I have just seen this on another Astro site.
Fans of Queen might be interested
Publisher Springer is known for putting perhaps too many
amateur astronomy books. In the latest issue of "Physics Today"
(Jan 2009), however, is a listing for an unusual one, probably not
aimed at the same amateur market:
A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud.
B. H. May, Springer, New York, $79.95, 215 pages,
ISBN 978-0-387-77705-4
This is obviously the Ph.D. dissertation by Brian May, guitarist
for the rock band Queen. If you hadn't heard, a few years ago
he decided to finish the Ph.D. that he was in the middle of in the
mid-1970s (at Cambridge UK) when the band became popular and he
decided to abandon astronomy for music.
Since publishing one's Ph.D. as a book through a mainstream
publisher is not common, I wonder whether someone decided he could
sell enough copies to curious fans to make it worthwhile. Maybe
people will fork out 80 bucks to read some what's doubtless
some pretty arcane stuff.
Northern-hemispherites are entering prime evening zodiacal-light
viewing season just now....
\Brian
