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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Families who want to stargaze together will find this an indispensible book. Beginning with a naked-eye tour of the constellations, Melanie Melton takes readers through a progression of observing exercises designed to teach them how to identify celestial objects and how to buy and use binoculars and beginners' telescopes. Every member of the familly will be able to understand this book and participate.

(Extracted from the press release).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Acknowledgments.

-Contents.

-Introduction.

-I. Observing the Sky With Only Your Eyes.

-1- Constellations.
-2- The Moon.
-3- The Planets.
-4- Meteor Showers.
-5- Eclipses.
-6- Comets.

-II. Observing the Sky With a Little Help.

-7- Binoculars for Sale?
-8- How to Buy a Telescope.
-9- Binoculars vs. Telescopes.
-10- Observing the Moon and Planets.
-11- Other Objects to Look At.

OUR REVIEW

Published by the editors of the magazine Astronomy, here we have a book specifically aimed at beginners and specially for collective observations of the sky without optical tools or in any case with modest means. The most interesting feature may perhaps be the fact that it includes practical activities so as to practise what we learn during each of the chapters included in the book. It therefore is a nice, pleasant work, aimed at those people who have no experience whatsoever, wishing to enter the fascinating world of astronomical observation for the first time.

The relative brevity of Observing for the Fun of It, whose title tells us almost everything, guarantees us a rapid immersion in the most simple, pleasant aspects of the contemplation of the Cosmos. Quite often, the magic moment of the first observation is never forgotten. A book like this one, furthermore, helps us to render this first observation more fruitful, while making it into a good starting point for the future. Kalmbach's task also is praiseworthy since they always care for the divulging of astronomy at all levels.