Good basic reference book with bits of history, position of the constellations and drawings. Can get technical but still a good intro to astronomy ( )

Review by Joe Benderavage, April 2006.
365 Starry Nights by Chet Raymo, 1982,
Simon &Schuster, New York, is
chockablock with drawings “meant to be
suggestive only” but, as it turns out, that
is enough to sharpen interest in the
subject.
The book was written for “a hypothetical
observer at a latitude of about 40 degrees
North”, for both visual and telescopic
perusal.
For January 11, a drawing of Horsehead
Nebula, small compared to its matrix
cloud, bears the startling description “A
billion solar systems would fit neatly
inside.”
Cross-references abound: from the
Trapezium in Orion on the January 14th
entry we see its young stars still
surrounded by its nebula and we are
advised to “see Mar 19-20” which
includes H-R diagrams that show stellar
evolution from contracting gas cloud to
Main Sequence star to Red Giant to Nova
to Dwarf star.
For comparison I look to Sky Atlas
2000.0, and on chart eleven I can see
Orion and am vaguely disappointed that
large entities like the Horsehead Nebula
and the three stars of Orion’s belt are
rudely crammed together and seem small
and mean; but where does that put the
aforementioned “billion solar systems”?