If you prefer to buy a text, there are many at the bookstore. They may be organized a bit differently from the notes, but reading them may help you follow the course. But try the notes by themselves first, and beware that the nature of the course is quite different from most "straight" astronomy texts.

In fact, you might find it more rewarding to buy some of the books recommended below, all of which discuss topics in these notes and many of which were used in preparing it. If these books are not just what you want, go further down the page where we list other things to do in Tucson connected with astronomy.

"Life Everywhere," by David Darling, 2002, Basic Books, ISBN 0465015646, easy introduction to astrobiology

"The Sleepwalkers," by Arthur Koestler, 1990, Viking Penguin, ISBN 0140192468, Kepler and the development of his model of the solar system

"Coming of Age in the Milky Way," by Timothy Ferris, 1989, Anchor Books, ISBN 0385263260

"Newton's Clock," by Ivars Peterson, 1995, W. H. Freeman, ISBN 0716727242, how chaotic orbits shape the solar system

"Evolving Brains," by John Allman, 2000, Scientific American, ISBN 0716750767 - a bit challenging

"The Elegant Universe," by Brian Greene, 2000, Vintage Press, ISBN 0375708111 - a bit challenging

"Through a Universe Darkly," by Marcia Bartusiak, 1995, Avon Press, ASIN 0380724200, about dark matter

"Thursday's Universe," by Marcia Bartusiak, 1988, Tempus Books, ASIN: 1556151535

"A Brief History of Time," by Stephen Hawking, 1998 (10th ed.), Bantam Press, ISBN: 0553380168 - a bit challenging

"The Very First Light," by John Mather & John Boslough, 1998, Basic Books, ASIN: 046501576X, the history of the COBE mission

"The Stars: A New Way to See Them," by H. A. Rey, 1976, Mariner Books, ISBN: 0395248302 - classic constellation guide

"The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe(s) Report." by Timothy Ferris, 1997, New York: Simon and Schuster.

"The Last of the Great Observatories," by George Rieke, 2006, Tucson: University of Arizona Press, history of the Spitzer mission.

"Endless Forms Most Beautiful," by Sean B. Carroll 2005, W. W. Norton & Co., modern biology and genetics

"Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and Other Recollections," by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and Katherine Haramundanis 1996, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, a personal guide to Harvard College Observatory in the 1920s and 1930s

More Things To Do

We hope the course will increase your interest in astronomy, and if it does you are lucky because you are in the middle of one of the world's greatest astronomy research centers. There is lots that you can do to learn more:

Kitt Peak National Observatory (take a picnic): http://www.noao.edu/outreach/kpoutreach.html

Sky viewing from Kitt Peak (16 inch telescope, surrounded by other astronomers): http://www.noao.edu/outreach/nop/