Books about Observing from Amazon.com

Why use the traditional approach to study the stars when you can turn computers, handheld devices, and telescopes into out-of-this-world stargazing tools? Whether you're a first timer or an advanced hobbyist, you'll find Astronomy Hacks both useful and fun. From upgrading your optical finder to photographing stars, this book is the perfect cosmic companion.

This handy field guide covers the basics of observing, and what you need to know about tweaking, tuning, adjusting, and tricking out a 'scope. Expect priceless tips and tools for using a Dobsonian Telescope, the large-aperture telescope you can inexpensively build in your garage. Get advice on protocols involved with using electronics including in dark places without ruining the party.

"Astronomy Hacks" begins the space exploration by getting you set up with the right equipment for observing and admiring the stars in an urban setting. Along for the trip are first rate tips for making most of observations. The hacks show you how to:

Dark-Adapt Your Notebook Computer

Choose the Best Binocular

Clean Your Eyepieces and Lenses Safely

Upgrade Your Optical Finder

Photograph the Stars with Basic Equipment

The O'Reilly Hacks series has reclaimed the term "hacking" to mean innovating, unearthing, and creating shortcuts, gizmos, and gears. With these hacks, you don't dream it-you do it--and "Astronomy Hacks" brings space dreams to life. The book is essential for anyone who wants to get the most out of an evening under the stars and have memorable celestial adventures..
Price: $13.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The gap between who designers and developers imagine their users are, and who those users really are can be the biggest problem with product development. Observing the User Experience will help you bridge that gap to understand what your users want and need from your product, and whether they'll be able to use what you've created.

Filled with real-world experience and a wealth of practical information, this book presents a complete toolbox of techniques to help designers and developers see through the eyes of their users. It provides in-depth coverage of 13 user experience research techniques that will provide a basis for developing better products, whether they're Web, software or mobile based. In addition, it's written with an understanding of how software is developed in the real world, taking tight budgets, short schedules, and existing processes into account.

·Explains how to create usable products that are still original, creative, and unique

·A valuable resource for designers, developers, project managersanyone in a position where their work comes in direct contact with the end user.

·Provides a real-world perspective on research and provides advice about how user research can be done cheaply, quickly and how results can be presented persuasively

·Gives readers the tools and confidence to perform user research on their own designs and tune their software user experience to the unique needs of their product and its users.
Price: $29.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Your Passport to the Universe

The night sky is alive with many wonders--distant planets, vast star clusters, glowing nebulae, and expansive galaxies, all waiting to be explored Let respected astronomy writer Philip Harrington introduce you to the universe in Star Watch, a complete beginner's guide to locating, observing, and understanding these celestial objects. You'll start by identifying the surface features of the Moon, the banded cloud tops of Jupiter, the stunning rings of Saturn, and other members of our solar system. Then you'll venture out beyond our solar system, where you'll learn tips and tricks for finding outstanding deep-sky objects from stars to galaxies, including the entire Messier catalog--a primary goal of every serious beginner.

Star Watch features a detailed physical description of each target, including size, distance, and structure, as well as concise directions for locating the objects, handy finder charts, hints on the best times to view each object, and descriptions of what you'll really see through a small telescope or binoculars and with the naked eye.

Star Watch will transport you to the farthest depths of space--and return you as a well-traveled, experienced stargazer..
Price: $3.47 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Task-oriented. Accessible Comprehensive The second edition of Microbiology Laboratory Exercises, by Margaret Barnett, is all this and much more. Filled with extensive, step-by-step instructions and solid coverage of basic laboratory techniques, this introductory microbiology lab manual brings a unique appeal to both students and instructors. With an emphasis on pathogenic bacteria, this second edition also serves as one of the strongest, medically focused microbiology lab manuals available..
Price: $84.61 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Nature is full of fascinating stories, stories that attract our attention at a young age and keep us amazed throughout our entire lives. The need to understand nature draws us back to its simple beauty again and again, yet underneath this simplicity lies a complex web of associations and patterns. The Nature Handbook does what no other field guide does: explores and explains nature through these connecting patterns, revealing them to the many different types of nature lovers.
All naturalists-- from birders to gardeners, hikers to environmentalists, wildflower enthusiasts to butterfliers-- will appreciate the different approach of the Handbook, even those whose interest in the natural world is just beginning to develop. Naturalists who are already well versed in one group of organisms--birders, for example--will find new explanations and patterns for their favorite group, as well as new patterns all around them that they had previously overlooked. Observations in the Handbook are arranged in the three main sections of plants, animals, and habitats. These sections are then connected through discussions of the relationship of size and shape, adaptations, distribution patterns, behavior, and diversity of life. Since the emphasis is on patterns rather than individual species, each chapter has cross-references to related topics. For example, tree-related topics such as leaf shape, treelines, and fall colors, are all discussed in different chapters even though they are related. Leaf shape is associated with trees as organisms, and therefore is in Chapter 2: Trees; treelines are most associated with mountains, so their description is in Chapter 8: Mountains; fall colors apply more broadly to forests than to individual trees, and they are discussed in Chapter 9,Forests.
Approximately 500 color photographs help make the more than 200 patterns apparent and recognizable for readers, and each pattern is accompanied by a detailed description and a brief list of sources. The book is designed to invite browsing, and readers will gain a rich ecological perspective and insight. Curiosity about the world around us is a basis for human learning; The Nature Handbook serves to aid all nature lovers in their quest for understanding the many stories that our living world provides..
Price: $7.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]

One of the few books that successfully combines observation techniques with child development, this user-friendly book takes an applied approach that allows students to observe, record, and interpret child development by looking at particular behavior. Using the observation data to determine the level of a child's development, plans and activities are illustrated to show readers how to help children strengthen specific areas of development. Chapter coverage discusses developmental assessment instruments—along with alternate approaches to child assessment using shadow studies, play-based assessment and child interviews, as well as digital camera photos. It also includes information on the emergence of emotions in young children, new brain research showing the importance of physical development, sharing observational data with parents, and a child skills checklist that can be used by teachers to determine children's levels of development. For early childhood teachers..
Price: $36.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Night Sky Companion takes a look at astronomy every day over the course of the year – offering an overview of general history, soft science, astronomical trivia, and observing guides and motivation. Designed to appeal to readers at all skill levels and involvement, it provides a digest for sky watchers interested in all-in-one-place information that includes history, current events, and of course interesting objects to be observed on any given day. The Moon is followed through its phases with observing instructions, annotated pictorial maps, concise photos, and the science and history of what makes lunar observing a fascinating challenge.

Unaided eye observers are offered an opportunity to view many objects or events; learn about their history, science and how just "looking up" can be rewarding.

Binocular and small telescope users will find a wealth of things to view using simple star hop instructions and finder charts. This book is more than just an observing guide, it's a way of learning your way round the night sky.

Large-aperture telescope users looking for a challenge are not ignored either. Some of the finest deep-sky objects are detailed, with finder maps and photographs, most of them taken by talented amateurs.

Be it a meteor shower, double stars, variable stars, solar viewing, lunar features, a variety of catalog studies, history or the physics and science behind the stars - you'll find it here, written in an easy-going style ideal for ‘dipping in’ on the relevant day, or even reading from cover to cover.

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Price: $17.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Millions of Jews are awakening to the joys of Shabbat observance and this is the book they'll turn to for help..
Price: $19.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This volume brings together the work of twenty scholars who have tried to examine the nature of the encounter between Europeans and the other peoples of the world from roughly 1450 to 1800, the Early Modern era. This volume is world-wide in scope but is unified by the central underlying theme that implicit understandings influence every culture's ideas about itself and others. These understandings, however, are changed by experience in a constantly shifting process in which both sides participate, and that makes such encounters complex historical events and moments of discovery..
Price: $39.88 [Notify me when price goes down.]