Foreword

Opening thoughts

Acknowledgments

Part I. Getting To Know The Sky: 1. Beginning with the Big Dipper

2. Magnitude, color, and distance

3. A word on binoculars and telescopes

4. Learning to see

Part II. Getting To Know The Variables: 5. Meeting the family

6. Getting started with Cepheids

7. Algol, the demon of autumn

8. How to estimate a variable

9. Names and records

10. Observing hints

11. Stately and wonderful

12. Stars of challenge

13. Bright, easy, and interesting

14. Betelgeuse: easy and hard

15. Not too regular

16. Nova? What nova?

17. Supernovae

18. Three stars for all seasons

19. A nova in reverse

20. RU Lupi?

21. Orion, the star factory

22. Other variable things

23. The Sun

Part III. Suggested Variables For Observation Throughout The Year: Introduction: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, Southern sky notes

Part IV. A Miscellany: 24. Stars and people

25. The next generation

26. Going further

Glossary and abbreviations

Index.