Seeing in the Dark : How Amateur Astronomers Are Discovering the Wonders of the Universe by Timothy Ferris

Seeing in the Dark : How Amateur Astronomers Are Discovering the Wonders of the Universe Reviews

• 
  Leo

  It was an very well done non fiction however space and such often goes over my head. Have a very difficult time grasping even the simplest of things.so I'll give it a 3 star rating
• 
  David Rubenstein

  Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can really contribute to our knowledge. Timothy Ferris shows enormous enthusiasm about the subject, and makes this book a very engaging read.
  
  Where amateurs really shine, is their ability (and desire) to observe astronomical objects repeatedly, in case there is some sudden flare-up or unexpected change. The person who is first to report the discovery of such a change gets the glory and the credit. Half of the battle is "knowing what to look for". So often, even professionals have observed very interesting changes, without realizing their significance.
  
  Sometimes, amateurs with extraordinary eyesight or "out-of-the-box" observing schemes have tried to publish remarkable findings. For example, thanks to his great eyesight, Stephen O'Meara discovered radial spokes in Saturn's rings. Moreover, he measured their rotation period, and found it to be quite different than the rotation period of the rings, so his findings were discredited. However, professional astronomers had never observed these spokes--even with very large telescopes. It was not until the Voyager 1 spacecraft corroborated his observations that his findings were recognized as significant.
  
  Another amateur, Charles Boyer, put an ultraviolet filter on his telescope, and measured the rotation rate of Venus' atmosphere to be four days. He submitted his findings for publication, but a young astronomer named Carl Sagan rejected the paper. After all, Venus has a rotation period of 243 days--in the opposite direction! It wasn't until a space probe corroborated Boyer's observation that his results were vindicated.
  
  My favorite chapter of the book is an interview with
  Patrick Moore, a British author and famous amateur who popularized amateur astronomy with a series of wonderful books. When I was in school, I compared an old photograph of the moon with a recent one, and thought I had discovered a change in a crater on the moon. I wrote to Patrick Moore, and received a gracious reply, explaining the effects of the moon's 19-year libration period. Moore became my childhood hero!
  
  Some of the romance of astronomy is being lost, even among amateurs, due to the automation of observing through a telescope. Ambitious amateurs can hook up CCD's (charge coupled devices) to their telescopes, and use computers to automatically switch from one view to the next. Their computers compile the data while the amateurs--are in bed, asleep! This approach has been useful for discovering many supernovae and measuring countless variable stars.
  
  I didn't read this book--I listened to it as an audiobook. I don't recommend this, because this edition misses all the diagrams and appendices. The audiobook is read well by the author, but his deep-pitched voice is not always easy to understand. But, if you are at all interested in astronomy, this book will be a delightful treat.
  
  
• 
  Cathy Douglas

  A readable book about astronomy, highlighting the contribution of amateur astronomers. Ferris alternates longer chapters on a wide range of astronomy topics with shorter first-hand experiences and interviews.
  
  I started this about two years ago and still read a chapter now and then, so I would have to say it's not the most enthralling book on the subject. Still, I expect to finish it. . . someday.
• 
  Susan

  White men write a certain kind of science book really, really well. This isn’t a slam; it’s a perspective and an observation.
  
  Here’s what’s great about this book: It’s thorough; There is no part of the sky that doesn’t get discussed. The author includes both people who are curious about astronomy and information about the science of the sky itself. I liked the alternating chapters and juxtaposition between practitioners and practice. In the early chapters especially, Ferris does a great job of breaking things down to an amateur’s level (later, too, but the science itself gets much more complex).
  
  So what does being a White male author have to do with it? Unless White men are very deliberate about it, they write science (especially, though really every other field, too) from the perspective of a Western European lens. It’s a legitimate worldview, but not the only one. I understand that contemporary astronomy is going to reference this kind of science, but when talking about early skywatching eras, why was there nothing about China? Why were the North American Indigenous constellations not discussed? There was literally a moment when Ferris quoted a European about weather prediction based on the sky, and then said how it was true for him where he was in California, completely missing that Indigenous people would also certainly have had ways of predicting long winters as well. (Robin Wall Kimmerer did a great job as a Western-trained scientist writing a science book from her perspective as an Indigenous woman, if you want an example of what non-European science can look like.)
  
  Ultimately, the book turned into more and more of a challenge to read as Ferris got into deeper and deeper space. I found the information to be very abstract and hard to wrap my head around, which probably isn’t about his writing, but about the information itself.
  
  In the end, while this is a book for amateurs, it is a book for people who want a very deep dive into the state of amateur astronomy. It was interesting, but required a pretty solid science-reading background and a lot of focus. 3.5/5 stars
• 
  Suzanne

  Continuing on my summer reading of science and science fiction, I delved into the study of the universe, or more precisely, to viewing the world outside of our own planet. In Seeing in the Dark, Timothy Ferris presents an enormous amount of information in only 300 pages of writing (nearly another 100 pages consist of the appendix).
  
  "As one is so often reminded when gazing into the depths of the night sky, nothing is more fantastic than the real."
  
  First, he talks about the field of astronomy, and how amateur astronomers are instrumental in new discoveries. This is mainly due to their sheer numbers and the enormity of the universe available for viewing.
  
  Second, Ferris talks about some of the amateur astronomers, how they turned a hobby into a virtual unpaid profession, and some of their discoveries. I enjoyed the personal stories and the enthusiasm shared in them.
  
  Third, the author takes us along a journey into our solar system and the heavens beyond. Some of this is slow reading – scientific verbage that makes me reach back to my college memories of Astronomy and Cosmology classes. But that’s okay, because this is, in many ways like textbook. (In fact, my Cosmology professor assigned another of Timothy’s Ferris’ books in his class). And like a textbook of any subject you are vastly interested in, you’ll want to hang on to it, to refer back to again and again. It’s hard not to be fascinated by this subject. For instance, on the topic of galaxies:
  
  “Needless to say, they’re really big. Were the sun a grain of sand, Earth’s orbit would be an inch in radius, the solar system the size of a beach ball, and the nearest star another sand grain four miles away. Yet even on that absurdly compressed scale, the Milky Way galaxy would be a hundred thousand miles wide.”
  
  Lastly, for anyone wishing to step outside and take a look at the night sky themselves, this book offers practical how-to advice for just about any level. I think I’ll pull a lawnchair outside tonight, borrow my son’s telescope, and watch the stars put on a show.
• 
  Jeffrey Schwartz

  I was inspired to pick up this book after seeing the PBS documentary of the same name, and I started reading it immediately after finishing Ferris' COMING OF AGE IN THE MILKY WAY. Like that book, SEEING IN THE DARK is a fantastic read, filled with gorgeous, evocative writing that pays tribute to the act of stargazing.
  
  The book starts as a memoir with Ferris recounting his earliest experiences observing the cosmos through a telescope, before transitioning to an exploration of all there is to see in the sky. The structure is fairly ingenious; Ferris starts close to home by talking about the Sun, Venus, the Moon, and Mars. We then move outward to the gas giants, the comets, the stars, the Milky Way, other galaxies, and finally deep space -- the realm of quasars billions of years old. Interspersed with these chapters are brief pieces where Ferris interviews and discusses various figures in professional and amateur astronomy.
  
  If the book has a fault, it's that Ferris occasionally lapses from storytelling into list-making; at certain points, the book essentially becomes, "And then this person discovered x, and then this person discovered y, and then this person discovered z," etc. This repetitiveness is a small price to pay, however, for the pleasure of reading what is almost always an engaging, inspiring, even transcendental book (the last couple paragraphs before the epilogue are absolutely sublime).
  
  And if you're like me, and reading this book makes you want to do some stargazing of your own, Ferris includes a variety of appendices designed to get the amateur astronomer started. At the very least, SEEING IN THE DARK will give you a greater appreciation of what exactly you're looking at when you look up at the night sky.
• 
  Sarah Sammis

  Seeing in the Dark is a short but dense series of essays on different aspects of amateur astronomy. Each chapter is a different topic or a different experience from Timothy Ferris's life.
  
  Ferris begins his fascinating book by describing how he got hooked on astronomy as a child. He includes a loving review of an older science book: A Child's Geography of the World by V. M. Hillyer. I was so excited by his review of his childhood favorite, that I bought a copy for myself!
  
  Seeing in the Dark took me longer than I expected to read. It's full of so many interesting details and facts that I had to savor each chapter. One of my favorite bits was his meeting with Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997), the man who discovered Pluto. Apparently the Smithsonian asked him for the telescope he used to make the discovery. Tombaugh turned down their request. Why? He was still using it!
• 
  Pamela

  This book gave me the strong desire to buy a telescope! This book has tons of fascinating information. The wonders of the skies are really endless! Featured are stories about amateur astronomers, mixed in with information about a particular type of cosmological item one might view through a telescope.
  
  The main thread in the book is the author’s own journey as an amateur astronomer, including his childhood beginnings, where he and his friends formed the KBAA, Key Biscayne Astronomical Association. Parts of the writing are a bit dry, but not much. You meet a lot of interesting people in the biographies, including David Levy and Percival Lowell. In the end I found myself wanting more; which the appendixes provided, with factual, how-to and getting started advice as well as data on satellites, planets and star charts. Notes, Glossary and Index complete the book.
  
• 
  Kristine

  You can tell immediately that this book was written by a true writer rather than a scientist dabbling in writing. The stories are engaging and flowing, and the technical content is described at a level most will understand. I enjoyed the premise and scope of this book in support of amateur astronomy, though I found the layout to be a bit clunky. Short personal anecdotes, logs, and interviews are mixed in with sections detailing specific astronomical topics such as planets and galaxies. While I appreciate the insertion of personal touches to the book, I found them distracting from the flow of the rest of the content. Overall, a good book for those interested in astronomy.
• 
  RYU Cheol

  Ferris is a genuine story teller. From his childhood to recent his days, I could see how he has been enjoying stargazing. Since reading this book, I bought two binoculars and a telescope. My boy and I now know the order of 12 zodiacs. I found the dark sky of the winter is most beautiful. Orion and its nebular, I can find. I had no idea that we can gaze Jupiter and his moons, but sparkling 4 moons are in my eyes. The world is in the wonder.
• 
  Steve

  Even if you are not actively into amateur astronomy, this book is quite entertaining. It consists of many, mostly interesting stories and characters. Recommended, especially if you like telescopes and astronomy.
• 
  Steve

  An enjoyable read that has forced me to dust off my brothers old telescope and start looking at the heavens. The book was pretty inspiring to see how much dedicated astronomers have contributed to the field of cosmology. Pretty awesome.
• 
  Elizabeth Meadows

  The audio CD version of this book was so tiresome, I can't give the book any more than 3 stars. Each disc was 1 track, making it almost impossible to easily rewind. There was also one disc which, about 2/5 of the way into the track, announced "End of Side 4B," then continuing as if nothing had interrupted the flow of narrative. This had a negative effect on my level of enjoyment. Additionally, the author served as narrator, and although Seeing in the Dark was definitely not the worst author/narrator work I've experienced, there was not a great deal of animation in his voice.
  
  The content was probably very good, based on the smattering of tidbits I was able to glean during my commutes.
• 
  Kristi (OneBookMore)

  A fairly digestible account of how amateur astronomers have helped to shape the science. It was fascinating to read about various discoveries made by people using basic telescopes in their backyards. Some of the more sciencey bits went over my head, but it was generally enjoyable. It has definitely peaked my interest in Jupiter.
• 
  Silvia Sabovíková

  kinda tough read for me because of many many pages with a lot of information. but it is very educational
• 
  Paul

  A little dated but still a good read.
• 
  Drew

  I read this one afternoon rather than go to fundraisers.
  
  It is dated, of course, by the tremendous revolution in computers and the net -- but there are a number of pictures he gives here that have transformed my intuitive knowledge of astronomy. Most important of which is this ... take a small ... 60 acre ... farm. The distance from one farmhouse to another is the average distance between galaxies, and the entire Earth is the universe.
  
  Now, I can stand on a mountain in Nevada, look up, and see an average galaxy (our own), looking towards Sagitarius ... couple that with a nice binocular observation of Andromeda, and a walk from one farmhouse to another ... one gets a glimmer of the size of the universe. Really big ... but finite.
• 
  Beatrice Gormley

  Actually I'm rereading, because I loved this book the first time around. It's a transporting journey through the wonders of the universe, from our solar system to the Big Bang, with side trips to describe other remarkable amateur astronomers. One of them is James Turrell, who is spending a good chunk of his life transforming the Roden Crater into a Stone Age observatory. Look it up on line and marvel!
• 
  Keith

  Timothy Ferris's style is very readable. He paints a great picture of the cosmos and the work amatures have done to advance the science of astronomy. Though the authors descrtions are wonderful the book would benefite from illustrations, or links to photos.
  I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone seeking a better understanding of astronomy and it's history.
• 
  Tina

  This is one of my favorite books in the world. It is about amateur astronomers. Just a series of really lovely little vignettes. The chapter on the moon is the best, especially when he explains "the moon illusion".
• 
  Emily

  This is the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads book choice for the year. I tried really hard, but just couldn't get into it. The chapters where he describes the lives various amateur astronomers tended to be more engaging. I finally gave up and just read those chapters.
• 
  Brian Allen

  Average Astronomy book, explaing how the field of astronomy can create wonder in people of all ages. It was not the best astronomy book I have ever read. It is more of a biography on Amateur Astronomy than anything else.
• 
  Jim

  For anyone who has spent time doing amateur astronomy, these stories are a fascinating history of our avocation and a sentimental journey through experiences shared by all dedicated stargazers. Wonderfully inspirational.