TheSkySearchers

Hi, I found this free Astronomy textbook from OpenStax College / RICE university:

      Astronomy, Fraknoi, Morrison and Wolff, OpenStax, 2016

This is an introductory level textbook. Each chapter is followed by a list of key terms, a summary, links to articles, videos and websites, group activities and exercises.

1186 pages + index

It really is free with the option to make a donation to OpenStax.

LINKS
to preview: https://archive.org/details/Astronomy_2 ... 3/mode/2up
to pdf:        https://archive.org/download/Astronomy_ ... oX1Ths.pdf

Below the preview you find different formats than PDF.

Bear in mind that the book is a 150MB download from a slow server. If you have your browser set to open PDFs as they come in, it is better to Right Click and choose Save Linked Content to download the book to a folder on your disk and then check after 15 minutes or so if it has completed.

Enjoy

Just to note the textbook's landing page is

• https://openstax.org/details/books/astronomy/

which includes the table of contents, instructor and student resources, as well as an online errata (detailing both fixed and pending error reports).

This page also has links to the most recent release (14 Jan 2020 as of my writing this) and to options for those who want it in printed (2016) or in various digital formats (Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle, or PDF). The printed copy even looks like a reasonable cost for 1100 page hardcover textbook, that I believe is in full colour.

I haven't viewed the book in detail, but appears to be a solid textbook for an introductory level course at the post-secondary level.

mctylr wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:19 am. I haven't viewed the book in detail, but appears to be a solid textbook for an introductory level course at the post-secondary level.

Textbooks are like telescopes and cameras: the best one is the one you have in your hand right now. Anything is better than nothing. I checked a topic that I have some interest in, the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram. The book is OK. It is written for a high school level post-millennial reader. The advantage to a published work like this, versus all of the "really good" websites is that a textbook goes through a series of reviews. The information is correct and correctly stated. I got myself a different textbook, but the purpose, I think, is the same: you want a single authoritative (albeit introductory) reference. From that beginning, you can follow any subject topics that you want.

Do we agree that everyone needs at least one standard college-level astronomy survey textbook?

It comes highly recommended. I asked a professor with whom I work which he assigns for survey classes and what alternatives there are.

The list is long since it’s such a lucrative gig! In no particular order:
Free online textbook “Astronomy” by Fraknoi, Morrison and Wolff at OpenStax.

Also textbooks by:
Pasachoff et al
Chaisson et al
Seeds et al
Zeilik et al
Bennett et al

I don’t use a conventional textbook in either of my intro astronomy courses. Too expensive!

Also, in textbooks the content tends to be ordered, unlike a huge bunch of arbitrary articles.
Easier to read.

turboscrew wrote: ↑Tue May 18, 2021 8:04 am Also, in textbooks the content tends to be ordered, unlike a huge bunch of arbitrary articles.Easier to read.

1. Peer reviewed.
2. Conceptually integrated and presented in a conceptual hierarchy.
2, Table of contents.
3. Index.

Here in Austin, Texas, the Half Price Books stores all have various editions of Chaisson and McMillan. I do not see many others. That was why I asked my colleague.

Regarding 1: They are less likely to be wrong by simple misstatement.
Regarding 2: The usual presentation is from the Earth outward. I have seen it done another way with interstellar first and our solar system last. However, that, too, is a hierarchy. And more to the point: within each chapter and each section every presentation follows the "inverted pyramid" of introduction leading to details. We here online do not always follow that.

Yep. Easier to read when you don't have to switch to different "gestalt" after each page.
Think of a book made of articles:
1) Earh as a planet
2) Why does Sun shine?
3) Galaxy clusters
4) Moon phases
5) Orbits of planets
6) The structure of the Milky Way
...

On the OpenStax website you'll find more good science books.

https://openstax.org/subjects/science

The PDFs are kept up to date. Astronomy was last updated Jan, 2021. I'm now downloading Microbiology, published in 2016 (and updated Jan 2021). That should be interesting too.