Astronomical book shelves

by Toner Stevenson

Many Sydney City Skywatchers members are avid readers and much of our discussion before and after our in person meetings include discussions about what astronomy-related books we are reading.

Nick Lomb and I were asked to write reviews of five interesting books by an on-line group called Shepherd. This is a virtual bookshop - but its not like Amazon, its not selling books. It is about creating 'curated' bookshelves. I particularly like that the Shepherd group advocate for science and the scientific process as the best way to understand the physical world around us. The idea is that by being involved in this program our book, Eclipse Chasers, will be on their bookshelf. Also we will be able to see what other authors have been reading and link into books that we might enjoy, or at least find interesting.

Here are our virtual bookshelves:

Spectacles in nature total eclipses of the Sun

Nick Lomb's bookshelf has five good reads about total solar eclipses. He has a second shelf with three of Nick's favourite reads in 2023.

Books that mash up astronomy, history and culture

Being curious, with a bit of the FOMO (fear of missing out) I decided to have a go at this and create my own bookshelf. The first book on my shelf, First Knowledges Astronomy, has been highlighted as a blog post on the SCSW website..

Enjoy browsing through our bookshelves - you might see something you want to read!