Meteors and How to Observe Them Author: Robert Lunsford Publisher: Springer ISBN: 978-0-387-09460-1 Price: ?27.99 (Pb), 192pp
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This guide to observing meteor showers contains much useful information for a newcomer to meteor observing, especially  with regards to practical advice relating to meteor watches. One third of the book covers the major showers; another third the  lesser known showers, all with useful charts included to show the radiant locations and their daily motion. A further twenty-five pages describe the various methods used to observe meteors. It is all up to date, relying on recent work by Peter Jenniskens, Sirko Molau and the meteor shower lists published
by the International Meteor Organisation.

On the downside, the lists that should have appeared in figures 3.1, 4.1 and 5.1 are missing. As a result, their places are taken by what should have been figures 3.2, 4.2 and 5.2 and consequently all of the subsequent tables, charts and images are out of step both numerically and positionally.

There are also problems with the examples of completed report forms - the headings for the columns in the basic and advanced forms don't link in with the information covered in the text, the time column in the basic form is reproduced too narrow and loses the last digit, and the watch times specified would correspond to late morning from the specified location.

The book also seems to spend too much time comparing the visibility of each major shower from different latitudes (all south of the UK) when a table of radiant altitudes would suffice. There are also a few places in which the author makes statements that many observers would disagree with; for example he states as fact that simultaneous meteor sounds are genuine. Be aware also of American date formats - the Quadrantid activity period of 01/01 to 01/05 is five days, not four months!

In summary, this is a potentially useful book that seems to have been let down by inadequate proof checking.

Tony Markham