Weird Astronomy: Tales of Unusual, Bizarre and Other Hard to Explain Observations Author: David A J Seargent Publisher: Springer ISBN: 973-1-4419-6423-6 Price: £35.99 (Pb) 317pp
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This book comes from astronomy author David Seargent, and is loosely based on a selection of his past articles published in the magazine Southern Astronomy, later Sky and Space. The book still retains the disjointed, separated feel of a column but luckily this suits the subject matter and the read becomes reminiscent of a set of case studies involving the astronomically weird, wonderful, controversial and mysterious.

As the book’s title suggests, Seargent details strange and unexplainable observations, beginning with a brief explanation and leading to a more in-depth and often controversial debate over possible explanations. Topics spanning blinking stars, UFOs, fake planets and artificial structures on other planets are all covered in surprising depth and are accompanied by photographs where appropriate. All are attributed a fair and reasoned discussion of the observations followed up by an account of the conflicting opinion within the astronomical community (often involving particularly distinguished and respected past and present astronomers). The author’s opinion on the likely truth of each claim is obvious but never overbearing enough to make each article excessively biased, something often encountered in books such as this.

Subjects are split into categories and subsequently into more specific headings covering areas of Solar System and deep space astronomy including the Moon, Sun, planets, meteors, stars and star-like objects, all summed up with a chapter on “fallacies, unusual observations and other miscellaneous gleanings”. It is not just interesting but also useful to the amateur astronomer, providing dates of future eclipses, meteor showers and planetary transits along with general facts and trivia.

It is more a book to read in bouts than a page-turner, but it is a very interesting, educating and compelling read; perhaps understandable, as the controversial and ‘as-yet-unsolved’ nature of the subject matter invariably piques human interest.

Nicky Guttridge