Star Ware: The Amateur Astronomer's Guide to Choosing, Buying, and Using Telescopes and Accessories

I fell in love with viewing stars and planets 50+ years ago but grew frustrated with the problems: halos around stars, fuzzy views of planets, difficulty tracking objects in the night sky. And collimating the 'scope! Too much. So I searched for a good book to help me and this is the one that really fit the bill.Harrington knows his stuff. He explains it very, very well, and the book is organized in a manner that allowed me to grasp the points of telescopes, binoculars, eyepieces, and mounts. I let me to understand why focal length, power, eye relief, etc. are important and yet do not need to put me off. There are tables to help me quickly look at what matters to help my viewing experience. And he not only dealt with particular brands, using both frank discussions of products, clarifying types of telescopes and binoculars and other equipment, combined with his personal viewing experiences and reviews for a major astronomic viewing magazine. Perfect.I can now see the reasons for my difficulties and the solutions. I had been using a Bausch & Lomb 10X35 binoculars for looking in the sky at night, and it was frustrating. I spent only a hundred bucks more for a pair of Pentax binoculars that are wonderful, and I see so much more! I will also be able to get better use out of my two reflector telescops now that I understand the equipment better, and there are a couple of reasonably priced accessories I'll get, such as a better finder-scope.I didn't want something that would make it all more difficult for me, and this book gave the breadth of information and level of analysis I needed. Perfect!

I basically bought this book to get current on the latest gear, it fills the bill in every way as far as that goes with tons of pertinent and useful data to help a person decide where to go with their interest. I had a very high end telescope a few years ago, but it wasn't very portable, and very few people were willing to go through the ordeal of getting to dark and then setting up and observing quite far from home base! Recently I aquired a fixer upper Newtonian and wanted to fit it out a little better than usual for more casual and portable viewing. This book was perfect for exactly what I needed. It re-introduced me to the good, better and best gear, and made me realize that even a smaller, well set up scope could get the job done very well. I highly recommend the book to anyone starting out or re-entering the hobby after a hiatus. Solid, usefull and current info as long as you get the latest edition!!

This is pleasurable reading. As a coffee table flick through it stacks well above the rest. As a beginners guide to astonomy equipment, its purchase, and its correct use in all possible contexts it sits as the one and only guide both for northern and southern hemisphere viewing. The author reflects his passion and experience in the field of amatuer astronomy through fluid easy to read prose, guiding visual, and kinesthetic learners alike. The ease of the language reflects the authors very deep knowledge of the subject. There are plenty of asides ranging from historical trends, to club contacts and it even covers some amazing projects developed by ingenius amatuers all beautifully diagrammed and represented in the book. If your an experienced astronomer this book tells you things you might not know already. If your a beginner, then this book is a must to read before you make financial commitments. If your after some coffee table eye candy have this one along side your nat geos and home beautifulls. Something for the cosmic ponderer in ALL of us.

There are a number of books out there that cover available equipment for Amateur Astronomy. However, I haven't found any that cover this area as in depth as this book. The Author, Phil Harrington has certainly done his research, and brings this information to the reader in an easily understood way. I first bought this book in 2006 and found some of the information to be a little dated at that time. When I saw that there was going to be an updated version coming out, I knew I would be purchasing it. I purchased the updated version and it wasn't at all lacking. At the time of it's release (4/2007) it is current with regards to available equipment for the Amateur Astronomer. This book is easy to read and understand. When I am looking to purchase a new piece of equipment, Starware is the first book I grab for the information I need.

The first volume of Star Ware was a great help to me back in the 90s, when I was just getting serious about amateur astronomy. Now that’s I’m getting back into it, 30 years later, I bought the fourth edition, only to discover that it’s 17 years out of date. It discusses a great many telescopes no longer on the market, and has nothing on dozens that weren’t around when it was written. Hold off until Phil updates this and releases a newer edition.

As a newcomer to astronomy, I have read 'Nightwatch', 'Turn Left at Orion', and this book. 'Nightwatch' provides some good advice on buying your first telescope. 'Star Ware', however, is a much more comprehensive guide to telescopes and telescope accessories. Take the time to read it and you will be rewarded with a wealth of information that will enable you to make informed decisions on what telescope is right for you and what else you will need to buy. My only criticism is that in an attempt to be comprehensive it provides almost too much information - a dizzying array of manufacturers for one thing. Also, I have the Kindle edition and I think for reference books like this I'd rather have the print version. But that's just me. Anyway, good telescopes aren't cheap and this book will help you make a good choice. Well worth the money.

The media could not be loaded.  I've been an amateur astronomer for few good years. I read too many books on the subject, but I always had special love for the field of astro equipment. I came across this book by accident, decided to try a copy. Since I wasn't sure I ordered the slightly older 'third edition' second hand for a cheap price.I swallow my word, this is by far one of the best books on the subject out there. It's very detailed on everything you want to know about astro equipment. It takes you from the basic concepts to more sophisticated gear and how they work. It also lists the common astro manufacturer and their products - in details.This books has a lot to offer whether you're after your first scope or even being an advanced amateur astronomer. You won't regret it. As a matter of fact, there are bunch of tips with 'Oops, all this time and I took it for granted' sort of thing :)Notice, there's a chapter at the end of the book on DIY astronomy. I found this section particularly useful -- and it'll save you some money.Have a look at my video review (just browsing really to give you a feeling of the product)

I’m in a position to buy a new telescope having discovered over the last five years what a great hobby doorstep astronomy is, and there’s a little nagging voice in my brain telling me I’m making the wrong choice of scope. I saw this book on Amazon and decided to take the plunge. It’s a mine of information covering everything you ever wanted to know about telescopes (and binoculars!) and a host of accessories. Funnily I even found the historical section very interesting (not my thing normally) and the way scopes and eyepieces have developed was good background stuff. The sheer size of the book frightened me at first – over 400 pages – but I soon realised that it was divided into sections like a good reference manual and I didn’t need to read it from cover to cover. After two or three nights of quiet study I’ve made the decision (and I know it’s the right one!). I particularly liked the detail on eyepieces which tends to be neglected by many publications, but is as important as the scope itself, and I also read that the scope I’ve been using up to now is poor quality (I could have told him that). I’d recommend this book to anyone who is thinking of buying a telescope and wavering a bit – it’s surely worth spending a few quid up front to make sure you don’t spend hundreds on the wrong thing. If I had any complaints about the book it would be that there are some price ranges quoted – dollars are no good to us UK citizens because the pricing structure is different, and these sort of things can quickly become incorrect. However, overall I found it to be an excellent publication, doing exactly what it set out to do. It will now join my library of astronomy publications and I’m sure I’ll use it when I change scopes again.

This is the first book I've found that does more than give the most general, off-the-cuff guidance about equipment for astronomy.I don't really know what else is out there, but I found it so useful that when I saw an older copy at the local Astronomy Society I looked through it with interest and determined within a few minutes that I'd buy a copy.There's more in here than can be quickly digested and you'd need a great deal of knowledge experience to comment critically on it - but it's readily apparent that preparing and updating this piece of work is an undertaking of substantial labour and expense.It's written in good plain English and contains lots of inset paragraphs with specific buyer guidance about various features of telescope and accessory design, to alert readers to misleading advertising and overhyped products.There are also clear diagrams, descriptions and advantage/disadvantage tables on the main telescope designs in use.I've never seen anything this good, and it was a huge help in making my first astro buying decision.

Although slightly out of date I have found this book highly helpful as newcomer to Astronomy I learned of this book through Backyard Astronomy Guide and I would recommend both these books as a must for any newcomer to Astronomy. BOTH BOOKS ARE BRILLIANT. Re the price of STARWARE Amazon price is by far the best.

The book is great for both beginners and experienced people interested in astronomy. The only slight negative aspect was its late arrival, more than 2 weeks. But I recommend it for everyone interested in telescopes and astronomy.