This is a pet peeve: I see so many astronomical books with titles like "Modern Astrometry", "Modern Photometry", "Modern Cosmology", etc.

The word "modern" is a horrible word to put in the title of a book or paper. I can see why it is tempting. The temptation should be resisted for the obvious reason: what it modern at one time is not modern at a later time. For example, there is a book in my lab titled "Modern Astrometry". It was written in 1978. There is nothing modern about it. The field has advanced greatly in the 25 years since it was written.

Some may argue that the title, along with the date of publication, tells us what was "modern" at the time. That is almost logical but not quite. For example, in classical music we are stuck with a "Modern" era that according to many ends with Stravinsky, which is 100 years ago. Are we going to extend that modern era from then until infinity?

I hope people work a little harder coming up with a title that explains the content and context of their book or paper without resorting to using the word "modern".