Pacaritambo

APOLLO 13: THE TRUE STORY (VHS)
by Best Buy Company. Includes actual NASA footage. 45 minutes run time. Condition: Very good 1995 VHS tape from private collection. Tape is in excellent condition but box has light edgewear to corners. Content: On April 11, 1970, the Apollo 13 spacecraft, carrying a crew of three, was launched. On April 13, oxygen tank two exploded, leaving the crew with a two-day oxygen supply while still four days from Earth. Watch this amazing tale of human triumph unfold with actual footage from the spacecraft & mission control. [1 copy available]
$ 2.49 + $ 3.09 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

ANCIENT ASTRONOMY (Isaac Asimov's Library of the Universe series)
by Isaac Asimov. Wonderful color and B&W drawings by various artists. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1991 Dell Yearling soft cover, first printing. Cover shows moderate edgewear with a pricing note inside front cover. Content: The Babylonians and other ancient peoples were stargazers. They looked up at night, wondered at what they saw, and came up with remarkable answers. They studied the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars to create sundials, calendars, and star maps of astonishing accuracy. In this book, Asimov talks about the fascinating ways that ancient astronomers started us on our quest for knowledge of the cosmos. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 2.59 + $ 3.09 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

ASTRONOMY DICTIONARY: An Illustrated A-Z Guide to the Universe
revised & updated by John Woodruff. Beautiful color photos & charts illustrate. Condition: NEW 2003 Firefly soft cover, third revised & updated edition, first printing. Content: A comprehensive dictionary to the major terms and theories used in astronomy, with concise details about the planets and stars, and brief biographies of major figures. It includes over a 1,000 entries, extensive cross-referencing, diagrams and tables. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 3.29 + $ 3.29 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

BACK TO THE ASTRONOMY CAFE: More Questions and Answers About the Cosmos from "Ask the Astronomer"
by Sten Odenwald. B&W photos, drawings, & charts illustrate. Condition: NEW 2003 Westview Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: Meticulously researched by the education and public outreach manager for the NASA IMAGE satellite program, this question-and-answer book of astronomy, complete with pictures, timetables and a "glossary of annoying terms," provides explanations for many phenomena regarding the sun, moon, Earth and beyond. Odenwald occasionally waxes poetic, writing, for instance, that our world is "a cosmos where every shining star sports a discoverable retinue of worlds to explore." The well-informed amateur will reap much informative detail from this follow-up to the author's original The Astronomy Cafe, based on his popular web site. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 4.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

BUILD YOUR OWN CUSTOMIZED TELESCOPE
by Richard F. Daley and Sally Daley. B&W photos, drawings, & charts illustrate. Condition: Good 1986 Tab Books soft cover, first edition, first printing. Ex-library book with all markings. Edgewear, rubbings along hinges, short vertical crease top front cover edge. Interior clean. Content: Reviewer: "A great book for those that are interested in building their own computer controlled GOTO type telescope. Instructions for building a reflector on a horseshoe mount with a commodore 64 computer. The book has all hardware, software listings, and other required data. The technology for the computer is a bit outdated but still highly applicable for design-it-yourself efforts and transportable to todays computers." [1 copy available]
$ 10.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

COMING OF AGE IN THE MILKY WAY (Winner 1988 American Institute of Physics Prize)
by Timothy Ferris. B&W photos, charts illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1989 Anchor Books Trade Paperback, 10th printing. Tiny edgewear. Content: The ancient Egyptians regarded the sky as a kind of tent canopy. Thirty centuries later, astronomer William Herschel argued that the sun belongs to a huge cluster of stars (a galaxy, as we call it today) and charted great swaths of intergalactic space through a telescope. How the human species slowly awakened to the vast reaches of space and time is the story absorbingly told by popular science writer Ferris. His narrative humanizes the scientific enterprise - Galileo emerges here as a careerist, and Johannes Kepler as a self-loathing neurotic. Although it covers well-trod ground, this remarkable synthesis makes broad areas of science accessible to the lay person, from Darwin's and Lyell's investigations of the age of the earth to modern physicists' quest for a perfectly symmetrical, hyperdimensional universe. [2 copies available]
$ 5.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

CONVERSING WITH THE PLANETS: How Science and Myth Invented the Cosmos
by Anthony Aveni. B&W photos, charts, & Maya language charts illustrate. Condition: NEW 1994 Kodansha International Trade Paperback, first thus, first printing. Content: Probably the best book on the subject. "Aveni, a professor of astronomy and anthropology at Colgate University, seeks here to integrate--in his view, reintegrate--the rational universe with a more comforting model that takes into account "the interrelationship between matter and spirit." Such ancient astronomically inclined peoples as the Babylonians and the Mayans, he argues, made direct connections between events in the night sky and those on earth, and hence between nature and culture. The Mayans, for example, used their observations of the path of Venus to create a culturally useful myth about planting." For those interested in Mesoamerican archeoastronomy, this is an invaluable point of view for study. [1 copy available]
$ 8.49 + $ 2.89 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

DISCOVER THE STARS: Starwatching using the naked eye, binoculars, or a telescope
by Richard Berry, editor of Astronomy Magazine. Color star charts illustrate. Condition: NEW 1986 Harmony Books Trade Paperback edition, 11th printing. Perfect! Content: 35 sky maps lead beginning stargazers on a tour of the heavens. The ideal introduction to constellations, stars, and celestial objects. 35 two-color sky maps and 20 black-and-white line drawings. The heart of Discover the Stars is two sections of big, beautiful sky maps and charts. The first section features twelve maps that show the entire sky overhead as it appears during each month of the year. These outline all the constellations visible anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, and the accompanying text reveals the rich ancient mythology that surrounds the star groups. The second section is made up of twenty-three star charts that depict smaller regions of the sky in great detail. These charts give the names of key stars and lead you to fascinating features such as stars with unusual colors, double stars, variable stars, nebulae, and galaxies. Separate chapters cover basics, such as how the stars move through the sky, how to find your way around the moon and the planets, making an astronomer's flashlight, and choosing and using a telescope -- all in terms that are easy to grasp and remember. This is THE best entry level astronomy book on the market today, IMHO. [1 copy available]
$ 8.69 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED: A Poetic History of Americans on the Moon (SIGNED COPY)
by Estelle Gifford Jackson. B&W NASA photos & drawings illustrate. Condition: Very good+ gently pre-read Dorrance & Company slim hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket). No major flaws. Interior clean & tight. Inscribed and dated on loose endpage. Content: All phases of the Apollo program are treated in poetry from the first crew (a moving tribute to Grissom, White & Chaffee) through the 1972 Skylab crews. Mrs. Jackson's husband was with NASA. Questions encouraged. [1 copy available]
$ 65.50 + free shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

THE GLOW SKY BOOK
by Illuminations. Color illustrations by Illuminations "staff." Condition: UNREAD 1994 Illuminations/TMC large softcover, no edition given. Tiny edgewear. Content: WOW! Is this a great book for your junior astronomer. 24 constellation drawings (Cancer, Cygnus, Tarus, etc.) in bright neon colors on a black sky. Each constellation drawing is accompanied by the myth, legend or lore associated with it and a smaller drawing on which can be placed an appropriate number of the 300 glow-in-the-dark star decals included - so the child can create and illuminate his "own" constellation. Great book! "Discover the Constellations by Creating them." Questions welcome [1 copy available]
$ 7.69 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

JOHN HERSCHEL AND VICTORIAN SCIENCE: Exhibition Catalog
by John Leech. B&W photos, charts, drawings. Condition: NEW 1966 University of Texas Exhibition Catalog. Perfect. Content: This is a 56-page exhibition catalog from the 1966 exhibit History of Science Collection, University of Texas, March 3 - May 31, 1966. Detailed manuscripts, photographs, drawings, and books of John Herschel, astronomer from a family of noted astronomers (his father discovered Pluto). Photos of his calculations, drawings, with explanations. Fascinating catalog. Questions welcome. [3 copies available]
$ 8.50 + $ 3.10 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

HOW DO YOU GO TO THE BATHROOM IN SPACE?:
All the Answers To All the Questions You Have About Living in Space
by William R. Pogue, Astronaut. Introduction by John Glenn. Cartoons by Sidney Harris. Condition: NEW 1999 TOR Trade Paperback, Revised Edition, first printing. Perfect. B&W NASA photos. Content: Although this is touted as being a book for teens, adults interested in outer space and the NASA program will find it informative as well. Reviewer: "Middle to High Schoolers as well as adults will pick this book up out of curiosity and immediately become engrossed. The question and answer format encourages browsing, and the book includes lots of nice features such as an index, a section for related reading, a section of web addresses and mail addresses for space related organizations. Students will find useful report information presented here in a fun format. The book also includes a number of photographs and drawings relating to the questions it helps answer. Students will discover the many effects of living in space from one of the men who has spent the most time there" - - 84 days (until recently, the record!). [1 copy available]
$ 5.79 + $ 2.89 shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

HOW THE SHAMAN STOLE THE MOON:
In Search of Ancient Prophet-Scientists from Stonehenge to the Grand Canyon
by William H. Calvin. B&W photos by the author and detailed drawings of astronomical observation sites by Malcolm Wells. . Condition: NEW 1991 Bantam Books hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket). DJ has tiny edgewear. Content: Were shamans in prehistoric cultures able to predict solar and lunar eclipses? Calvin (neurobiology, Univ. of Washington), brings together data from astronomy and archaeology in an attempt to answer this question. Employing research at Stonehenge and Avebury in England, and numerous Anasazi Indian sites in the American Southwest, Calvin concludes that there were over a dozen possible methods of eclipse forecasting that prehistoric people may have used. He admits that his hypotheses on prehistoric astronomical techniques are speculative, and emphasizes that they may only provide a clue to what might have been. Nevertheless, his theories are well thought out and clearly explained. The narrative flows smoothly as the numerous possible methods of prediction are described within the context of the story of his research at the various archaeological sites. [1 copy available]
$ 10.89 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email us on international orders.]

The HUNT FOR LIFE ON MARS
by Donald Goldsmith. Condition: NEW 1997 Dutton Trade Paperback, first thus. Content: Reviewer: "This is a good overview of the possibility of life on Mars, using the evidence found in the meteorite ALH84001 as a starting point. Goldsmith uses a legal trial as a somewhat overprecious analogy, but overall this book is a fair and detailed summary of the arguments both for and against life on Mars based on current evidence. It also covers future missions to Mars and somewhat dates itself while doing so, since Pathfinder and Global Surveyor are presented in the future tense. Still, this is a useful and interesting book." [2 copies available]
$ 3.89 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email us on international orders.]

JUPITER (Revised & Updated edition)
by Isaac Asimov. B&W photos illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1975 Ace paperback, first printing. Moderate tanning to page edges. Content: Asimov combines the technical knowledge of a well-known scientist with the imagination and wit of world-famous Science Fiction author and explores Jupiter from every possible angle and viewpoint. Of course, some of this information is dated, but Asimov's observations are always interesting. [1 copy available]
$ 3.69 + $ 2.94 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

A LITTLE HISTORY OF ASTRO-ARCHEOLOGY (aka Secrets of the Stones) Revised & Updated Edition
by John Michell. Great B&W photos, star charts, drawings illustrate. Condition: NEW 2001 Thames & Hudson Trade Paperback, revised & updated edition. Content: Stonehenge today is a battlefield, not only for police and festivalgoers at midsummer but also for rival camps of archaeologists, astronomers, and other researchers into the mysteries of prehistoric religion and science. Controversy flared up in 1963, when Gerald Hawkins made early use of the computer to identify Stonehenge as an observatory for the sun and moon and an instrument for predicting eclipses. Further studies of megalithic sites by Alexander Thom proved that many of them were also related to the seasonal positions of the heavenly bodies. The study of astro-archaeology has now expanded worldwide, bringing new revelations about the mystical sciences of antiquity. This "little history" summarizes the issues involved in astro-archaeology, and illustrates its principal sites and personalities. Included are recent findings of British scientists, whose records of anomalous levels of natural energies at stone circles are in accordance with the magical reputations of such places in local folklore. The present state of research and the exciting prospects for astro-archaeology in the future are summed up in the final chapter. 97 B&W illustrations. Questions welcome [1 copy available]
$ 10.69 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

NEPTUNE: Voyager's Final Target
by Franklyn M. Branley. Condition: NEW 1992 Harper Collins hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Very good condition. Color & B&W photos & charts. Grades 3-5. Content: Details the activities of the American Voyager 2 space probe as it made its 1989 flyby of Neptune and its moons. Discusses the eighth planet's orbit, atmosphere, rings, and geology. [1 copy available]
$ 3.69 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

SEEING AND BELIEVING: How the Telescope Opened Our Eyes and Minds to the Heavens
by Richard Panek. Condition: NEW 1999 Penguin soft cover, first pritning. Tiny edge wear. Content: Panek's concise, popularly written history of the telescope is an exciting interstellar voyage that shows how a humble novelty item and maritime tool evolved into a powerful exploratory instrument that has changed our conception of the cosmos. Although Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons with a spyglass in 1610 helped demolish the medieval worldview that placed a stationary earth at the center of creation, faulty lenses and frustrating optics hobbled astronomical research for decades. Amateur astronomer William Herschel's discovery of Uranus in 1781 led to his pre-Einsteinian insight that stargazers were not only looking tens of trillions of miles into space, but also penetrating into time past. Yet, incredibly, as recently as the turn of this century most astronomers clung to the belief that the universe consisted of just one galaxyAoursAwith the sun in a central position. In 1996, the Hubble Space Telescope pierced the heavens, resulting in the current estimate of a total of 50 billion galaxies. Panek puts these and other conceptual breakthroughs into clear perspective as he deftly explains how astronomy's interface with photography, spectroscopy, radio and space exploration led to the discovery of quasars, pulsars, black holes, galaxy superclusters and the search for "dark matter." His narrative sometimes bogs down in technical detail, but, nonetheless, it is a delightful intellectual adventure, fleshed out with vivid cameos of innovators like Tycho Brahe, Edwin Hubble and visionary astrophysicist George Ellery Hale, who in 1948 supervised the construction of what was then the world's largest telescope at Mount Palomar, but whose mental illness made him report that he was suffering periodic visits from an elf. [1 copy available]
$ 3.69 + $ 3.09 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

SETI PIONEERS: Scientists Talk ABout Their Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
by David W. Swift. New Foreword by Frank Drake. B&W photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 1993 University of Arizona Press Trade Paperback, second printing. Content: Q & A interviews with 17 researchers, mostly American, who are involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). While the field, which did not attract attention from scientists until 1959, remains a fledgling discipline, it now draws physicists, astronomers, electrical engineers, chemists, an aerospace physician into its orbit. Scientists featured here discuss current methods used to investigate ETI, and others they hope to develop, but general readers will most likely value the impact of their personalities--modest, open, thoughtful, occasionally waggish--above talk of technicalities. Scientists interviewed include: Philip Morrison, Giuseppe Cocconi, Frank Drake, Bernard Oliver, Melvin Calvin, Ronald Bracewell, Josef Shklovskii, Nikolai Kardashev, Vassevolod Troitskii, Carl Sagan, John Kraus, John Billingham, Charles Seeger, Freeman Dyson, Kunitomo Sakurai, and Jill Tarter. [1 copy available]
$ 5.89 + $ 3.29 media shipping. [Email us on international orders.]

SKY SIGNS: Aratus' Phaenomena
by Soloensis Aratus. Introduction and Translation by Stanley Lombardo. B&W illustrations by Anita Volder Fredrick. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1983 North Atlantic Books Trade Paperback, no edition given. Pale hinge crease with light edgewear and a short spider crease bottom front cover edge. Interior clean & tight. Content: Reviewer: "This book is an old Greek classic. It is a beautiful poem about the interrelationship of the stars and planets with the seasons of Earth. It is told in a lyrical style, and paints an entertaining and informative picture of traditional astronomy, revealing the relationships between the constellations themselves. It is a fascinating look back into the ancient literature inherited by Western society.Also interesting is noting the changes in the shape and location of the constellations in the sky over two thousand years." [1 copy available]
$ 18.89 + $ 3.09 media shipping. [Email us on international orders.]

SOLAR OBSERVING TECHNIQUES (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series)
by Chris Kitchin. Great B&W photos, drawings, and tables with 25 color plates. Condition: NEW 2002 Springer (UK) Trade Paperback, no printing given. Content: Professor Chris Kitchin provides all the information needed for safe solar observing. The Sun well-suited to amateur astronomers - the Sun is close enough to need little magnification. It also has the practical advantage, unlike every other astronomical object, of being visible in the daytime!During solar eclipses, there are momentary chances to observe and photograph some spectacular and scientifcally interesting sights.Studying the Sun nonetheless needs specialist knowledge. Safety is paramount, as without the right precautions the heat and light of the Sun would instantly blind the observer. But given the right techniques, the Sun is a rewarding subject for amateur astronomers. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 12.89 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email us on international orders.]

SPACE HUMAIZATION SERIES, Vol. 1, No. 1
by various authors. B&W charts. Condition: UNREAD 1979 Institute for the Social Science Study of Space Trade Paperback, no printing given. Light tag removal mark upper front cover corner. Interior perfect. Content: Articles on space and social science: Space Social Science: Suggested Paths to an Emerging Discipline (T. Stephen Cheston); The New Age of Space Industrialization (Jesco von Puttkamer); Power Over the People? Space Industralization and Political Liberty (Jack Salmon); Space Policy and the Public Interest: The Role of Conflict Management Techniques (Charles Chafer); The Policy Process and the Large Scale Space Efforts (John Logsdon); The Anti-Satellite Program: A Threat to Space Humanization (Michael Michaud); Well Being and Privacy in Space: Anticipating Conflicts of Interest (Joan Sieber); and Space Agriculture and the World Food Problem (Brian O'Leary). Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 27.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email us on international orders.]

STAIRWAYS TO THE STARS: Skywatching in Three Great Ancient Cultures
by Anthony Aveni. B&W photos and detailed drawings of astronomical observation sites. Condition: NEW 1996 John Wiley & Sons hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Content: With little or no technology, many ancient societies achieved significant understanding of the movements and cycles of the moon, sun, planets, and stars. The primary difference between their astronomy and ours is that they believed the sky served as a connection between the natural and spiritual world, while our Western view of science dictates an objective, quantifiable, and measurable existence. Using the findings of the last decade, Aveni (Behind the Crystal Ball) examines the astronomy of three ancient societies: Great Britain and Stonehenge; the Mayas and the cult of Venus; and the Incas and the city of Cuzco, built as a vast observatory. Also included is a chapter on "naked eye" observing that allows readers to see the night sky as did our ancient ancestors. This book is not as much a history of astronomy, but a focused survey of the beliefs and astronomy of three ancient cultures and how they compare and contrast with the prevailing way that Western society watches the night sky. [1 copy available]
$ 10.89 + $ 3.19 media shipping. [Email us on international orders.]

THE STARRY ROOM: Naked Eye Astronomy in the Intimate Universe
by Fred Schaaf. Foreword by Chet Taymo. B&W photos and detailed drawings. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1990 John Wiley & Sons large soft cover, first printing. Problem: pale shelf wear diagonal crease front cover near hinge. Content: With the unaided eye, it is possible to see moons of other planets, a touch of violet in the Great Orion Nebula or surface features of the moon. Beautifully written and illustrated, this primer on naked-eye astronomy reclaims the starry skies for the lay person. Schaaf, who writes on star-gazing for the Old Farmers Almanac and Mother Earth News, was formerly a columnist for Astronomy. With an amateur's enthusiasm and a professional's breadth of knowledge, he describes his firsthand experience watching meteor showers, fireballs, eclipses, comets, planets, rainbows and halo phenomena like mock suns. He dispenses practical advice on the best times and conditions to catch sight of these and other celestial sights. His easygoing essays are full of enchantment both for devoted watchers of the heavens and for those who don't yet gaze upward. [1 copy available]
$ 4.89 + $ 3.29 media shipping. [Email us on international orders.]

THEY DANCE IN THE SKY: Native American Star Myths
by Jean Guard Monroe & Ray A. Williamson. Wonderful B&W illustrations by Edgar Stewart. Condition: Very Good 1987 Houghton Mifflin hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), 4th pritning. Appears read to page 2 and then abandoned. The remainder of the book is clean & tight & unread. Content: This volume of Native American star legends is well researched and told in language that lends itself well to reading aloud. The first two groups of stories deal with the Pleiades and the Big Dipper; thereafter, they are organized by geographic area. Each group has introductory notes about the tribes of the area and their general beliefs, providing a context for the legends which follow. Notes at the end of each section correlate Indian and Western names for constellations and stars whenever possible. In addition to tales from well-known tribes such as Navajo and Mohawk, there are selections from Tlingit, Wasco, Picuris, and other small groups. Coyote appears in many of the tales, causing trouble whenever he appears. Wolves, bears, eagles, and other animals also inhabit the storiesand the night sky. The book is decorated with black-and-white drawings of a variety of Indian symbols, of the constellations, and of animals and people, which lend life and movement to the pages. A jewel of a book. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$13.89 + $ 3.29 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]

WATCHERS OF THE STARS: The Scientific Revolution
by Patrick Moore. B&W photos & charts plus wonderful color plates, photos. Condition: Gently pre-read 1974 Putnam's hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. No problems, just pre-read. Content: This is the story of the greatest upheaval in science of the last twenty centuries - and it all began with Copernicus in 1543. This book provides the lives and contributions of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, Newton and others. Excellent. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 6.89 + $ 3.39 media shipping. [Email for shipping charges on international orders.]