Unusual Telescopes

Rating:
Summary: A necessity for telescope builders and fans
Review: A marvelous little book, and completely unique so far as I can tell. Manly's book is a tour of unusual telescopes. What's an unusual telescope? Well, I suppose it's something you just don't see discussed anywhere else. He discusses unusual mirror and lens materials- obsidian, aluminum foam, mylar, spun mercury and even heated air. Mounts get quite a bit of discussion, sorted by degrees of freedom. There are fixed telescopes, one axis telescopes, and on up to multi-axis sattelite tracking telescopes.

This is an expensive little book, but at the same time I think Manly has written a modern classic of the sort people will be consulting well into the next century. Not that this is a dry reference; it's a wonderfully entertaining tour of the world of the possible. I'm very glad I bought my copy.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting book on general telescope topics
Review: This book is NOT about telescope building or optical construction. It is a tour of the odd and unusual telescopes that have either been made or that have been proposed. It is an interesting text for the telescope fan but useless for someone wanting to purchase or construct their own telescope.