shipman@nmtvax.UUCP (09/19/85)
I was going to post some of my own experience in telescope buying, but I just read "The Light-Hearted Astronomer" by Ken Fulton, and it makes anything I could say redundant. I highly recommend this book to anyone considering a telescope purchase; it's also a good introduction to observing and funny to boot. This book seems from the ads to be a humor book. It is that, but it also full of good advice from one who has been burned repeatedly over decades. The chapters on the telescope business, how to read the ads, and what kind of telescope to buy are about the best overview I've seen in print. Probably due to the threat of lawsuits, he uses fictitious names for the optics companies, and the product lines he describes are actually composites, but the information is still most useful. The later chapters are also full of good experience (== pain, travail, and Murphy's law), observing techniques, logistics, specializing, books, etc. If there were any major problems with this book you can be sure I'd pick on them so this review would look balanced. However, I didn't find much more than a few minor quibbles. That in itself is a heck of a compliment. Available for $6.95 from AstroMedia (publisher of _Astronomy_ magazine), P.O. Box 92788, Milwaukee, WI 53202. Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in Astro Media or the author. I'm just a backyard amateur, not an authority. -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!shipman