**Peterson Field Guide to Stars and Planets – Astronomy Book for Stargazing, Night Sky Observation & Celestial Navigation – Perfect for Camping, Hiking & Outdoor Adventures**

Depending on what you're going to need in the field, this book won't help you very much with navigating the stars all that well "visually" because the pages are so small, but it IS very helpful on the technical info side of things, with lots of descriptions about what is interesting in a particular sector of the sky, or what you will probably be able to see in a moderate to large amateur-sized 'scope. Has common names as well as catalog numbers for most objects, and there is a cross-reference list if you don't know the difference between M7 and M11 (I don't). There are lots of what I call classic "pretty" pictures of deep sky objects that you will never come close to seeing in real life, except by astrophotography maybe, but they are very nice to look at.This book is starting to show its age at over 10 years old. Some of the time-sensitive data is getting out of date. Overall, except for the star "charts" being so small and cramped, this is really an excellent reference book with useful tips on what to observe, where and when.Couple this book with something like the amazing Wil Tirion's Star Atlas 2000.0, and maybe a top-notch computer sky gazing program like Starry Night 3 or 4, and you've got a valuable reference book in a very small package that can't be beaten. It's still one of my favorite books to take in the field with me, but you can't rely solely on it. It has even stood up to the test of wear and tear over the years. Very durable, it resists lots of moisture and handling. It's made of glossy heavy-bond paper, the cover is a kind of plastic-y material impregnated with woven fibers. Very nice, but I have to knock one star off for not being spiral bound. I guess they wanted to go for durability, instead of usability, which I guess balances out a little in the long run. Happy hunting!~