Rating: 
Summary: very close to perfect
Review: A very practical book for the beginner with a small aperture scope. I only give it 4 stars since it did not(as compared to the deep sky objects)tell you what magnification is best for the planets. ex. at what magnification do you see the cassini division. Towards the end part of the book you see there the R.A and Dec. of celestial objects but a beginner does not know what this means or how to make use of it.This book will not spoil your interest in astronomy even if you upgrade to a larger aperture scope. I believe some books written about the Messier Objects have been inspired and patterned through this wonderful book.
Rating: 
Summary: Keep looking
Review: After reading reviews on many astronomy books I chose this one. It was not a good choice for the astronomy 'beginner' that I bought it for.
Rating:
Summary: Keep looking
Review: After reading reviews on many astronomy books I chose this one. It was not a good choice for the astronomy 'beginner' that I bought it for.
Rating: 
Summary: The best for starting astronomy
Review: Clear presentation & lots of information makes this book the ideal starting point for a beginner astronommer. The most interesting objects for "normal" hobby telescopes (8" and less) are described here without using the (very frustrating) HST pictures! I simply loved it (and still use it!)
Rating:
Summary: Pounding Celestial Beefsteak
Review: Finding invisibly faint objects in the night sky, like beefsteak, can be tough. It takes work. Ad astra per aspera! (Go ahead, look that up).Don't let easy-looking books on the subject fool you. What is wonderful about this book is that the authors honestly tackle the difficulties involved. They give clear exact information that will help a serious newcomer (like me) find what they seek. If at first it still seems rather challenging, that's because it is. A telescope shows thousands of stars that are invisible to the naked eye. Familiar patterns are obscured. The new patterns you see can be found in the pages of this excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely useful book!
Review: Having a lifelong interest in amateur astronomy , this book was a natural for me to seek out. I borrowed a copy from the library before I decided whether or not to make a purchase. This particular book is one of the very few that I would recommend to a beginning backyard astronomer , the other being Phil Harrington's Star Watch. Both use a technique called "star hopping" to find the celestial objects of interest , and each has a particular "style" of doing so. "Turn Left at Orion" uses a technique using the viewfinder field of view to move from an easy to find star or some other object to follow a path to the desired object. What I liked about the book: (1) A very good representative selection of deep sky objects.
(2) Each object has an eyepiece sketch that accurately depicts how the object looks in a small telescope.
(3) A small scale star chart with the star hops depicted is included along with finding directions. What I disliked: (1) The eyepiece sketches were simply listed as "at high power" or "at low power". Some basic information about the eyepiece type , magnification , and focal length should be included to be meaningful.
(2) The scale of the finder charts was too small , and better directions are needed to find some of the smaller and more obscure constellations ; i.e. Triangulum and Aries.
(3) Having to take it back to the library! Even though I have a few criticisms of the book , it is very ,very good. If I didn't already have Harrington's book I would rush right out and buy a copy.(They tend to overlap too much!) I give this a 4+ star rating , and if a few improvements are made in a later edition it could easily become one of my favorites to recommend and own.
Rating:
Summary: The reviews nailed it
Review: I had a telescope sitting in a corner looking pretty but gathering dust for three years, until I found this book. "Turn Left at Orion" has turned me on to amateur astronomy because of its straightforward, assume-nothing presentations. Using this book at my own pace, I've begun to learn the night sky and get excited about using my scope. Even though I live in the city, I find myself gazing skyward every clear night, browsing a now-familiar sky. There are other aids you'll need as an amateur astronomer, but nothing I've seen is more perfect for a beginner.
Rating:
Summary: The reviews nailed it
Review: I had a telescope sitting in a corner looking pretty but gathering dust for three years, until I found this book. "Turn Left at Orion" has turned me on to amateur astronomy because of its straightforward, assume-nothing presentations. Using this book at my own pace, I've begun to learn the night sky and get excited about using my scope. Even though I live in the city, I find myself gazing skyward every clear night, browsing a now-familiar sky. There are other aids you'll need as an amateur astronomer, but nothing I've seen is more perfect for a beginner.
Rating:
Summary: The most useful astronomy book ever!
Review: I have a small 2.4" refractor that I got for my birthday. I really wanted to see deep sky objects, but I did not know where to look. I saw that Turn Left at Orion was helful to a lot of people. It shows me how to find the object and gives me ratings. I am so glad I bought this book.I do not know what I would do without it! My telescope would probably be collecting dust in my attic. I would reccomend this book to any one with a 2" telescope or larger. Most things in this book can even be seen with binoculars! I now use my telescope every clear night. You will too, if you discover all the objects in this book! Try it!
Rating:
Summary: The most useful astronomy book ever!
Review: I have a small 2.5" refractor that I got for my birthday. I really wanted to see deep sky objects, but I did not know where to look. I saw that Turn Left at Orion was helful to a lot of people. [This book] shows me how to find the object and gives me ratings. I am so glad I bought this book.I do not know what I would do without it! My telescope would probably be collecting dust in my attic. I would reccomend this book to any one with a 2" telescope or larger. Most things in this book can even be seen with binoculars! I now use my telescope every clear night. You will too, if you discover all the objects in this book! Try it!
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