Ronald E. Doel

This is a solid, useful book -- a historical overview of a particular discipline in American astronomy, at a particular time. There are few if any thrills -- Doel doesn't really bring the personalities and conflicts and problems "to life" -- instead, he reports them in a very dispassionate "so-and-so did this, then in April 194x Dr. Someone Else responded like this" manner. There are defensible reasons for doing things this way (it prevents anything that looks like side-taking ... there ARE controversies here, after all), but it makes the book a bit of a slog and less fun than one suspects it could be.

Very handy if there's something you need in it.… (mere)