Rod Mollise

I really, really want to like this book. I'm not done with it yet.

And I *do* like it ...

However, I am far enough in to see that, yet again, this publisher (Springer) does not hold up its end of the bargain. As with many other titles in this series, the copy editors seem to have been on vacation: one hits error after annoying error after annoying error. This shouldn't detract from the content but for grammar-and-spelling dweebs like myself, it sort of does after a while. If I was Patrick show more Moore, I'd be fairly unhappy with this.

Furthermore, the design of the chapters (e.g. section headings, etc) do not make much sense. I guess this, too, is a relatively minor thing but it adds to an overall impression I have had that Springer doesn't invest a whole lot in this series but instead tends to just churn them out. It would be nice to have fewer titles with higher quality production.

The end result is that Rod Mollise's eminently worthy text gets, well, obscured. I'd just chalk it up to bad luck, but I've seen it again and again with this series of books. So, yes, I blame Springer. show less

Light pollution has made astronomy a frustrating hobby for the city-bound amateur. In [u]The Urban Astronmer's Guide[/u] Rod Mollise does a great job explaining how to make the best of those challenging conditions and to get the most out of your backyard, the easiest place to do regular observation. It's not in depth enough in introductory amateur astronomy to really be a standalone book for the beginner, but in conjunction with Dickinson's [u]Nightwatch[/u] anyone can quickly find show more themselves picking out sky fuzzies while huddled over in the dark. show less