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A review by violetvale
The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers by Emily M. Levesque
3.0
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this book. For the most part, it's a well-written book littered with humorous stories and factual information about how observing over the past few decades and how rules and regulations continue to change within observatories around the world. There's enough sciencey jargon to inform a well-informed layman, but maybe not enough to offer something interesting or new to a scientist--especially one proficient as a writer. I might not have been as keen to purchase this book if I knew the narrative was more based on the author's life. It's not that I have a personal qualm with Levesque, but I was more interested in being dropped straight into the stories about different stargazers and their specific field of interest/what equipment they use, and their nightly runs. For this reason, I feel the author missed the opportunity to flesh out various technical nuance that would have been really interesting. I wanted to know why certain astronomers studied and obsessed over certain stars and more about Levesque's own field of interest re: red gas giants. I appreciated the nod to women in the field, their struggles, and the lack of diversity in astronomy. The information on politics and competition within the field was also interesting, but I'm not sure if it needed to be included based on what Levesque has set out to accomplish in this book.
I enjoyed this book. For the most part, it's a well-written book littered with humorous stories and factual information about how observing over the past few decades and how rules and regulations continue to change within observatories around the world. There's enough sciencey jargon to inform a well-informed layman, but maybe not enough to offer something interesting or new to a scientist--especially one proficient as a writer. I might not have been as keen to purchase this book if I knew the narrative was more based on the author's life. It's not that I have a personal qualm with Levesque, but I was more interested in being dropped straight into the stories about different stargazers and their specific field of interest/what equipment they use, and their nightly runs. For this reason, I feel the author missed the opportunity to flesh out various technical nuance that would have been really interesting. I wanted to know why certain astronomers studied and obsessed over certain stars and more about Levesque's own field of interest re: red gas giants. I appreciated the nod to women in the field, their struggles, and the lack of diversity in astronomy. The information on politics and competition within the field was also interesting, but I'm not sure if it needed to be included based on what Levesque has set out to accomplish in this book.