****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
My wife says I have too many hobbies which is true. Spent twenty years in the Marine Corps as a sniper, JAG, infantry, and radio communications. Then got into computers and taught at various colleges for 17 years, retired again and then got back to my first hobby which was astronomy. I built my first 8" reflecting telescope at the age of 16. Had to have a 50 gallon drum full of sand in the living room in order to grind my first mirror which was a six week task but well worth the effort. To view the planets and nearby galaxies and nebula was breath taking. Now I am back into this hobby, I picked up this somewhat technical book and for beginners it might be a bit much. But there are other books that will take you from beginning to end in understandable terms. But don't over look this book as it is a treasure trove of information that you will want as youf telescope making skills improve. This book is based heavily on dobsonian telescopes which are probably the easiest to build but still provides the technical math and details if you want to go further, My goals is astrophotography, a motorized equatorial mount that will follow the path of any object through the sky resulting in fantastic photos. And with digital equipment, including cameras, the results are phenomenal.
