McGraw-Hill: Your Guide to the Sky

4.0 Your Guide to the Sky by Rick Shaffer

Inexpensive, easy reading, covers most subjects.

Out of print, I guess. Should be found in second hand stores.

This is a large paperback book of about 200 pages. Inside are 9 chapters and a decent index. Size is 8" X 11-1/2" and it's all black and white. No color or photos. This book was first printed in 1994 (a 3rd edition printed in 1999 is also available) and contains many decent articles with nice drawings of the night sky throughout the year. It's very easy reading for the beginner to use and answers many early questions such as what will happen through out the year, each year. Large print helps the reader too. Chapter 1 is the introduction, chapter 2 is about the sky and how the maps are arranged, chapter 3 is about the path of the sun, moon and planets, chapter 4 is about techniques for viewing the sky, etc. You get the picture, I'm sure. Nice inexpensive book that will go on any astronomer's shelf and be used time after time. Some of the items are dated, like the different eyepieces available in 1994 versus what's on the market today, but it generally provides good up-to-date reading on almost everything else. I highly recommend this book for beginners in our great hobby.