Post by Ron Walker on Oct 25, 2022 12:22:16 GMT -7
Since Sir Gare was kind enough to send me a copy of his book and requested a review, I should at least respond with a review. First I will mention that I have a review in my December column in the "Planetarian" and will defer to that publication as the more definitive. There are, however, some points that I could touch on (or perhaps shouldn't) but what the heck. First I will type a disclaimer of sorts in that being a being of diminutive stature (at least in the vertical dimension) I have built up a shell of sorts and tend to think things are aimed (usually negatively) at me. Most of this is pure folly on my part but it is a hard thing to shake. Grow up in Chicago's south side would put a hard shell on anyone.
In a whole, the book is a masterpiece. A definitive, concise discourse on the psyche of the home planetarian, or perhaps one of them. The first chapter takes us through the history of home planetarians and the forming of the first organized group, "The Home Planetarium Association" and many of the early pioneers in this movement.
The second chapter defines the philosophical manifesto of the home planetarian. I must admit that reading this chapter was somewhat biographical in that I could have been reading about me.
Now we get to chapter three, what is the best way to get started and build your personal planetarium. The author sets this up as a "Good, Better, Best" scenario (who can forget looking at a Sears catalog and wishing for a "best" while getting a "good"...such utter disappointment). But this is taken a step forward by associating the "good" category with "worst choice" (remember that Sears catalog), at least with the way my small mind works and noting that most of my choices fall into that "good" category. Devastation...how could I be so wrong! Now the author does place disclaimers throughout the book as these ideas worked for him and are not the only way to correctly go forth, but to a little fat kid from Chicago's south side they could be devastating.
Thankfully, the hard shell is doing its work and none of this really bothers me (at least not much) as for someone quickly approaching 76 years on this planet, and I am the last one to say anything might be considered politically incorrect, and it is said confession is good for the soul, but I wonder if any others out there were affected by the good (worst), better, best analogy. Probably not as those catalogs are long gone and most younger people have no idea of what this is about. I can't help but wonder though, did anybody ever get the "better" option and did they even make it.
In a whole, the book is a masterpiece. A definitive, concise discourse on the psyche of the home planetarian, or perhaps one of them. The first chapter takes us through the history of home planetarians and the forming of the first organized group, "The Home Planetarium Association" and many of the early pioneers in this movement.
The second chapter defines the philosophical manifesto of the home planetarian. I must admit that reading this chapter was somewhat biographical in that I could have been reading about me.
Now we get to chapter three, what is the best way to get started and build your personal planetarium. The author sets this up as a "Good, Better, Best" scenario (who can forget looking at a Sears catalog and wishing for a "best" while getting a "good"...such utter disappointment). But this is taken a step forward by associating the "good" category with "worst choice" (remember that Sears catalog), at least with the way my small mind works and noting that most of my choices fall into that "good" category. Devastation...how could I be so wrong! Now the author does place disclaimers throughout the book as these ideas worked for him and are not the only way to correctly go forth, but to a little fat kid from Chicago's south side they could be devastating.
Thankfully, the hard shell is doing its work and none of this really bothers me (at least not much) as for someone quickly approaching 76 years on this planet, and I am the last one to say anything might be considered politically incorrect, and it is said confession is good for the soul, but I wonder if any others out there were affected by the good (worst), better, best analogy. Probably not as those catalogs are long gone and most younger people have no idea of what this is about. I can't help but wonder though, did anybody ever get the "better" option and did they even make it.