Exploring the Night Sky: The Equinox Astronomy Guide for Beginners

Donavon L. Porter is a public-school teacher in Haileybury, Ontario.

Dickinson’s beginner’s guide to astronomy reveals the author’s extensive knowledge of the subject and his ability to select those specific areas which will be of most interest and use to the beginner. Dickinson’s ability to write with both excitement and wonder about a topic of such immense proportions provides just the right atmosphere for a book of this nature. The reader is led on a step-by-step “journey” from our planet, through our solar system, into our galaxy, and then into the universe beyond.

Having developed a broad understanding of the nature of the universe, Dickinson then focuses on some of the more interesting, even fascinating, specifics. Each topic features a photograph or artist’s interpretation to allow the reader a welcome visual impression of the details being discussed. Dickinson provides seasonal star charts paralleled with “actual” views to allow the beginner to identify with the unaided eye or with binoculars some of the major features of the night sky.

This beginner’s guide accomplishes that which all beginner’s guides strive to do — it awakens readers’ interest in the subject and develops the desire to pursue the subject in greater depth.