way that no other book published today can do.

One of the most commonly recited verses in the English language is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." But how many of us know the complete poem written by Jane Taylor in 1806? The entire poem appears on the frontispiece.

In this book, David reminds us that, "Ideals are like stars. You cannot touch them with your hands. But if you follow them, they will take you to your destination." This book can act as a travel guide for your journey.

Edward P. Flaspoehler, Jr., REFLECTOR Editor, Astronomical League

This is a information-packed book. It's divided in nine chapters, but in fact you can see three parts:

The first part, with text and a lot of color pictures covers the basics of every subject you can imagine regarding sky watching: Binoculars, telescopes, cities and urban skies, software, history, every planet, binary stars, eclipses etc. etc. etc. always in just two or four pages.

The second part covers every constellation in the sky, in
alphabetical order (one constellation per page), with stars up to 6th (I guess) magnitude, highlighting the most interesting stars, nebulae etc., each one of the included features has a symbol (in the text below the map) so you can know at a glance if it is to be seen at naked eye, with binoculars or with a telescope. I should mention that it also has a 12 general skycharts, so you can always use the one according to your latitude and time of the year.

And the third part ("the Starhopping Guide") are 20 selected sectors of the sky, including stars up to 8th magnitude (deep-sky objects up to 12.5) with text and photos regarding deep sky features, double stars, nebulae etc. etc. Useful: constantly the text points out what you can expect to see with a given telescope (4", 6", 8" lens diameter).

And I have some mixed additional comments:
-I think every picture has been thoughtfully selected (no pictures just to fill space, as I've seen in other books).
-The sky maps are made by Will Tirion (so you can expect that

there is what should be there, and nothing less).
-There is a small map showing the path of sun eclipses until year 2015
-The moon is covered in 8 pages, featuring some 300 craters, mares etc.
-I liked the section about "in store test" for choosing binoculars.
-I was a little bit disappointed that the "Starhopping guide" includes many features for telescopes with an aperture of 8", and up to 16"... (of course, this is because I have a 5" aperture telescope!)
-The book itself has an uncommon size: about 6 1/2" x 11", so it's still handy to take it outdoors, but large enough to include sky maps of reasonable size.
-I see that this book includes in few words a lot of information that I've read in more detail somewhere else. I wonder how this will be taken for someone who this is her/his first skywatching book. It could be preciously treasured for years... or it could bore the the poor reader: Who knows?.
And finally, at the price offered here, it's a steal!

This is a user's manual to the sky. It is very enjoyable reading, and guides you pleasantly through all the important sights of the night sky. Excellent - one of my favourites

This book is just briming with the joy of discovery. David Levy, one of the discoverers of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which crashed into Jupiter, details the exuberant joy of finding a comet. In this mostly chronological look at comet discovery and other similarly relationed astromonical discoveries Levy leads one on an engrossing journey through space. Starting with Galileo, but focusing mostly on modern discoveries and discoverers one comes to understand the motivation of these amateur and professional astronomers. Pleasantly accessible for those who can only recognize the moon, but also a wonderful trip for the expert. Beautifully written! A must read...it will make you want to discover a comet too.

These 23 chapters discuss astronomical discoveries beginning with Tycho Brahe's supernova in 1572 and concluding with the discoveries of extrasolar planets in the late 1990s. David Levy, science editor for Parade magazine and author of several popular-level astronomy books, is best known as the co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which collided with Jupiter in July of 1994. Not surprisingly, the book is at its best when discussing this discovery and others made by people whom the authors know well; the personalities of these scientists (both amateur and professional) come across vividly, as does the amount of effort and luck involved in making the discoveries. The discussions of the historical discoveries are less original and engaging, and the attempts to connect them to the author (e.g., by stating that Jupiter was in the same position when first observed by the 100-inch telescope as when the book was written) are strained. The photographic reproductions--mostly in black and white--are somewhat muddy. There are a few minor errors, and the discussions are disjointed in places, but a reader with some previous knowledge of astronomy will find this book engaging. General readers; lower- and upper-division undergraduates.

This book is filled with lots of interesting asides on the fascinating men and women who have contributed to our knowledge of the heavens. Mr. Levy's books never fail to satisfy.

Gene Shoemaker was truly a giant of 20th Century Science. Involved in the development of (and frustrated by) the vestigal scientific programs attached to the oh-so-political US moon program, Gene Shoemaker was a frequently-acknoledged genius. Perhaps most famous, along with his wife Carolyn and (this book's author) David Levy, for his work discovering the comet chain (Shoemaker-Levy 9) which impacted Jupiter in July 1994, Shoemaker's true legacy lay in his role as a key proponent of the theory, now widely-accepted, that most of the craters we observe in the solar system were caused by meteor or comet impacts instead of being cause by volcanism, and that this process has been at work on the Earth for millenia as well, as can be seen at places like Meteor Crater in Arizona.

Levy is always a treat to read, with an enthusiastic and easygoing style which keeps the subject accessible and the language casual. He moves the narrative effectively, and frequently refers back to earlier portions of the book to jog the reader's memory regarding various details. The book follows a more-or-less chronological course in relating Shoemaker's life, although it does follow concurrent threads in seperate chapters, so it may confuse less-attentive readers from time to time as Levy covers Shoemaker's gological work during a particular decade in one chapter, and in the next might jump back to the end of the previous decade while describing his astronomical work.

The book's only real flaw is in it's extreme reverence for Shoemaker and the resultant unwillingness to dig for "dirt" in the process of profiling this colorful and contentious man, understandable considering how close Levy was to Shoemaker, and how close he remains to Shoemaker's wife Carolyn. While the general impression is that there was little actual dirt to be found, Levy glosses over some conflicts in Shoemaker's life, especially the significant personal break with his one-time student and co-collaborator Eleanor Helin, whose near-Earth object research has been truly influential as well. Additonally, passing but tantalizing mention is made in places of his (apparently) less-than-perfect relationship with his children when they were young.

All in all, these lapses are insignificant (worth a point off a pefect score, though), especially since it will most likely be many years before we are treated to any more thorough and (perhaps) less-biased biography by any other writer. Heartily recommended to anyone who likes a good biography or who has an interest in geology or the search for near-earth objects.

This is an excellent (and probably the only) bio of Eugene Shoemaker, who nearly singlehandedly pioneered impact geology, and by doing so helped make modern, secular catastrophism palatable to scientists. On page 55 Levy quotes Stephen Gould (from "The Panda's Thumb") regarding the origin of gradualism as "a common cultural bias"; discusses Cuvier's near miss regarding the source of catastrophes attested throughout the fossil record (pp 51-52); and most nobly and notably, recounted with pretty good accuracy the central thesis of Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision without resorting to the childish distortions and namecalling found in most books which mention Velikovsky at all. This factual, non-inflammatory mention of Velikovsky and what may be the most controversial non-political work of the 20th century reveals Levy as a man of reason, courage, and character.

This biography is highly recommended.

Also recommended:

-:- "Dark Matter" by Thomas Van Flandern
-:- "The Deep Hot Biosphere" by Thomas Gold
-:- "Voices of the Rocks" by Robert Schoch et al
-:- "Night Comes to the Cretaceous" by James Lawrence Powell
-:- "Rain of Iron and Ice" by John S. Lewis
-:- "T Rex and the Crater of Doom" by Walter Alvarez
-:- "Noah's Flood" by Walter C. Pitman and William B. F. Ryan
-:- "Catastrophe: A Quest for the Origins of the Modern World" by David Keys
-:- "Worlds In Collision" by Immanuel Velikovsky
-:- "Earth in Upheaval" by Immanuel Velikovsky

A truly delightful book about the premiere scientist. The book takes you from the early days when Gene was a kid collecting rocks in a jar, to his prominent role with the Apollo project to the seach for asteroids. Levy writes in such a way that you almost feel that you were friends with the man. Looking over his shoulder as he takes college kids on field trips to Meteor Crater and in the control room for the Voyager missions. I never knew Gene was involved in so many aspects of astronomy. Anyone who relishes science biographies should not miss this one.

I just bought this book and found it very easy to read, as well as helpful with using my brand new telescope.
It starts off by giving a very entertaing general history of astronomy, with plenty of illustrations.
It then covers astronomy concepts, such as star types, azimuth, etc. Also included is a section on telescopes.
Then it has 12 or so full scale maps of the sky, for every time of the year in both southern and northern hemispheres.
The best section is the constellation section. It has at least one page for each constellation, with a map showing a detalied view of it and surrounding stars/clusters/galaxies. It gives the history of the constellation, other interesting objects to look for nearby, and a photograph showing what the constellation really looks like (without the lines connecting the stars). Very helpful.

This richly illustrated and clearly written book is a pleasure to read. Its author, David Levy, (discoverer of many comets, including Shoemaker-Levy which impacted Jupiter in 1994)is one of the great amauteur astronmers, and communicates his love of the heavens well. The star charts are done by Wil Tirion, the foremost celestial cartographer and author of many important sky atlases.

The book itself starts with a valuable historical perspective, discussing ancient astronomy and classical and modern astronomers. It progresses through a presentation of our place in the solar system and the universe, and discussons of planetary and deep sky objects. Various types of instruments for observing are also discussed. Finally, there is a section on each of the constellations, and the objects within them, enriched by historical information and even a guide to pronouncing some of the Arabic and Latin tongue-twisters one encounters.

The quality of the publication is first-rate. The illustrations range from ancient Chinese star charts through medievil earth-centric maps to images from the Hubble space telescope.

This is a book that will capture your interest, and supply many hours of pleasurable perusing on cloudy nights. The only drawback it that its hardcover, fairly thick format makes it less that ideal for the field.

This glossy covered handbook is a treasure trove of information aimed at the beginner and amatuer astronomer. The quality of the production is what impressives me most. Wonderful diagrams and photographs throughout compliment informative text. The sky charts are easily accessible and make for a ready reference when identifying constellations. The other chapters include "Skywatching through the ages", "Stars and Galaxies", "Skywatching tools and techniques", "Understanding the changing sky", "A tour of the solar system" and "Probing the universe". This book would make an ideal gift for persons just starting out in astronomy, as well as the more experienced. Highly recommended and a bargain price to boot.

1/3 of this book - the starhopping section - is excellent. Just the right amount of commentary and detail for intermediate observational astronomy. The maps are also very good. Here's the problem: Only 1/2 of the sky is covered in the starhopping section! Why go halfway? A good number of interesting regions aren't covered at all. Instead, they clutter up the first 2/3 of the book with the usual info about types of telescope, stars, pictures of planets, etc. We've read and seen this before. Any library book tells you the same stuff. Use the pages to cover ALL regions of the sky. It's really a shame.

Another problem is the hardcover format, which makes the book difficult for field use. It's thin and tall, which doesn't help it to stay open. A spiral bound version would be better.

Time was, the Nature Store was everywhere in Canada, and you could depend on them for just the right Xmas gift or whatever. That's gone now, but they left the excellent Nature Company Guides behind.

This is the book of those who have gone beyond "the stars are up there" stage but aren't at the Hawking level yet. I loved the crispy photos and the straight from the shoulder directions (not pretentious or dumb). I recommend it highly if you want something with a little more meat to it.

This book is very helpful, even if you are just an amiture astronomer like me. This book tells you how to navigate through the Heavens. It tells you what stars you can see, the dates that you can see them, even the times that you cansee them. This book tells you what to look for when buying a telescope, how to spot a trash scope, and what types are good to purchase for your needs. This book tells about anything that you need to know, from nebulas and double stars, to planets and black holes. Advanced Skywatching tells you almost anything you want to know. This is a book that no astronomer, begining, advanced, or professional, should be without.

A short, pleasant, informative book. Numerous typos, poor quality black and white photos.

It was refreshing to read such passionate writing on eclipses--both the science behind them, and their effect on people's lives. I found Mr. Levy's journal of eclipses personally fascinating as well as informative.

It was refreshing to read such passionate writing on eclipses--both the science behind them, and their effect on people's lives. I found Mr. Levy's journal of eclipses personally fascinating as well as informative.

This is a useful reference and particularly good for people who prefer detailed observation of objects. For people like me who prefer quantity over quality (i.e. if you don't spend an hour looking at the same object), I'd recommend Kepple's Night Sky Observers guide. Kepple's guides offer a combination of the most useful and comprehensive guides I've seen for intermediate and advanced observational astronomers.

The hardback format of this book isn't particularly good for the field, even though I've seen people referencing beaten-up copies with their red flashlights. It has good quality paper stock.

In sum, this is a standard work on the Messier objects and has substantial value despite its somewhat high price. However, I could think of other books I'd buy first -- Nightwatch for beginners, Kepple's set for more advanced users.

This book is an interesting change from the stereo-typcial astronomy guide which so often tends to be technical to the point of dryness. O'Meara lets fly with some artistic hyperbolae and isn't afraid to let the imagination loose. The result is a refreshingly different perspective on sky viewing. His descriptions of the Messier objects have caused me to look differntly at what I thought were familiar friends until now. The book is best appreciated if delved into - trying to read it cover to cover is not recommended.

This book is a tremendous help to those of us setting out to find the Messier objects. The biggest problem with finding objects is figuring out what they should like like in a telescope -- sometimes I've got something in the finder or telescope and I'm not certain what it is. O'Meara solves that problem by providing photographs and his terrific drawings, not to mention is verbal paintings which could make a blind person see the objects. He devoted hours to each single object, waxing poetic at times about the merits and downsides to every single object. The first few chapters give some good history and background of Messier and other famous comet hunters. As a final plus, the book is printed on very high quality glossy paper so it's a pleasure to read. As a field guide, it would have been helpful to have it spiral bound, but that's my only suggestion for improvement. The author even includes a helpful appendix of other interesting sky objects that are not Messier objects, all of which are worthwhile telescope targets. A winner!