I'm an adult scientist (Biologist) with a pretty strong background in physics and math (MIT undergrad), and a life-long interest in Astronomy, although I last took a course 20+ years ago. My 10-year-old son has also been into astronomy for quite some time, and asks very advanced questions (thinks like - what would it look like if you were falling into a black hole? Why do different stars end their lives different ways?) He understands the whole electromagnetic spectrum, doppler shifts, things like that. We both listen to Astronomy Cast and although it gets a little above my head sometimes, it goes above his head only slightly before mine!

We're looking for a good "Astronomy 101" textbook to read together - something at the level of maybe an Advanced Placement high school book or simpler college book. Can anyone make a recommendation? How about "Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium" by Pasachoff and Filippenko (he'd get a kick out of the fact that Filippenko is at Berekely where he wants to go to school - yes he's picked his undergrad school already!) Other thoughts?

Tom Bartman