Hosted by Chris Beckett & Shane Ludtke, two amateur astronomers in Saskatchewan. [email protected]

The Actual Astronomy Podcast presents Astronomy Books. In this episode we discuss some of the best astronomy books with City Lights Bookstore owner Chris Wilcox. From poetry to the Milky Way we cover our favourite books on the astronomical table.

 

What are some of the titles that you’ve enjoyed and could recommend to our listeners?

* Arthur Koestler: The Sleepwalkers, in which Western civ gets stuck in geocentricity for 1500 years

* Thomas Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Some dated conventions, but a fascinating sociological study of avant-garde science. This classic gave us the now-overused term “paradigm shift.”

* Michael Hoskin: The History of Astronomy: A Very Short Introduction

* Dava Sobel: The Planets

* Leslie C. Peltier Starlight Nights: The Adventures of a Star-Gazer

* Ronald Florence: The Perfect Machine: Building the Palomar Telescope

* Robert Zimmerman: The Universe in a Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It

* Emily Levesque: The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers. A young professor’s assemblage of adventures -- her own, plus accounts gleaned from colleagues -- from the days when astronomers would travel to the big, remote observatories to capture their data.

 

What are some popular books on planetary science, astrophysics, and cosmology that are high up on your list of must reads?

* Mike Brown: How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

* Adam Frank: The Little Book of Aliens

* Philip Plait: Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to the Universe

* Becky Smethurst: A Brief History of Black Holes

* Carlo Rovelli: White Holes

* Moiya McTier: The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy

 

I think you even mentioned some poems?

* Benjamin Labatut: When We Cease to Understand the World and The MANIAC

* Kim Stanley Robinson: Galileo's Dream

* Tracy K. Smith Life on Mars: Poems

 

What makes a really good observing reference?

* Leslie C. Peltier, in his classic Guideposts to the Stars

* Walter “Scotty” Houston (his bio reminds us that he was an editor and English teacher by profession)

* Stephen James O’Meara, e.g., his Messier Objects 2nd ed.

* Sue French, in her inimitable continuation of Houston & O’Meara’s Deep Sky Wonders

* Howard Banich (his recent S&T article on M33 was his 33rd column for the magazine, so I hope he eventually pulls his writings and brilliant sketches into a bound collection)

 

What are some other useful books?

* Burnham's Celestial Handbook in three volumes

* Nightwatch (Dickinson, et al.)

* Harrington: Touring the Universe through Binoculars

* Hill: A Portfolio of Lunar Drawings

 

What do you keep handy at your desk?

* Pasachoff: Peterson Field Guide to the Stars and Planets

* Mitton: A Concise Dictionary of Astronomy 

* Edgar: RASC Observer’s Handbook (current U.S. ed.)

* Beckett: RASC 2024 Observer’s Calendar

 

What are some good books to have in the field?

* Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas, Field Edition* (Stoyan & Schurig)

* Sky Atlas 2000.0: Deluxe Edition  (Tirion & Sinnott)

* Rukl: Atlas of the Moon

* Turn Left at Orion (Consolmagno & Davis) 

* The Messier Observer’s Planisphere* from Celestial Teapot   >46-cm diameter

 

What are a few indispensable texts from your collection:

* Swanson: NexStar User's Guide II

* Menard: New Perspectives on Newtonian Collimation

* Brown: All about Telescopes

* Telescopes, Eyepieces, and Astrographs: Design, Analysis, and Performance of Modern Astronomical Optics (Smith et al.)

* Astronomical Sketching (Handy et al.)

 

What books do you dip into when you need a jot between sessions under the stars. 

* Freistetter: The Story of the Universe in 100 Stars

* Any of those splashy coffee table books loaded with astrophotography. While they may not represent visual astronomy's faint, mostly monochrome experience, they are stunning. And, as the imagers tell us, those long integrations and enhanced colors are scientifically useful.

* Cathay LeBlanc & David Chapman:  Mi'Kmaw Moons: Through the Seasons. A picture book about Mi’Kmaq cosmology combines rich information and great storytelling with Loretta Gould’s gorgeous illustrations.

— Many astronomy-related books for kids are too delightful to let the youngsters have all the fun. Plucking a few stars from this constellation: 

* Gaiter: The Mysteries of the Universe A lavish, outward sweeping reference

* McCulley: Caroline’s Comets A sweet, pictorial biography of C. Hershell

* Becker: You Are Light  Spectra are for babies!

* 100 Poems: Outer Space, edited by Midge Goldberg   From the Cambridge series

 

Are there any sentimental books in your library:

* Norton's Star Atlas (Epoch 1950) The stars have processed into a new epoch since these gate-fold pages were bound in boards of blue cloth. So it’s dated, and those boards are a bit warped, but I treasure this volume because it originally belonged to Col. Carl Hill, a kindly next-door elder when I was a kid. He was like a surrogate grandfather and the astronomy mentor who might’ve been had I shown interest at the time. He and his wife sold my folks the land where I grew up (and where I live). He had a backyard pier and enlisted my dad, an amateur machinist, to help him fabricate a wedge. There’s a sort of poignant regret I feel when holding this book. 

 

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