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Title: Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril by Timothy Ferris ISBN: 0684865793 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: September, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4.83

Rating: 5
Summary: Poignant Rock n Roll Astronomer
Comment: This is a poignant and wonderful autobiographical book. As Timothy Ferris writes, for most of its long history, astronomy has been primarily an amateur pursuit. Like some of those lifelong "amateurs," quiet national treasure Ferris is an erudite Renaissance man and gifted writer with a wry and ironic sense of humor -- and one of the best popular science writers of his (boomer) generation (he is a master of analogy and metaphor). Meet these prominent amateur astronomers and follow their friend Professor Ferris through the solar system into deep space and, like me, you'll finally be out shopping for your own binoculars and telescope and finding the local amateur astronomy club closest to you (and then find yourself fighting light pollution). It might just be me, but, Ferris's delicate eloquence will bring you to tears, especially if -- even without your own observatory -- you too already live with the constant awareness that we're all living on a minuscule, fabulously beautiful rock spinning through an unfathomable solar system, galaxy, Local Group and expanding universe. Expect a good glossary, excellent index and helpful appendixes to start you in your own love affair with our universe. (The comic subtitle in part refers to the amateur astronomers watching for asteroids on collision courses with Earth.)

Rating: 5
Summary: Another superb book from our best science writer
Comment: Timothy Ferris has an unusual gift for explaining complex subjects in a highly readable, even felicitous, style. The first book I read of his, Coming of Age in the Milky Way, was a thoroughly entertaining history of how we gradually came to understand the impossibly vast scale of the universe. It evoked awe of our strange and wonderful cosmos while staying refreshingly free of the antireligious crankiness and oddly mystical naturalism of Carl Sagan. Seeing in the Dark focuses on areas of astronomy that any of us could plausibly make contributions in - planets, asteroids, comets, the sun, the moon, even SETI. It is fascinating to learn how amateurs continue to make important discoveries and, indeed, how the professionals still depend on them to help expand our understanding of the solar system and beyond.

But what I gained most from reading this book was the realization that I don't really have to own an expensive telescope and live in the open desert to enjoy stargazing. I especially appreciated such personal stories as Ferris viewing a lunar occultation of Saturn with a small telescope from his deck in San Francisco. He had to maneuver the tripod into a far corner, wait until the planet drifted into view between his house and a tree, then cope with a bright streetlight by pressing his eye tight against the eyepiece - but it was indisputably worth the effort. This book inspired me to pull my cheap little 2.4 inch refractor out of the garage where it had languished for fifteen years and look again at Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons. It has re-awakened my youthful fascination with outer space and I am greatly appreciative.

Rating: 5
Summary: Interesting, well-written, and passionate
Comment: Since the earliest days of humankind people have looked to the night sky in awe and struggled to unlock its secrets. In "Seeing in the Dark," author Timothy Ferris details the many contributions amateur astronomers have made to our understanding of the universe. He leads the reader on a tour of the sky, from the Moon, Sun, and nearby planets, through the outer reaches of our solar system to the Milky Way galaxy and beyond, indicating the many discoveries and ongoing investigations by amateurs. But the real strength of the book is its many interviews with amateur astronomers, in which the author paints portraits of diverse individuals all sharing a passion for observation and discovery. The author clearly knows his science (and provides detailed endnotes for those who want to learn more), and as an amateur astronomer himself he knows the community about which he writes. His lyrical descriptions of what it's like to gaze upon distant worlds convey the passion "backyard stargazers" feel toward their avocation. My one quibble is that I would have liked to see diagrams of the different kinds of telescopes he discusses.

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