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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
I don’t normally give reviews, but I felt obligated to make one for this book.
Obviously, I read this as a textbook. And if I could give it zero stars, I would. It is, by far, the worst textbook I've ever laid eyes on. If this is required text for your astronomy class, strongly urge the science department head to reconsider requiring this book and to find a better one. And I suggest, if it is required and without supplemental information/text, to find a different book altogether to do the bulk of your learning from. I managed to get a B in my astronomy class, no thanks to this book, as I used other resources and my lab instructor (as my lecture instructor was nearly as bad as the book).
The Pros:
-The book is free if you use the digital/online versions.
-If you want the hard bound book, it costs less than $60.
-It’s in full color with loads of fantastic pictures.
-The digital/versions have links within the text so you can go directly to the spot the authors are linking to.
The Cons:
-The book (better called a tome) weighs nearly 6 pounds and is almost 1200 pages long – which does not play well with a full course load fitting into your backpack. This could easily be cut by two thirds by removing all of the long-winded, circuitous, and redundant sections.
-The print was far too small (on both the hard copy and the online).
-The hard copy’s pages are printed on paper that creates a glare no matter the lighting type, angle, or brightness.
-There were so many grammatical and syntaxical errors I thought, at times, I was reading a collection of I Can Has Cheezburger cat memes.
-The authors tried very hard to be funny, which I can appreciate, but they failed epically 9 times out of 10. The jokes were so non-sequitur and nebulous (no pun intended) that I ended up needing to re-read the section to pick out the material I was supposed to be learning from the crap taking up space on the page.
-The authors proclaimed the difficulty to comprehend concepts so frequently it almost seemed like they were whining about how difficult it is to be an astronomer (much like how a complacent or jaded office worker complains about how dull and unfulfilling their job is).
In summation:
-The price tag is right, but does a student NO good if they end up needing to re-take the class because of bad writing and bad teaching.
Obviously, I read this as a textbook. And if I could give it zero stars, I would. It is, by far, the worst textbook I've ever laid eyes on. If this is required text for your astronomy class, strongly urge the science department head to reconsider requiring this book and to find a better one. And I suggest, if it is required and without supplemental information/text, to find a different book altogether to do the bulk of your learning from. I managed to get a B in my astronomy class, no thanks to this book, as I used other resources and my lab instructor (as my lecture instructor was nearly as bad as the book).
The Pros:
-The book is free if you use the digital/online versions.
-If you want the hard bound book, it costs less than $60.
-It’s in full color with loads of fantastic pictures.
-The digital/versions have links within the text so you can go directly to the spot the authors are linking to.
The Cons:
-The book (better called a tome) weighs nearly 6 pounds and is almost 1200 pages long – which does not play well with a full course load fitting into your backpack. This could easily be cut by two thirds by removing all of the long-winded, circuitous, and redundant sections.
-The print was far too small (on both the hard copy and the online).
-The hard copy’s pages are printed on paper that creates a glare no matter the lighting type, angle, or brightness.
-There were so many grammatical and syntaxical errors I thought, at times, I was reading a collection of I Can Has Cheezburger cat memes.
-The authors tried very hard to be funny, which I can appreciate, but they failed epically 9 times out of 10. The jokes were so non-sequitur and nebulous (no pun intended) that I ended up needing to re-read the section to pick out the material I was supposed to be learning from the crap taking up space on the page.
-The authors proclaimed the difficulty to comprehend concepts so frequently it almost seemed like they were whining about how difficult it is to be an astronomer (much like how a complacent or jaded office worker complains about how dull and unfulfilling their job is).
In summation:
-The price tag is right, but does a student NO good if they end up needing to re-take the class because of bad writing and bad teaching.
textbook for class. finally finished with the semester!!!! :D
Honestly not bad for a textbook, especially one that offers a free(!!!) digital version. The authors work hard to engage students with quirky anecdotes, which made things slightly more interesting but also increased the difficulty of using this as just a reference for the facts.
Really amazingly written for people who are not science majors. I took a physical science course that focused on the planets, and the questions, as well as the explanations, were very easy to understand and work through. I worried about not being able to get through the book because it was likely to be dense, but as someone who is incredibly busy (full-time student, part-time work, and taking care of my family, plants, pets, etc), it worked out great!