Found a 1950s astronomy book at a thrift in Austin for $3 and it had handwritten notes from the original owner correcting the star charts

I spent the whole weekend cross referencing his edits with a modern star map and he was right about half of them, has anyone else found corrected books like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily_ramirez45d ago

omg the whole "he was right about half of them" part is wild. i just saw some astrophysicist on tiktok talking about how old astronomy books sometimes had legit errors in them cause they were printed before certain discoveries. sounds like your thrift find guy might've been an amateur astronomer who actually knew his stuff. that's the kinda thing you'd frame and hang on the wall honestly.

lucas_price835d ago

Is it really that serious though? People online act like finding an old astronomy book with some notes is like uncovering the Rosetta Stone. Half the thrift stores I've been in have old textbooks with some guy's pencil marks in them, usually just him circling typos or writing "no way" next to a diagram. Calling the guy an amateur astronomer sounds nice, but for all we know he was just a bored retiree with a lot of time and a red pen. And framing it? That's a bit much, unless you've got a lot of empty wall space. I'd probably just leave it at the thrift store for someone else to ponder over.