This is probably the best book that has ever been written about ... I don't want to use the word 'star-gazing,' but heck, the subtitle uses it, and that word does at least have a tinge of the magic I think this book conveys. Leslie C. Peltier was a justly-famed amateur astronomer, where -- as I think the book makes clear -- 'amateur' means 'one who does for love' and not 'one who isn't good enough to be a professional.' Peltier's book evokes a simpler time in a lovely (and not cloying) fashion. It is really is that rare thing -- a treasure, a jewel of a book. I think it's been said that if you want to enlighten someone who is befuddled because he or she has a friend or loved one who is *obsessed* with the night sky, this is the book they should be given. I would agree with that assessment. It may turn *you* into an astronomer. ( )

Written in an earlier, simpler time, this book is the book many amateur astronomers use to try to explain to friends the attraction the activity has for them.

From the heart of the America of the last century, follow this story of a farmboy who sucessfully reached for the stars. ( )