Essentials of Astronomy

by Anneta Duveen and Lloyd Motz

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231040091
• ISBN13: 9780231040099
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 763 Pages
• Weight: 3.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Still holds up after all these years

This excellent book on college astronomy is in many ways a classic and stills holds up after almost a half century. Along with Smith and Jacobs's "Astronomy and Astrophysics" which came out a few years later, it's still one of the best introductions to the subject for college students. Unlike the torrent of descriptive books which have appeared over the years for general audiences, it unapologetically introduces math concepts where they are necessary to convey the quantitative aspects of the subject. (And you cannot study a subject like astronomy and truly appreciate the significance of its discoveries without thinking quantitatively!) Naturally a book as old as this becomes dated with respect to more recent discoveries (cosmology, extrasolar planets, etc etc) but the book mainly attempts to convey basic principles and concepts without relying on glitzy topics presumably in an effort to attract a wider (and less sophisicated) audience. And the basic concepts are certainly as valid today as they were when the book was first written. Motz and Duveen's book is becoming increasingly harder to find on the used book market, but if you are truly serious about learning the technical and scientific aspects of the subject in a gentle and nonthreatening way then this book is an excellent place to start. Highly recommended.

I got this book used (by JPL)

At $...I couldn't go wrong: as it turns out I went very right.I just found a very rare pictureof an astronomical plasma jet from an elliptical galaxy as a picture in it. In every way this book delivers what it says it will.If you can find it, buy it.Or any other book by Motz on Astronomy!