Rating: 
Summary: Amazing!
Review: This is book is absolutely amazing. The pictures are each spectacular, and the descriptions that accompany each picture are informative and understandable. The book is quaint, and perfect for a coffee table. What a deal, too!
Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous
Review: You know about the Astronomy Picture of the Day website, don't you? If not, check it out; I can't post the URL here but a quick search will turn it up.This book is a collection of some of the very best pictures from that marvellous site. Most of the pictures are images of Very Cool Stuff from around the cosmos: comets whacking into Jupiter, galaxies forming, that sort of thing. And wow, it sure is _big_ out there. The stuff close to home is fascinating enough in its own right that the book pays for itself with just the images from within our very own solar system. The shots of the other planets and their moons are culled from the various flyby missions and, naturally, they are _way_ better than anything that was available when I was a kid. There are a few that are _very_ close to home, and these are cool too. Some show either the Earth (from orbit) or a view of its sky (during the Hale-Bopp visitation, for example). A handful are of other things entirely (including one of the most effective Magic Eye pictures I've ever seen). They are all of them stunning, captivating, and gorgeous. If you aren't pretty much transfixed by this stuff, then you and I probably aren't from the same homeworld. And the short commentary that accompanies each image was written by a qualified, competent astronomer. Does life _get_ any better than this? Don't forget to visit the website, too. There are lots more images in its archives than would fit into this book.
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