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Summary: Great book to introduce children to astronomy and the sky.
Review: 365 Starry Nights is a great book to introduce young astronomers to the night sky by giving them the fundamental knowledge needed to explore the universe.
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Summary: Raymo is a class act.
Review: An introductory level book on astronomy organized by the calendar with a brief essay for every day of the year. Raymo gives a guided tour of the night sky, spending several nights on each topic, and covers such topics as star formation, galaxy clusters, and some of the weightier questions of the universe.
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Summary: A Definite 5-Star Book!
Review: Chet Raymo has quickly become one of my favorite astronomy writers! This is a truly timeless book, with readable, understandable illustrations and explanations about our beautiful night sky and universe. He admits in his "Introduction" that his selection of things to be included in the book "is entirely personal..." which turns out for the reader to be fortunate, because he teaches some great things! The beginning amateur astronomer will appreciate his approach to the millions of wonders above, and the more experienced amateur will certainly continue to learn through his daily lessons. I've looked at a number of books to learn the night sky, and some are quite dry and even downright boring--not so with Raymo. Don't believe that this book is too elementary--it's full of information and passion for the beauty of the universe. Personally, I'm ordering more of his stuff tonight! I love this guy! Buy this book, you will not be sorry!
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Summary: Simple in structure; high in spirit.
Review: Chet Raymo has written more than 20 other books besides this one. One of them has claim to the most bizarre title I've ever seen - "The Dork of Cork", a novel about an Irish dwarf astronomer and his insane promiscuous mother (not what you'd call "light reading"). I haven't read it, but it got some excellent reviews on this forum. I did however, read "365 Starry Nights", in which Raymo presents us with an interesting contradiction of structure and spirit.This is quite possibly the most basic book on the subject of astronomy I've ever read. Basic not in spirit, but in the presentation of its material. In structure, it resembles a 200-page user's manual that comes with a kitchen appliance - hand-rendered black and white illustrations, with text in a plain vanilla font, like a Dick and Jane fourth grade reader. There is not a single color illustration or photo. The many pictures it does have are rendered in a style (reminiscent to me anyway) of a Thurber classic that my parents read back in the 50's. It's as non-intimidating as you can get, and the beginning novice will feel very comfortable with it. Raymo presents the constellations to us with the simplest approach and technique I've ever seen. And it works. To me, it works because black, white, and gray are essentially the real colors we see through telescopes. Though we've become acclimated to glossy color images in those pricey books we leave on our coffee tables, the real world at the eyepiece is just plain old greenish-gray on a darker background. So Raymo's lack of color merely sets the stage with a subtle enough contrast to establish an appropriate tone. If you're disappointed in that, then you just might be spoiled. To Raymo, every night of the year is a pulpit from which to paint an overhead tapestry. He doesn't need fancy illustrations or colorful graphics to enhance his ideas or thoughts. His illustrations (many from the Burnham's Handbooks) are all appropriately mingled with the text, so you never have to flip pages or reference back and forth to them. One stylistic trait caught my subconscious attention - it took awhile for me to realize why the constellation drawings seemed somehow more sensible here. The stars, instead of being represented by black dots, are actually rendered as five pointed stars, each of an appropriate size to illustrate (within reason) comparative magnitude. At first, I didn't know if I liked this. But after awhile it began to seem natural, (if not downright sensible) and I guess for the novice it would work even better. Ultimately, there's something about it that makes sense. Go figure. Although 365 evenings are accounted for, Raymo does not actually discuss a separate event or subject for each one of them. Rather, he blends columns of text about a single subject over a few days at a time, i.e.: - discussion of Sirius literally takes half the month of February. But this is appropriate and necessary for connected reference to other stars and celestial objects. The title is indeed fitting. If you're an advanced amateur with sophisticated "GOTO" equipment, and a contemporary jaded mentality about what your information looks like, then you might not care for this book. I must not be that far advanced, (I've only been observing for about 30 years) because I think this book is great for what it claims to be - "An introduction to Astronomy". And within the spirit of teaching, it does an exemplary job. What more could one ask? Highly recommended for the beginning novice and the casual stargazer. Fun and fortification for the advanced amateur. A good book.
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Summary: Publisher of 'Astronomy Digest' E-Zine
Review: Chet Raymo takes a Reader's Digest approach to Astronomy and presents the wonders of the universe in an enjoyable and easy to read manner. The book is divided into 365 segments to give a clear picture of the sky every night of the year. This is an Excellent book to learn the sky and constellations. The main focus of the book is naked eye astronomy, but would also be useful for binocular and small telescope observers. The book is full of hundreds of charts, drawings, and maps that help in explaining the night sky. Rather than sitting down and reading this book from cover to cover, I enjoy reading this book throughout the year. 365 Starry Nights would be a good book for a beginner astronomer, or anyone who enjoys the night skies.
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Summary: The Sky Shall Dance For You
Review: Having Been a Student of Chet Raymo, I have been overwhelmed with Knowledge. As in this Book, which was my Bible during our "Universe" course, Chet has an ability to convey to his students/readers complex Knowlege in a manner easy to comprehend. I recommend this Book to all Star Gazers. I recommend that you take it with you to an Open Field. Bring a Flash Light and compare. One by one pick out the Constellations. Envision them within your mind. Write your own story of the Gemini Twins, tell it to your friends. Write another one of Orion. The sky is filled with Stories. We have stories passed down from our Ancestors, but no one said we should not tell our own. This Book will allow you to Dream. It will allow you to Write your own Myths. I encourage you to do so, and I speak bluntly-- Chet would want you too also. Dream, and The Sky Shall Dance For You!
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Summary: The Sky Shall Dance For You
Review: Having Been a Student of Chet Raymo, I have been overwhelmed with Knowledge. As in this Book, which was my Bible during our "Universe" course, Chet has an ability to convey to his students/readers complex Knowlege in a manner easy to comprehend. I recommend this Book to all Star Gazers. I recommend that you take it with you to an Open Field. Bring a Flash Light and compare. One by one pick out the Constellations. Envision them within your mind. Write your own story of the Gemini Twins, tell it to your friends. Write another one of Orion. The sky is filled with Stories. We have stories passed down from our Ancestors, but no one said we should not tell our own. This Book will allow you to Dream. It will allow you to Write your own Myths. I encourage you to do so, and I speak bluntly-- Chet would want you too also. Dream, and The Sky Shall Dance For You!
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Summary: Burnham's in Miniature
Review: I love it! Chet Raymo imbues this delightful book with reverence, understanding, wonder, joy, science, and legend all at once. He guides you through the sky night by night, acquainting you with the major constellations and pointing out objects of beauty, interest, and mystery throughout. Best of all, he confines himself to subjects you can see with the naked eye or a very modest telescope; he never sets you up for disappointment by taunting you with things you'd need a huge telescope and infinite patience to see, and wouldn't believe you'd found even then. Raymo's artwork reflects his love of the sky, drawing as much from history, mythology, and imagination as from science. Nevertheless, he also lucidly presents science that's missing from hordes of more pretentious books. I defy anyone who's curious about astronomy to read this book and not be infected by Raymo's enthusiasm. To me, "365 Starry Nights" reflects the same spirit as Robert Burnham's timeless "Celestial Handbook," while addressing an audience daunted by the prospect of 2,100 pages. For readers caught between H. A. Rey's brilliant "Where the Stars Are" and Burnham's magnum opus, "365 Starry Nights" has no equal. If it had an index, it would be perfect.
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Summary: Burnham's in Miniature
Review: I love it! Chet Raymo imbues this delightful book with reverence, understanding, wonder, joy, science, and legend all at once. He guides you through the sky night by night, acquainting you with the major constellations and pointing out objects of beauty, interest, and mystery throughout. Best of all, he confines himself to subjects you can see with the naked eye or a very modest telescope; he never sets you up for disappointment by taunting you with things you'd need a huge telescope and infinite patience to see, and wouldn't believe you'd found even then. Raymo's artwork reflects his love of the sky, drawing as much from history, mythology, and imagination as from science. Nevertheless, he also lucidly presents science that's missing from hordes of more pretentious books. I defy anyone who's curious about astronomy to read this book and not be infected by Raymo's enthusiasm. To me, "365 Starry Nights" reflects the same spirit as Robert Burnham's timeless "Celestial Handbook," while addressing an audience daunted by the prospect of 2,100 pages. For readers caught between H. A. Rey's brilliant "Where the Stars Are" and Burnham's magnum opus, "365 Starry Nights" has no equal. If it had an index, it would be perfect.
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Summary: This book is a bit cloudy at times
Review: I purchased this book with the hopes of getting into binocular astronomy. I realize that binocular astronomy is great, but you need more than this book. It contains good information, however, it's a bit elementary in many places. For example, one entry talks about how it's the earth that spins and not the stars, and that was it. It seems like the book covers a topic that would normally take up 2 pages of text and breaks it up into 5 starry nights. What that means is that topics continue from one day to the next, forcing you to read onward (and depending on where you jump in....backwards too). It does give great illustrations of the constellations as far as giving you a picture of what Orion would look if he were a person. It also covers some mythology about the constellations, and that makes for interesting reading. There are no star charts in this book. At best it's hand drawn stars, so purchasing a star chart is a definite plus. You can pick one up for about 10 bucks. Since the book is broken up into 365 days, its organization is a bit frustrating. For example, if you want to look at nebulas, you open the contents of the book and see that all that's listed is January...page 1, February...page 19...etc... The glossary provides some help, but doesn't even list what a nebula is, so it's VERY limited (2 pages) (On some items it references you back to pages in the book). However, on the good parts of this book. It's written so that a child can understand it, so if you're older than 10, you'll get the concept. I would suggest purchasing an additional book as a companion to this book. It's contains good info, but you're a little at the mercy of the book due to the organization of it. If you have young children, this would be an excellent book to take out with you and learn together. It's good for adults too, but is just elementary. I guess depending on the person and your purpose, that can be good, or that can be bad.
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