Scan barcode
A review by thomasrintoul
The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers by Emily M. Levesque
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.5
The Last Stargazers is a really interesting book to read as an astronomer and I imagine as somebody not in the field. I was reading it from the perspective of an astronomer, though not an observer (I'm do simulations).
This book does transport you to the world of professional. Observational astronomy it gives you the insight into how people work at these major observatories how discoveries are made now, how they've made in the past and how they will be made in the future.
Every story in the book about a true professional astronomer is human and relatable and entertaining and there are rules of them, in fact, probably too many. Book title proposes to talk about the future of astronomy about the future of observing professionally. It only really gets to this topic in the last two chapters, the last 50 pages of the book.
I think this imbalance between the background and history and where we're going is what made this book somewhat frustrating to me. For all the complexity in the discussion about the past and even about the present, the lack of real complexity when talking about the future and how this could be going to affect astronomy, astronomers and the scientific community at wide, it felt somewhat less polished towards the end.
Simultaneously the end of the book showed the most of the authors character the most of her personality, which made it a nice thing to read. Just maybe not setting with the entire book.
Ask for how it's written. It's a wonderful read. It's easy to read so you can read it in pieces as opposed having to sit down with this book for hours. I read it on the bus going back and forth on the bus for at most quarter of an hour at any given time. This is a really friendly read. It really easy read and something I would recommend anyone interested in astronomy. It's just not perfect book.
This book does transport you to the world of professional. Observational astronomy it gives you the insight into how people work at these major observatories how discoveries are made now, how they've made in the past and how they will be made in the future.
Every story in the book about a true professional astronomer is human and relatable and entertaining and there are rules of them, in fact, probably too many. Book title proposes to talk about the future of astronomy about the future of observing professionally. It only really gets to this topic in the last two chapters, the last 50 pages of the book.
I think this imbalance between the background and history and where we're going is what made this book somewhat frustrating to me. For all the complexity in the discussion about the past and even about the present, the lack of real complexity when talking about the future and how this could be going to affect astronomy, astronomers and the scientific community at wide, it felt somewhat less polished towards the end.
Simultaneously the end of the book showed the most of the authors character the most of her personality, which made it a nice thing to read. Just maybe not setting with the entire book.
Ask for how it's written. It's a wonderful read. It's easy to read so you can read it in pieces as opposed having to sit down with this book for hours. I read it on the bus going back and forth on the bus for at most quarter of an hour at any given time. This is a really friendly read. It really easy read and something I would recommend anyone interested in astronomy. It's just not perfect book.