I would say that 90% of readers would not understand a thing. Anyone who
does this should
take a lot of care at reaching out to the majority rather than the elite.

I haven't looked at all of it yet, but most of what I have seen is on the
bottom shelf, accessible to almost anyone. For some of them, I thought they
were maybe a little too basic (but then I realized that is just where he is
starting). The math in the section on interferometry could intimidate some
at first glance, but even there, it is a matter of how much do you want to
understand it. My last math class was in 1977 and I haven't used anything
more complicated than algebra since then, so I am hardly the "elite."

Rather than "majority" vs. "elite" I think it is "those who want to
understand and will spend a little time thinking to make sure they got it
correct" vs."those who don't want to face something that will require them
to concentrate and really think." The fact is, some of those topics can't be
intelligently discussed without having to think about it. The essays do a
good job of explaining so even without much of a math background, you can
understand it.

Nice job Bill!

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/
And the Lunar Picture of the Day http://www.lpod.org/
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