Your Textbook, 4 September 2013!"The Cosmos; Astronomy in the New Millennium" by Jay M. Pasachoff and Alex 1.Filippenko!Your textbook was chosen from about 40 astronomy textbooks on the market for A.its good qualities: !comparatively lively writing style!a.quality of Pasachoff and Filippenko's work !b.desire to be as accurate as possible!c.big, useful glossary (it is important to use it)!d.the best, most up-to-date illustrations!e.good structure!f.You should read the text, look at the pictures, and read the captions of the pictures.!B.the questions at the end of chapter are optional, so you should do them only if a.they will help you!if you do not understand part of the textbook, you should check rival textbooks b.to see if the way they present the information is more understandable to you!The textbook is better than its rivals, but still imperfect:!C.its information may become inaccurate as astronomers make new discoveries!a.these errors are often corrected in future editions of the textbook !1.some of the textbook's mistakes are already addressed in "What Your 2.Astronomy Book Won't Teach You"!Despite its imperfections, The Cosmos is a good representation of Astronomy today. It 2.is an improvement over the textbooks that came before it, which had incomplete information, dull and convoluted writing, and worse quality images. !Examples: !A.George Abell, Exploration of the Universe,1964: !a.Though well written, its images are crude, and its information is somewhat 1.out of date (no pulsars or quasars). It is still an improvement over...!Robert H Baker, Astronomy, 1930:!b.The information and images of this book were up to date (for the 1930s), but 1.it is presented in an extremely dry manner. It is still an improvement over...!Forest Ray Moulton, Astronomy, 1906:!c.This book was a good representation of the astronomy of the day, which is 1.limited by today's standards. It was written before radio astronomy. Its writing is also dull, but it is still an improvement over...!Charles A Young, A textbook of General Astronomy for Colleges and Scientific Schools, d.1888!The information in this book is so old that it is humorous to modern 1.astronomers. Regardless, it is still an improvement over...!J. Dorman Steel, A Fourteen Weeks Course in Astronomy, 1869!e.This book was written before astronomers could do too much to determine 1.the distance and nature of objects in space. It was illustrated with wood cuts. It is still an improvement over...!Sir John Herschel: Outlines of Astronomy, 1833!f.The information in the book is close to two hundred years out of date and 1.impossibly dry (it was actually intended to be an encyclopedia). It is still an improvement over...!John Bonnycastle, An Introduction to Astronomy in a Series of Letters from a g.Preceptor to his Pupil, 1786!Boring, ignorant by today's standards, but better than...!1.James Ferguson, An Easy Introduction to Astronomy, for Young Gentlemen and Ladies: h.Describing the Figure, Motions, and Dimensions of the Earth; of the Earth; the different Seasons; Gravity and Light; the Solar System; the Transit of Venus, and its Use in Astronomy; the Moon's Motion and Phases; the Eclipse of the Sun and Moon; the Cause of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea, andc., 1768!This book is structured as a conversation between siblings Neader and 1.Eudosia. The first edition of this book is four years older than the United States! It is still an improvement over...!William Whiston: Astronomical Lectures Read in the Publick Schools at i.Cambridge, 1715!Dull, stilted, and antiquated, this textbook is still probably an improvement 1.over its predecessors. !Though these predecessors may seem ignorant, boring, and poorly illustrated today, B.they were good representations of the Astronomy of their era. As these predecessors have become outdated in time, so will The Cosmos. It is therefore necessary to treat the information we learn from this textbook as a framework for future discoveries, rather than the absolute truth.
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