Astronomy Today Vol 1: The Solar System (6th Edition) 6th Edition

This comment is not about the book content itself, but the lack of transparency in the marketing to inform the buyers that there are several versions of the book:The complete book has 4 parts:Part 1: Astronomy and the Universe (chapters 1-5)Part 2: Our Planetary System (chapters 6-15)Part 3: Stars and Stellar Evolution (chapters 16-22)Part 4: Galaxies and Cosmology (chapters 23-28)The version I got includes only parts 1, 3, and 4. Volume 1 supposed to include chapters 1-16 and 28.The hardcover version of the book doesn't say volume 1 or 2, so it may include all chapters. I don't have that book, so I can only infer from its "Product details" that it has 800+ pages, whereas my book has only 500+ pages.I don't know the reason behind this arrangement. I can only guess it may be based on good intention that some courses may only require the content of volume 2 or 1, in that case the students can just buy one volume, not the whole book, saving them a lot of money, considering the pricing for college textbooks is astronomical these days.This is all fine. What's annoying is that the publisher has not bothered to put such a simple description in a place where people usually to find about the book structure, such as on back cover, in preface, etc. Only at the end of the detailed table of contents, in a format like a footnote, it says that all the wonderful contents in the list are not all in this book (vol 2), and chapters 6-15 "appear in Volume 1: The Solar System."As a book lover, had I known this information, I would have gone to order the hardcover book (hopefully it's the complete version with all chapters "appearing"), rather than the book I ordered that has a middle section disappeared into another volume.In fact, Amazon could have remedied the information gap by providing the description in the Product details, rather than copy-and-paste the promotional materials there.

I did not purchase this for a class, but as a new backyard stargazer that wanted to learn about astronomy in a little more depth than is provided in books like "Nightwatch". It is a textbook, obviously. However, I have found it to be a very accessible and enjoyable read with many fantastic illustrations to reinforce the concepts that it presents. Bear in mind that this is not a coffee table book, but a serious text of 750+ pages written to present, not just Astronomy, but the scientific method and observational evidence-based thinking to a collegiate audience of non-science majors. I am finding it to be a comprehensive treatment of astronomy, our solar system and the cosmos at large without being overwhelming. Astronomy Today will be a very rewarding read for those willing to put the time into it.

I purchased this text for our daughter, who is taking an introductory astronomy class. I never had the chance to take such a class myself but always had an interest in astronomy, so I started reading some of the chapters. To my great satisfaction, it was actually very well written, concise, and seemed to be up to date on the some of the more interesting and current issues in astronomy- dark matter/energy, inflationary universes, black holes, etc. It has an excellent explanation of black body radiation and how the emission profile of a celestial object gives can disclose both its temperature and much about its composition. It also takes care to show exactly what portion of the light specturm is used to generate each image (of which there are many beautiful ones included), which really helps understand why optical telescopes can't solve all the scientific mysteries (the center of the Milky Way can't even be seen in the visual spectrum due to dust). It also used a minimal amount of math, which takes away nothng from the points made. As a parent tired of forking over hundreds of dollars for textbooks that unnecessarily change edition every year (how is that possible, I ask?), I did not mind paying for this one.Kudos to the authors for a very readable and useful text. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about astronomy but never had the opportunity. The only material that I thought might be improved was the section covering the H-R diagrams of star evolution- it would help to have a simple diagram of a typical star as it progresses through the main sequence and beyond, gaining or losing mass. the luminosity and temperature portions of the process are well described, but it's a bit hard to put it all together. Is the H-R diagram really the most useful way to understand star evolution? Regardless, this book rates as an outstanding science textbook in my opinion.

This is the first and only astronomy textbook I have ever read. I was hooked to the content right away. The book is so interesting that I now understand why so many people loves astronomy. Definitely worthy reading and own the book!

This is the first astronomy text that I have read. I found it to be excellent. The illustrasions are very well chosen & complement the text well. The style of writing is pleasant. I preffered it to the novel that I was also reading! It is light on math but there is so much for a novice to learn that was probably best. Each chapter is around 20 pages which for an easy 1 day read.

Lovely and beautifully designed text with plenty of diagrams and simple explanations for many cosmic events!

It was a very good book to read for my course. It is very much to the point and nowhere near as confusing as I thought it would be.