I have been buying alot of astronomy and telescope books of late--primarily to augment my new telescope. This is one of the better ones , since it is really much more substantive than the "cheerleading" books that are more useful at gracing the coffee table than the accessory tray of a telescope in use. The major plus feature for me is the format of the illustrations , which show the objects through a mirror type diagonal. Most , if not all , observations by amateur astronomers use this convention these days. The author goes into adequate detail on double star observing : measurement of position angle and seperation are very well explained.

My only criticism is the assumption that all users will be using computerized telescopes , and completely ignores those of us who "star hop" by choice , and not necessity. The lack of star hopping descriptions downgrades my rating to a strong 4 stars.

Highly recommended.