New astronomy and space titles reviewed
The Secret World of Stargazing
Adrian West Hodder & Stoughton £14.99 HB
The Secret World of Stargazing will resonate with so many of us. Adrian West has produced a charming book with a strong emphasis on wellbeing: how and why stargazing is good for us, physically and mentally.
Having lost a close friend sky whenever I could. It was a time for thinking, being alone and enjoying a connection with our natural world, the sky and sounds of nature. West focuses on these points in his book, and he does it in an uncomplicated way that we can all enjoy and empathise with.
This is very much a book for anyone who is just starting out and finding their stargazing feet for the very first time or, as West says, for anyone with a passing interest. There is no jargon to confuse or put the novice off and West makes that very clear from the outset. Indeed, as so many guides these days affirm, with West being no exception, stargazing is for everyone. You can make it as cheap or expensive as you like, and you can even enjoy the night sky in light-polluted areas and it needn’t be difficult.
West takes the beginner through the basics, from all-important advice about clothing and what each season has to offer, to Moon phases and meteor showers, asteroids and comets. Prominent, seasonal constellations to observe in both hemispheres are explained, all the while entwined with stories from mythology.
The book could have benefited from more illustrations, but beginners will certainly gain an understanding of the Solar System and what they are looking at when they gaze up to the sky. In the last chapter, West describes the gadgets available for newbies who want to move from naked-eye observing to a and how not to fall into the ‘buying a cheap telescope trap’. The Secret World of magnified eye. He has concisely embraced all the important points, including starting off with binoculars Stargazing is a lovely book. It is personal, delicate and beautifully innocent. For those more experienced astronomers, it is a reminder of why so many of us immerse ourselves in the hobby, and for those just starting out, it is a useful leg-up onto the first rung of the stargazing ladder.
★★★★
Interview with author Adrian West
When did you catch the stargazing bug?
I have always been fascinated by the night sky. From a very young age I can remember seeing the stars shining bright above me as my parents walked us home from my grandparents’ house. My interest grew through science fiction, especially Star Wars and Star Trek.
Does social media particularly suit astronomy outreach?
It’s one of the best ways of bringing astronomy to the masses. People can take as little or as much as they want. Teaching astronomy conventionally can sometimes be overwhelming for those with just a passing interest or who aren’t scientifically minded.
What top tips would you give to beginner astronomers?
Take your interest at your own pace, in a way that you enjoy. Follow some astronomy people on social media. Read some popular guides and books, or even join a club. Enjoy the night sky your way, whether that’s emotionally, creatively, scientifically, or just because it’s there. The night sky and the Universe beyond is for everyone to enjoy.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
I look forward to the changing seasons and everything within. Sunsets, the movement of the sky, the phases of the Moon, meteor showers, spacecraft, planets –I look forward to it all, and sharing the night sky with others. But the thing I am looking forward to most is simply relaxing under the stars, just taking it all in.
Back to Earth
Nicole Stott Seal Press £25 PB
During her 27 years working as a NASA astronaut, Nicole Stott spent 18 days living on the ocean bed (in the Aquarius Reef Base underwater habitat) and more than three months living aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Seeing our home planet from space has given Stott a unique perspective. She sees Earth as a perfect life support system, providing everything we need to survive and thrive with only our thin atmosphere shielding us from the lethal space beyond. In Back To Earth, the former astronaut likens our planet to a spaceship and calls for each of us to stop being mere passengers, but to take responsibility for our survival. As full crew members, our mission is to work together to keep our spaceship running smoothly.
Her book takes the work done on the ISS, and the protocols and training that its inhabitants use, as models for meeting the challenges of climate change on Earth.
It showcases the work of various individuals, companies and organisations that are working to make a difference, from funding clean water projects around the world to re-growing coral reefs. Stott reveals that even entire communities (such as the Isle of Man) are working with local businesses to make their environment more sustainable.
The author also shows practical changes that we can make to our own lives, as individuals, that will improve the planet as a whole.
Both inspirational and down to earth, with a ‘can do’ attitude that is empowering, this is a hopeful and beautifully written call to roll up our sleeves and work together as crew mates on our shared spaceship Earth.
★★★★
PACKED WITH FACTS
Simply Astronomy
Various DK £9.99 HB
“Sometimes less really is more,” the authors of Simply Astronomy proudly proclaim on the back-cover blurb of this little gem of a book.
Penned for Dorling Kindersley by an enthusiastic group of physicists, astronomers and science writers, its bite-sized chapters look in turn at the building blocks of the Universe we inhabit, our Solar System home, the stars, galaxies and constellations that we see when we crane our necks upward, and how we can play our own small part in understanding the cosmos.
Bright and colourful from cover to cover, this book is nowhere dry or dull. Its targeted audience demographic is almost as broad as its subject matter. In fact, Simply Astronomy could be just as handy in a school classroom as in an undergraduate astronomy library or the popular science section of a high street bookstore. It is nothing less than a compact one-stop-shop for this most ancient of sciences.
What makes Simply Astronomy work is that the authors have cleverly kept their prose to a minimum – less really is more, after all – and allowed diagrams and easy to follow infographics to visually tell their story. Complex topics are condensed into chunks that are a couple of pages long at most, affording the reader just enough to pique the interest.
But despite its sparseness of language and indulgence of imagery, the book is accurate, comprehensive and impressively up to date. It packs a refreshingly sizeable punch for its diminutive size.
★★★★★
The Astronomer’s Chair
Omar W Nasim MIT Press £52 PB
In faded engravings of whiskered Victorian ‘gentlemen astronomers’ you can often spot a little-noticed item of furniture: the astronomer’s chair. Now demoted to a curiosity of history (at least to professionals and high-tech amateurs), these reclining, swinging and rotating mechanical devices have been variously described as instruments of torture, death traps, essential laboratory equipment or saviours of science. Their design, adaptation, method and history have often been neglected in the annals of astronomy.
This richly illustrated book goes some way to rectify the oversight by surveying the social and cultural history of this apparently mundane article of furniture, from medieval times to the early modern era. However, rather than mere description, the volume hinges on the argument that these devices embodied perceptions of gender, race, class, even imperialism, Westernisation and the bourgeoisie.
The volume is a substantial academic thesis, documenting a rigorous and exhaustive research project, but is, unfortunately, not one of much interest to the amateur astronomer, and arguably not the professional either. There are some interesting historical and anecdotal passages concerning astronomical pursuits, their advocates, instruments and methods of observing, but these are few and far between. The vast majority of the book pertains to the social and cultural history of the chair as a piece of furniture, with a highly-developed scholarly hypothesis then applied to ‘scientific’ chairs of various kinds. As a sociocultural theory of chair design, and its implications, the book stands up well, but as a history of science it sadly fails.
★★★