I got some books to add to my collection

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

A few weeks ago it was Father's Day...yippee! So after convincing people that I don't need clothes, or some electrical device for the kitchen etc I was able convince my wife I wouldn't say no to a book or two (she is actually a librarian so I thought she would think it was a good idea). I was thinking of Burnham's...but all three volumes would be a little bit greedy. "The Messier Objects" or "The Caldwell Objects" also came to mind. I have previously ordered second hand computer books via Amazon and have been quite happy with the savings and response. So I said to her she can reimburse me for the cost of all three volumes of Burnham's when I get them. I then ordered the other two books myself.

All up, I got all 5 books for about $120...volume 2 arrived last night after just one week! I think it cost me US$1.78 plus $10 postage. The condition is not great, but the savings are pretty good...and it is good for the environment. If you do order second hand though, it will cost you $10 postage for each book even if you get two books from the same place. Now I just need some time to start reading them....I can just see the sky is going to be clear now for some time...so you have me to thank!

[Dujon]

Sounds great, OneOfOne.

My daughter (as is my sister) is a librarian. Every now and then they have a clean out and dump books which are either too tatty to put on the shelves or have no interest shown in them. Should she come across something in which she thinks I or my wife might be interested she rescues them and passes them on. I've gained a Norton Sky Atlas (OK, epoch 1950, but it's fine for my purposes) and Fred Hoyle's Astronomy and Cosmology - A Modern Course. The latter is in very good condition but is heavy going at times.

The moral seems to be "befriend a librarian".

[JimmyH155]

My favourite all time astronomy books have got to be the 3 volume collection of Burnhams Celestial Handbook. It is absolutely magic reading, especially the first few chapters in Volume 1, where they take you on an imaginary ride in a spaceship at thousands of times the speed of light and you whizz all over the Galaxy seeing everything from black holes, quasars, and of course cruising back to the Solar System. The descriptions of stars, clusters etc in each constellation is mind blowing, and the profuse number of black and white photos is the icing on the cake. I even managed to take a photo of M7 and compared it with the photo in Burnham, and hey presto, the same star patterns were seen! The entire book is written in such an enthusiastic manner. If you havent got one, splash out and get the set - you will not regret it

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

Originally Posted by Dujon

The moral seems to be "befriend a librarian".

Oops...I think I over did it, and married one! Just have to convince her to take her hair out of a bun and stop wearing sensible shoes!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

It aways pays to befriend a librarian, I've managed to pick up quite a few handy books over the years during clean outs. I've gone one better now though. My wife decided last year she was sick and tired of being a chef so she packed it all in and decided to open a book shop New, pre-read and classics. She loves to trawl garage sale and she always has people coming into the shop wanting to buy swap and sell. You should see my library now

[Dujon]

I forgot to mention in my previous post that tucked into the Hoyle book was a number of images. On rear of most of them was pencilled an identification of the field/object. Unfortunately I have no idea as to what equipment or processing was involved. I hope you don't mind me sharing them with you. I have scanned them at low resolution (75 dpi) in order to comply with the site's 150K maximum.

Hopefully I have these in order.

1) Jupiter
2) Keyhole nebula and surrounds
3) Saturn
4) Milky way - including Southern Cross and Coalsack
5) Orion nebula
6) Moon

[Ric]

Paul,
how is this for a coincidence, my wife is a chef as well and has been toying with the same idea of a second hand bookshop. I told her she could open a cookbook shop with the amount of books she has I never seen so many cookbooks in one area

cheers

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

It's a big bite to take, Ric. Sya loves it, but were yet to see if she can actually make an income out of it