A reading list

I am just beginning to delve into these books, so it will be a while before I post my comments. Feel free to suggest more reading material.

So You Want A Meade LX Telescope! by Lawrence Harris; Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series. If, like me, you are a relative beginner and visual observer who uses your Meade LX 200 in alt/az mode, and don’t have an experienced mentor living nearby, you will likely find one or two dozen tips in this book that will help you. That made it worth buying for me. [See my review]

Celestial Sampler, by Sue French. I wasn't going to buy this until I read her most recent article in Sky & Telescope, because I thought I had more than enough to keep me busy for a few months (or decades). But her article provided the kind of information I was looking for, so now I've got more homework.

The Night Sky Observer's Guide (Vol 1 & 2), by Kepple & Sanner.

The Backyard Astronomer's Guide, by Dickerson & Dyer. I read most sections of the book the day I got it and found a lot of valuable information. Now I'm going through it again to learn more. It is a valuable reference, which the authors supplement with updated information on their website.

Astronomy - A visual Guide, by Mark Garlick. This is beautifully illustrated and I'm sure contains a lot of useful information. However my initial quick read didn't give me enough of the type of information I was looking for that I didn't already get from The Backyard Astronomer's Guide.