Rating: 
Summary: An Average book on the Messier Objects
Review: O'Meara is torn between making this an observing guide (with useful finder charts, drawings and descriptions) and a cloudy nights armchair book (with scientific information, excellent photographs, and historical data). He includes a little of each, but not enough of either, for me to recommend the book unless you simply want to own every book on the subject matter.
The seminal work on the subject, with far more information and better charts, is Kenneth Glyn Jones' 1968 book, "Messier's Nebulae & Star Clusters" (revised 1991). O'Meara's book is a very pale shadow of Glyn Jones' book, but I give it 3 stars for effort and because it may be easier to find.
But you will be well rewarded to find Glyn Jones' book or the wonderful "The Messier Album" by Mallas and Kreimer.
Rating: 
Summary: An index is indeed inside now!
Review: One reviewer said the book lacked an index whereby you could look up, say, the Lagoon Nebula, without knowing its Messier number. That may have been what was revised, as my current copy of the book has an index at the back, and in the front it says "First published 1998. Reprinted (with corrections) 2000. Reprinted 2001." This looks like it will be an invaluable guide for observing, although I wish it was a bit smaller in size.
Rating: 
Summary: The Messier Objects
Review: The Messier Objects: Deep-sky Companions written by Stephen James O'Meara is an invaluable guide to the nightime sky. This book is a true field for the backyard astronomer.Charles Messier (1730-1817) was a man fascinated with the stars and the observation of the same for most of his life... mainly his objective was to find comets. While looking through a telescope in August 1758, he observed a patchy fuzz in the constellation of Taurus. While it looked somewhat like a comet but could not be one, he concluded, because it did not move among the stars. Not to be daunted by this, Messier marked the positionon his star chart so he would not be confused by it again. This went on for time and time again, Messier was finding objects in the night skies that were at that time unexplainable. So, He publishd a book with this information in 1774 about these "confusing" objects. This is the backbone for the work in this book. Note, I said, backbone... this book has gone beyond anything that Messier could have imagined. There are the 110 Messier objects all laid out with text and pictures and the discreptions are priceless. There can be no beter excercise for a beginning astronomer than to find and observe all of the Messier objects. It is the best way to get to know the richness of the night sky has to offer. I would recommend this book to anyone who has or will be getting a telescope. This is the astronomers field guide to the skies and well worth your time and effort. There is a chart with all of the Messier objects highlighted and you are given the Declination and the Ascension to find each... this not only saves time, but piques ones interest to observe more star and wonder... are we alone.
Rating:
Summary: The Messier Objects
Review: The Messier Objects: Deep-sky Companions written by Stephen James O'Meara is an invaluable guide to the nightime sky. This book is a true field for the backyard astronomer. Charles Messier (1730-1817) was a man fascinated with the stars and the observation of the same for most of his life... mainly his objective was to find comets. While looking through a telescope in August 1758, he observed a patchy fuzz in the constellation of Taurus. While it looked somewhat like a comet but could not be one, he concluded, because it did not move among the stars. Not to be daunted by this, Messier marked the positionon his star chart so he would not be confused by it again. This went on for time and time again, Messier was finding objects in the night skies that were at that time unexplainable. So, He publishd a book with this information in 1774 about these "confusing" objects. This is the backbone for the work in this book. Note, I said, backbone... this book has gone beyond anything that Messier could have imagined. There are the 110 Messier objects all laid out with text and pictures and the discreptions are priceless. There can be no beter excercise for a beginning astronomer than to find and observe all of the Messier objects. It is the best way to get to know the richness of the night sky has to offer. I would recommend this book to anyone who has or will be getting a telescope. This is the astronomers field guide to the skies and well worth your time and effort. There is a chart with all of the Messier objects highlighted and you are given the Declination and the Ascension to find each... this not only saves time, but piques ones interest to observe more star and wonder... are we alone.
Rating:
Summary: a labor of love
Review: This book is a tremendous help to those of us setting out to find the Messier objects. The biggest problem with finding objects is figuring out what they should like like in a telescope -- sometimes I've got something in the finder or telescope and I'm not certain what it is. O'Meara solves that problem by providing photographs and his terrific drawings, not to mention is verbal paintings which could make a blind person see the objects. He devoted hours to each single object, waxing poetic at times about the merits and downsides to every single object. The first few chapters give some good history and background of Messier and other famous comet hunters. As a final plus, the book is printed on very high quality glossy paper so it's a pleasure to read. As a field guide, it would have been helpful to have it spiral bound, but that's my only suggestion for improvement. The author even includes a helpful appendix of other interesting sky objects that are not Messier objects, all of which are worthwhile telescope targets. A winner!
Rating:
Summary: a labor of love
Review: This book is a tremendous help to those of us setting out to find the Messier objects. The biggest problem with finding objects is figuring out what they should like like in a telescope -- sometimes I've got something in the finder or telescope and I'm not certain what it is. O'Meara solves that problem by providing photographs and his terrific drawings, not to mention is verbal paintings which could make a blind person see the objects. He devoted hours to each single object, waxing poetic at times about the merits and downsides to every single object. The first few chapters give some good history and background of Messier and other famous comet hunters. As a final plus, the book is printed on very high quality glossy paper so it's a pleasure to read. As a field guide, it would have been helpful to have it spiral bound, but that's my only suggestion for improvement. The author even includes a helpful appendix of other interesting sky objects that are not Messier objects, all of which are worthwhile telescope targets. A winner!
Rating:
Summary: Messier viewing with a distinctly artistic flavour
Review: This book is an interesting change from the stereo-typcial astronomy guide which so often tends to be technical to the point of dryness. O'Meara lets fly with some artistic hyperbolae and isn't afraid to let the imagination loose. The result is a refreshingly different perspective on sky viewing. His descriptions of the Messier objects have caused me to look differntly at what I thought were familiar friends until now. The book is best appreciated if delved into - trying to read it cover to cover is not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: PERFECT field guide
Review: This book is the authority on the Messier objects. I have used it to successfully locate all but the faintest of the Messier objects. It is great because it includes a detailed sky map of the vicinity near each object and a drawing of what it should resemble when observed. iT also has the RA and Dec for each object as well as two written descriptions. It also has a great section on additional deep-space objects not on the Messier list. A must have for any amateur astronomer! This book more than paid for itself in time saved!
Rating:
Summary: Good, detailed look at all Messier objects
Review: This is a useful reference and particularly good for people who prefer detailed observation of objects. For people like me who prefer quantity over quality (i.e. if you don't spend an hour looking at the same object), I'd recommend Kepple's Night Sky Observers guide. Kepple's guides offer a combination of the most useful and comprehensive guides I've seen for intermediate and advanced observational astronomers. The hardback format of this book isn't particularly good for the field, even though I've seen people referencing beaten-up copies with their red flashlights. It has good quality paper stock. In sum, this is a standard work on the Messier objects and has substantial value despite its somewhat high price. However, I could think of other books I'd buy first -- Nightwatch for beginners, Kepple's set for more advanced users.
Rating:
Summary: An essential guide for commonly sought deep sky objects
Review: This is a very nice and complete guide to the Messier deep sky objects. While up to date information is included, it is refreshing to find that the relavent comments of far earlier generations of observers are also given. This is quite worthwhile as many amateur telescopes of today produce views equal to those seen by these early professionals. While Stephen's sketchwork can be a bit fanciful, it does give a good idea of what to expect through an actual eyepiece. In many cases these sketches give the best idea of what the local stellar neighborhood around an object actually looks like. My only quibble is that a few of the photographs are either too tightly cropped around the objects themselves or have been exposed to bring out the faintest stars thus de-emphasizing the moderately bright ones needed to assure yourself that the globular cluster you have just seen is, in fact, say M28.
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