Hi Robin, Paul and Andrew.
Many thanks for your interest in our books, also on behalf of Richard.
Concerning the content of book2 a more detailed overview of the different chapters is available following this link:
Therein you can see the detailed table of contents to compare with former online documents.
For all people who have already downloaded the former online documents “Analysis and Interpretation of Astronomical Spectra” and “Practical Aspects of Astronomical Spectroscopy” those documents were in fact reworked and adapted to the new table of contents of book2. Therein I introduced a more detailed background on the chemistry and physics of astronomical interest for spectroscopy. Furthermore book 2 operates also as a companion for the Spectral Atlas containing additional astrophysical information running parallel to the plates in the Atlas. Therefore when I was reviewing the Atlas in detail I proposed another sequence of the chapters in contrast to the former online version.
This way the Twin book project is also a nice tool for lecturers within spectroscopy courses. The purpose of our works is to make a contribution to the knowledge of the growing group of amateur astronomers stepping into spectroscopy, even less “scientifically skilled” people, who are also interested in this relatively new field offered by their astronomy club or observatory.
For the more advanced amateur astronomer the books are a vademecum in the step up process in working together with professional environment.
To give an idea how the two books are synchronised you can find a presentation I gave last year following this link:
http://www.armandpien.be/slides/slide/twin-book-project-door-marc-trypsteen-8
and some excerpts presented at the optics study day at the UGent University on March 17th 2017 following this link:
https://www.docdroid.net/8uKTb9N/optdag2017tryponline.pdf
Kind regards,
Marc.