A Quest for Knowledge

As a noobie amateur astronomer, I am always on the lookout for good material to read. I have a broad interest in learning about the sky, planets, stars, galaxies, etc. I have a couple of astronomy magazines and these are great to read. I also have been paying closer attention to media. It is amazing how much astronomy and its latest breakthroughs permeates through the media. Everywhere I turn there is another news article or story about space discoveries and exploration.

It is just a matter of time when there will be a whole television network devoted to astronomy. Perhaps call it the "Space Channel." There are close relatives to this idea found in the likes of The Discovery Channel, Science Channel, etc. but they cover many other topics besides space.

I just can not get the time to sit down and read, or look much at the sky. There is my real job and family to juggle. Recently I have been grabbing whatever material that I can from the public library. It is nice to wind down at the end of day with a good book and read for a half hour or so.

You can research just about anything on the Internet, but reading from an Internet browser just does not cut it for me. There is nothing better than the feel of a good book in your hands with honest to goodness pages that you can flip through.

I book that caught my eye at the library the other day is called "Stargazer:The Life and Times of the Telescope" by Fred Watson. I have read about a quarter of the book so far and am enjoying learning about the history of the telescope. No need to go through the whole review of this book, since there is plenty available at Amazon.com, or by using a Google search. The prose of the book a quite readable and easily understood. If you happen across this tome at you library or local bookstore pick yourself up a copy.