Richard Hall (6)

A bit torn. On the one hand, this is an excellent introduction to the southern sky, with good Māori content, usable star charts, and lots of mindblowing astronomy facts. Unfortunately, there are some bizarre statements about human history and culture – such as language evolving only 40,000 years ago (so Aboriginal Australians presumably can't speak) – that make me have to doubt or second-guess many of his other statements, such as Aquarius signifying the start of the rainy season. It's a bit annoying. Still, this is a very useful book for beginning Southern Hemisphere astronomers. Take the history tidbits with a grain of salt.… (mere)