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(meteorobs) Re: (NSAAC) Read any good books lately?


Bob Donahue <donahue@omphalos.skepsis.com> wrote:
>I'm just putting the finishing touches on a set of WWW pages for
>the Mount Wilson website which links to Amazon.com to help people
>buy astronomy books. Most are from my own collections, but I'd
>definitely appreciate some recommendations for astronomy-related
>ooks (all topics). If you can include a "review" of a couple of
>sentences, that would be excellent.

Hey, Bob - never did respond to this one!

Here are some of my favorites - if you don't have them on your
list already and they're of interest, I can look up any missing
ISBNs, publisher names, etc. for you later - let me know. And
if anyone on 'meteorobs' has any other books to add, please e-
mail "Bob Donahue <donahue@omphalos.skepsis.com>" directly!


McKinley, D.W.R. Meteor Science and Engineering, McGraw-Hill, 1961.
The most comprehensive, cleanly written exposition of the physics
and observational methods of meteorics ever written. It covers in
detail the equipment and techniques of radio, photography, visual
(prior to the East European/IMO observing revolution) and also a
primer on the astrophysics of meteoroids and meteors.

Oepik, Ernst. Physics of Meteor Flight in the Atmosphere, 195?.
This is the BIBLE of meteor & atmospheric physics. Although the
data on which it is based has been updated by leaps and bounds
since it was written, the analysis is as clean and inspiring now
as it was in the 1920s when Oepik's papers first began to appear.

Hogg, Helen Sawyer. The Stars are for Everyone, 196?.
The classic text on the wonder of sky-watching, for amateurs at
any level. A joy to read, an incitement to get out and observe!
(Thanks to Cathy Hall for this one!)

Shaaf, Fred. The Starry Room, Sky Publishing, 1989.
A starry-eyed and inspiring exposition of naked-eye astronomy: the
powers, quirks and limitations of the eye, and the host of wondrous,
and yet hardly-discussed celestial and atmospheric phenomena which
are available to naked-eye observers. Reminiscent of Hogg's book.

Wilkening, Laurel, ed. Comets, University of Arizona Press, 1982.
A collection of professional papers on comet physics and observation,
but also covering interplanetary dust and meteors in detail. A must-
read for folks interested in investigating contempoary meteor science.
Articles and research current through early 1980s. ISBN 0816507694.

Rendtel, J., and Rainer Arlt and Alastair McBeth, ed. Handbook for Visual
Meteor Observers. Potsdam: International Meteor Organization, 1995.
A Monograph covering in complete detail the amateur observational and
analytical method which is the basis of modern visual meteor research.
Also includes extensive details on the characteristics, origins, and
observing history of most of the recognized recurring meteor showers.

Rendtel, Jurgen. Handbook For Photographic Meteor Observations. Potsdam:
International Meteor Organization, 1993.
A shorter Monograph focused on techniques for capturing and analyzing
meteors on film: one- and two-station, astrometry, data reduction, etc.

---

Here's a compendium of other books which I do NOT own - some of them
I've read and can recommend, others I can only recommend on hearsay.

Bone, Neil. Meteors. Cambridge: Sky Publishing Corp., 1993.
This book is highly recommended, and I have seen many interesting
email discussion spring from its pages and flourish before. :)

Bone, Neil. The Aurora: Sun-Earth Interactions 2nd ed., Wiley/Praxis.
ISBN: 0471960241. Never seen this one, but it discusses NLCs (Nocti-
lucent Clouds, a sky phenomenon related to interplanetary material.)

Edberg, Stephen J. and David H. Levy. Observing Comets, Asteroids, Meteors,
and the Zodiacal Light. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Recommended on some occasions by others.

Hawkins, G.S. Meteors, Comets and Meteorites. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.

Kronk, Gary. Meteor Showers: A Descriptive Catalog. Hillside, N.J.:
Enslow Publishers, 1988.
Much of Gary's book (now out-of-print) can be found on his outstanding
Web site about "Comets and Meteors" at:
        http://medicine.wustldot edu/~kronkg

Lovell, A.C.B. Meteor Astronomy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954.
This is Lovell's classic, probably indispensible text on the subject.

McDonnell, J.A.M., ed. Cosmic Dust. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, 1978.

McSween, Harry Y. Jr. Meteorites and Their Parent Planets. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Norton, O. Richard. Rocks from Space. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press, 1994.

Olivier, Charles P. Meteors. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1925.
Olivier was the father of US amateur (and partly professional) meteorics.

Povenmire, Harold R. Fireballs, Meteors and Meteorites. Indian Harbour
Beach, Florida: JSB Enterprises, 1980.
References: