Burnham's Celestial Handbook

His life story is both one of the most inspiring and sorrowful tales I
have ever heard. I suppose bitter-sweet is a good term.


Hi:

Yes it is. He was, by all accounts, a sweet man, if eventually a bitter one
(anybody remember those letters he used to write to Sky and Telescope?). It is
to the credit of the astronomical community that he was thrown a number of
"lifelines," and it was not Burnham's fault that he was simply unable to grab
any of them. But it appears that he will live on for a long, long time via his
wonderful handbook.


Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
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Hello, Martin,
Interesting analogy of the cosmos to the city. I wrote something in this
genre a whle ago, that Ray Cash then linked to on his web page. Perhaps
we three are kindred spirits in appreciating the poetry of the universe.
So too are a lot of other amateurs, perhaps most.
Ciao,
Bill Meyers

Martin R. Howell wrote:
On 06 Sep 2004 15:14:08 GMT, Rod Mollise wrote:

Me? I don't _want_ to see the book updated. It's fine as is and should remain
that way. Anybody who wants MORE, MORE, MORE, should take a look at The Night
Sky Observer's Guide, which is like a Burnham's without the poetic prose, but
with many more objects. ;-)



It's like spending time in a section of a any city where most of the
buildings have been there for a long while. They don't look like
multistory, propped up panes of tinted glass laced with shiny metal and
topped with spindly antennas that scratch the sky and radar dishes which
capture information that is rushed off somewhere to be converted to cash.

The Burnham's trilogy is a brick and mortar masterpiece equipped with
pigeon-fouled ledges, gargoyle-tipped corners, and elevators that require
the manual closing of a sliding laced gate.

Look for me sitting at a sidewalk table outside a coffeehouse in this area
of town, slowly sipping a double shot of straight espresso and gradually
turning the pages of Burnham's Celestial Handbook.

Hello, Rod,
I agree with your post. But I didn't know about the lifelines thought.
Can you tell us more?
as an aside, let me report that a number of years ago, before
Burnham's death, I asked a contributing editor of Sky & Telescope, whom
I met at a star party, what had ever become of Burnham, he seemed to
have disappeared. I got what I felt was a cool uninterested response,
almost a brush-off. I have always regretted that I did not follow up
more aggressively with the S & T editorial staff by mail or phone.
Burnham did a lot for us and I think it is tragic that we couldn't repay
him at all. His emotional problems may have made him hard to help, but
judging from his book, he was a fine sensitive person.
Ciao,
Bill Meyers
Rod Mollise wrote:

His life story is both one of the most inspiring and sorrowful tales I
have ever heard. I suppose bitter-sweet is a good term.



Hi:

Yes it is. He was, by all accounts, a sweet man, if eventually a bitter one
(anybody remember those letters he used to write to Sky and Telescope?). It is
to the credit of the astronomical community that he was thrown a number of
"lifelines," and it was not Burnham's fault that he was simply unable to grab
any of them. But it appears that he will live on for a long, long time via his
wonderful handbook.


Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html

I agree with your post. But I didn't know about the lifelines thought.
Can you tell us more?

Hi:

Quite a few folks at Lowell, and in the amateur/professional astronomy
community in general tried to help him, but he was so painfully shy (or focused
or troubled) that he couldn't seem to accept help.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html