Editorial Review:
There are as many different kinds of stars as there are stars themselves. Each an individual, every one unique. In this arresting and lavishly illustrated volume, noted astronomy writer and teacher Jim Kaler choose 100 stars to illustrate the mind-boggling variety of the stars' shapes and sizes, their immense ages, and the vast range of configurations in which they exist.||From AG Draconis to Z Andromedae, this alphabetically arranged volume first lists each star's resident constellation, its class, its apparent brightness as viewed from Earth, its distance from our Sun, and its visual luminosity. Then the real story begins. In choosing his "top 100," Kaler has aimed not just at providing a representative sample of the Universe's extraordinarily diverse population, but at capturing their complexity, their dynamism, and the amazing view they provide into the extraordinary physical forces at play in the Universe.||James B. Kaler is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has held both Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, and has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Liege (Belgium) and the University of Mexico. He is the author of six books and dozens of articles on astronomy, including The Little Book of Stars (Copernicus Books, 2000) and lectures frequently.Enter The Hundred Greatest Stars by James Kaler...Following a very clear general introduction to stellar astronomy, Kaler embarks on an informative tour through his hundred favourite stars, each given a page of text with an appropriate illustration on the facing page...The really clever aspect of the book is that as well as describing the hundred stars, often bringing out aspects which are unfamiliar, Kaler succeeds in giving an excellent broad survey of recent developments in stellar astronomy. As is to be expected, the text is immensely authoritative...The illustrations are beautiful..."|-New Scientist
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
great book for amateur astronomer 2008-09-05
Just what I was looking for. I have already taken a college level astronomy class. I use this book for additional information now, together with Extreme Stars, when I observe in my telescope. Too bad I can't be in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere at the same time.
A Little Gem 2005-10-21
Jim Kaler has written a real little gem in this book. It selects 100 of the most interesting stars and gives a "biography" of each. His style is engaging and readable. The author seems to have intended the audience to be amateur astronomers, but I have found it quite useful for students in both secondary school and the university. I have always told my students that "stars are like people, if you examine them closely, all of them are strange in some way", and this book highlights some of the more interesting ones. Along the way, a fair bit of astronomical information is also imparted, but in a way that flows naturally with the stories. The book has good production quality. This is a fairly short book, very approachable for students who might be science shy. I think this is the best one that Jim has done so far. My only quibble is that he left out RU Cam, which should have been given a place in this collection.
Star overload, but I'm not complaining  2004-08-22
This well-written book is a bit of information overload. Kaler presents a good variety of stars in his top 100 picks, and writes enthusiastically about each one. In addition, many of the illustrations are excellent. Though it may be difficult to remember much of the information presented (over one month after reading it, I've retained practically nothing), the overall impression that will stay with you is that there are tremendous differences between stars. This impression is not entirely accurate; the vast majority of stars are out there are on the main sequence and exhibit very similar characteristics. But there are quite a few oddballs, or extremes, that have a completely different behavior. Kaler has chosen most of his hundred out of this group.
This book made good lunchtime reading for me, and my interest never really flagged. But reading details about a hundred stars is a lot of information to take in, and I think my patience would have worn thin with any more. Perhaps a better approach would have been to cover only thirty stars, but write more on each one. Kaler makes his selections based on some outstanding feature of that star: location in the sky, intrinsic brightness, size, peculiar spectral feature, etc.
Recommended for astronomy buffs and for the layman with a bent to science.
The Hundred Greatest Stars by Kaler 2003-11-08
This book has spectacular views of major stars/ clusters.
The 3 brightest stars of the Southern Hemisphere are depicted.
These stars are Sirius, Canopus and Alpha Centauri.
Important scientific rule structures are explained. i.e.
The apparent magnitude of a star is a function of distance.
In addition, Absolute Magnitude and Color are proportional to
temperature. Important statistics are provided for stars: i.e.
Blue-White Stars have 32-50 illumination with Ionized Helium. Infrared stars are 1000 degrees with prominent methane bands. Stars with > 10 solar masses--are exploding stars
Ag Dra has powerful eruptions. Celestial Harp is approximately
880 Light Years with a 2600 times the sun luminosity. This work is a virtual treasure-chest of scientific facts and
data about stars. It is perfect for a school science project.
The book is written for a large constituency of readers. i.e.
Astronomers, scientists, general audiences, teachers,
museum administrators and many others.
His Best Yet! 2003-07-28
I was not a big fan of Kaler's until this book. I had read his "Extreme Stars" -- very difficult to follow with his writing style, but still a good book. I begged the library to order this one, which they did. Very impressive -- I was enthralled. He discusses each star with true passion and on a level the ordinary amateur astronomer can understand. If someone can get me excited looking at a boring 5th magnitude 51 Pegasii, then he's done a good job :) --- he has. Excellent illustrations to boot! Buy this book - you won't be disappointed. Update: January 2004 - after 3 times checking it out from the library -- decided it was too good of a reference book to pass up and ordered from Amazon.com at discounted price! A true gem - I will observe outside, then use this to enrich my knowledge of some of the stars I've looked at afterwards. All the "biggies" are here - Arcturus, Sirius, Capella, Vega, Betelguese, and some other obscure ones -- but all so well chosen that it's hard to argue with his 100 picks! I wish he'd write another on his next top 100. I am also half through his "Little Book of Stars" and recommend that too! Will write a review on that when I am finished. Bottomline: Buy this book - you won't be disappointed if you are an astronomy buff.
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