Astronomy
The book covers a great variety of topics, relevant in modern astronomy. They go from Earth to cosmology. The level is appropriate for an introductory course for non-science majors. Each chapter is very complete and well organized. Accompanying images are also illustrative and relevant to the topic. Problems that include calculations and formulae are simple but useful, they are relevant to the information discussed. I liked the inclusion of biographies of astronomers along history, including several women.
The text appears to be accurate. The images are well explained and well labeled, most of them come from reliable sources such as NASA, ESA, ESO, etc. Many videos also come from reliable sources such as national museums. Unfortunately, some videos are not available anymore on the Youtube platform. I wish they were in a book's dedicated Youtube channel, so the videos would always be available.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this book is mostly up-to-date, the online version more than the printed one which makes sense considering is easier to update things digitally. Sure, some topics are not included (e.g. the Artemis mission) but information about relevant astronomical findings such as the detection of gravitational waves with LIGO/VIRGO is included. Other recently launched NASA satellites such as the asteroid mission DART and the amazing JWST are also mentioned.
The book is very easy to understand, very descriptive and virtually no mathematics are included (the solved exercises included are easy to understand and involve simple formulae). This is a great resource for introducing astronomy to non-science majors. There are many analogies to make the concepts easier to understand, even complex concepts are explained in a very digestible way.
The difficulty level of all the chapters in the book is the same. The structure and organization is consistent throughout the whole text. The writing style is also consistent.
Text is concise which keeps the attention of the reader focussed. At the end of each chapter there is a summary with the key terms introduced/described in that module, as well as a summary of each subtopic. It also includes references, activities, websites, exercises and videos that help to reinforce the concepts explained. Since the chapters are well defined and organized, one can skip sections or select only the necessary material when explaining a topic.
The structure of the book is overall very good. The complexity and content of the chapters build over the previous ones. Also, each chapter has its outline and a brief introduction which usually include some open questions. The idea is to make the reader think ahead about topics that will be covered in the chapter.
The online version and PDF worked well. Unfortunately some links to the (YouTube) videos do not work anymore, the owner has removed the content. Hyperlinks between the chapters in the PDF or online version work without problems.
I did not detect any relevant one. Perhaps a typo, but it did not alter the meaning of the concept explained.
As a female astronomer I really appreciated the sections dedicated to the contributions of women to astronomy along history. However, I would have liked to see more diversity, i.e. contributions from women/men of color. Similarly, I think the contributions from other nations should be mentioned in a more extensive way, for example the launching of different missions to explore the cosmos. A less biased view to the USA contributions to astronomy would be appreciated. Contributions from Latin American astronomers (e.g. Guillermo Haro, hence Herbig-Haro objects) were not mentioned at all, only the Mayans were briefly mentioned at the beginning of the book.
Overall this book is very good for a course of introduction to Astronomy. Best part is that it is accessible to everyone. I think I will keep using it and I would recommend other astronomers to do so. I mostly criticize the lack of diversity. A less biased view to the USA contributions to astronomy would be appreciated since several countries and people of color have done, and are doing great contributions to astronomy. Also, I think a YouTube channel including copies of the videos (of course with the appropriate credits mentioned) currently listed in the book would be useful in case the videos are deleted in their original host channels, though I also understand this might not be possible due to permission issues.