Totality: The Great American Eclipses of 2017 and 2024

As expected

My wife initially borrowed this book for me from the local library. I didn't take it seriously at first, thinking with my background in astronomy that "I already know everything there is to know about solar eclipses". But this is no opportunistic book of fluff, far from it; there is a wealth of technical information in here on the general physical science of eclipses, on astrophotography, on eclipses in history, on making plans for viewing one yourself - interspersed with a human interest that belies the passion of the writers for the subject. Definitely informed my own attempts to capture a photograph of totality (see attached).It's good enough that after absconding from town with the library book to go on our own eclipse-chasing adventure (and paying the $7.50 late fee upon our return) I turned around and put in my order on Amazon without a moment's hesitation. Even with the 2017 eclipse in our rearview mirror, this is bookshelf-worthy.

This is a very good book. Very high quality. I'm preparing for a trip to the USA for the total eclipse on 21st Aug 2017 and this book gave plenty of relevant information including settings and exposure times for those interested in photography. Would highly recommend this book for anyone preparing to view this eclipse

This update on the original version from the late 90's is well worth the purchase price. The writing is a beautiful mix of science and prose that perfectly captures, as best as words can, the thrill of eclipse chasing. I've been fortunate enough to meet and travel with the authors as a member of previous eclipse expeditions; the eclipse-chasing community owes a debt of gratitude to these men for the obvious passion and expertise they've put into this book.

This an excellent book. The reason I give it 4 stars instead of five is because a total of 14 pages in Appendix A and Appendix B are blank. Judging from the chronology of eclipses being listed there, they were obviously just somehow not printed.