Galactic Astronomy

Rating:
Summary: There is NO better book
Review: For observational astronomy this is it: there is no better book The fact that the information is somehow out of date is not important, because the subject is mainly how the results are obtained, rather than the results themselves. This is a professional book for professional astronomers, cosmologists and astrophysicists at a graduate level. At this level the math is trivial. Most problems are very simple and do not involve difficult calculations, but rather simple, intuitive reasoning. In fact the math is simple enough that the book should be useful also for (very) advanced amateur astronomers.

The book only seems difficult because it contains so much information. This is actually an advantage, especially given the very reasonable price. The writing style is very clear. As an example I will quote verbatim the author's description of the importance of "dust" in interstellar space:

"The space between the stars is not empty. It is filled with rarefied but exceedingly filthy gas; if this gas were compressed to the density of ordinary air [...] the density of smoke in it would be such that objects would disappear into the haze at a distance of much less than a meter. Interstellar gas is so filthy because many stars are furnaces of the least environment-friendly type..."

Is this not clear enough?

Rating:
Summary: Thorough treatment of the subject of Galaxies
Review: Galactic Astronomy is one of the most complete and up to date texts on the subject of galaxies. The text is not lacking in mathematical rigor and also includes the results of recent observations and analyses that complement the theoretical exposition of subjects. It ties together results from many fields and is a good text for anyone who is interested in the study of our Milky Way or of external galaxies. The first chapters include a good description of such basic topics as coordinate systems, astrometry, the magnitude scale, stellar spectra, and binary star kinematics. Other chapters include the Milky Way's stars, stellar populations, interstellar medium, star clusters, and stellar kinematics and show how our knowledge of these has been applied to better understand external galaxies as well. There are also chapters on galaxy morphology and the cosmological distance scale. Nice features of the book include a handy listing of astronomical research aids that are available on the world wide web, as well as lists of astronomical sky surveys and catalogs. Altogether, Galactic Astronomy is worth reading by any professional astronomer, grad student, or advanced undergraduate with an interest in the study of galaxies.

Rating:
Summary: Very badly written - and confusing...
Review: I read the complete book but I must admit I understood very little of it. The main reason for this is that the authors seem to have written the book for those who already are fully versed in the technical details of the subject. I am not, and I was hoping this book would elevate my understanding of the field. Unfortunately it did not. Furthermore, I found the book completely lacking in information about the more recent discoveries in cosmology. It appears to be about ten years behind.

Rating:
Summary: Very badly written - and confusing...
Review: I read the complete book but I must admit I understood very little of it. The main reason for this is that the authors seem to have written the book for those who already are fully versed in the technical details of the subject. I am not, and I was hoping this book would elevate my understanding of the field. Unfortunately it did not. Furthermore, I found the book completely lacking in information about the more recent discoveries in cosmology. It appears to be about ten years behind.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: There are three specific areas in which this book fails. I will address them in turn: 1) The information is way out of date. Although the publishing date is recent, the authors have made very little attempt to present the major advances that have occurred in this science over the last few years. As a result of this problem, there is some critical information in the book that is simply inaccurate. The information reflects understandings that are five to ten years old - not what we know today. 2) The writing style is very difficult to follow. The authors seem to think they are writing for their fellow professional astronomers, not for students. They don't explain the concepts sufficiently and they end up leaving the reader confused and disappointed. 3) About half the pages are mostly mathematics. This is fine if you understand advanced math and you can follow the authors reasoning. The problem is that as I closely checked the math I found glaring errors in it. On just about every few pages there would be a math error. This makes it that much more difficult to understand the information. I would suggest you save your money - and frustration! Find a better book.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: There are three specific areas in which this book fails. I will address them in turn: 1) The information is way out of date. Although the publishing date is recent, the authors have made very little attempt to present the major advances that have occurred in this science over the last few years. As a result of this problem, there is some critical information in the book that is simply inaccurate. The information reflects understandings that are five to ten years old - not what we know today. 2) The writing style is very difficult to follow. The authors seem to think they are writing for their fellow professional astronomers, not for students. They don't explain the concepts sufficiently and they end up leaving the reader confused and disappointed. 3) About half the pages are mostly mathematics. This is fine if you understand advanced math and you can follow the authors reasoning. The problem is that as I closely checked the math I found glaring errors in it. On just about every few pages there would be a math error. This makes it that much more difficult to understand the information. I would suggest you save your money - and frustration! Find a better book.

Rating:
Summary: Just an amazing textbook covering masses of astrophysics...
Review: This book is, as it says on the cover, for readers with a background in physics - specifically, for professionals, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates. It will therefore be heavily mathematical, as there is no other way in which to express the theories within, and to quantitatively distinguish between them - an essential part of all scientific research.

The ideas are explained clearly, and there are frequent up-to-date references: the book was published mid-1998, and updated quite a lot from its previous incarnation. Where a field is moving very rapidly, like in parts of astrophysics, there is clearly always a danger that the work will become out of date, but most (at least all I have had to read) of what is in this book is still current.

This book is not only beautifully written, and presented, it also covers an incredible range of subjects, making it suitable not only for background reading for those who study galactic astrophysics, but also those working in stellar astrophysics. The authors clearly know their stuff in very wide-ranging areas of astrophysics, and are passionate about them, as it comes across very clearly, and adds to the joy of reading this book.

One of the many things that makes this such a wonderful book is the clear linking of astrophysical phenomena with basic physics, something which is easy to lose sight of when confronted with exotic objects and processes. A particularly lovely example of this (IMO) is the explanation of the effects of the kappa-mechanism in variable stars in terms of the humble heat engine in thermodynamics.

Admittedly, if you were wanting an introduction to galactic astronomy this would not be the book for you, but, for its target audience it is an amazing book.

Rating:
Summary: Just an amazing textbook covering masses of astrophysics...
Review: This book is, as it says on the cover, for readers with a background in physics - specifically, for professionals, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates. It will therefore be heavily mathematical, as there is no other way in which to express the theories within, and to quantitatively distinguish between them - an essential part of all scientific research.

The ideas are explained clearly, and there are frequent up-to-date references: the book was published mid-1998, and updated quite a lot from its previous incarnation. Where a field is moving very rapidly, like in parts of astrophysics, there is clearly always a danger that the work will become out of date, but most (at least all I have had to read) of what is in this book is still current.

This book is not only beautifully written, and presented, it also covers an incredible range of subjects, making it suitable not only for background reading for those who study galactic astrophysics, but also those working in stellar astrophysics. The authors clearly know their stuff in very wide-ranging areas of astrophysics, and are passionate about them, as it comes across very clearly, and adds to the joy of reading this book.

One of the many things that makes this such a wonderful book is the clear linking of astrophysical phenomena with basic physics, something which is easy to lose sight of when confronted with exotic objects and processes. A particularly lovely example of this (IMO) is the explanation of the effects of the kappa-mechanism in variable stars in terms of the humble heat engine in thermodynamics.

Admittedly, if you were wanting an introduction to galactic astronomy this would not be the book for you, but, for its target audience it is an amazing book.