Second Hester et. al.--that was the first general Astro book I read and learned quite a lot. It is written for the non-major taking Astro 101.

I'm currently reading the more advanced textbook: Introduction to Modern Astrophysics which has much more detail and intended for astro majors but is probably not quite at the 101 level.

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info