[ATM] Amateur Telescope Making and best? books

[Jay Kirkland <jaykirk2@compusmart.ab.ca>]

Not ever having made a mirror, I'm probably the last person to make a
suggestion, but every copy I have and have seen of Thompson's old
classic(?) How To Make A Telescope has been smudged and highlighted and
underlined and obviously been very well used in its day. Is there any value
left in his instructions?  He was, after all, probably responsible for more
amateur telescopes being made than just about anyone else.
	But as for there being no value in Amateur Telescope Making, well perhaps
its instructions have been superceded by new methods and technologies over
the last century. But on the other hand,  ATM did publish a really
interesting paper on cooling mirrors with fans about 60 or 70 years before
someone re-discovered the idea. 
	Simply because it's old doesn't mean it doesn't have value, even
telescopes. Someone gave me a crappy old Clark refractor, I'd probably
lower myself and use it to check out Jupiter once in a while. Seems to me
the idea of an alt-az scope was so far behind its time that nobody would
even consider using one for most of the 20th century. Wonder if they'll
ever catch on again? One big advantage of checking out the history of
things often means that you don't have to re-invent the wheel. There are
some great old ideas out there. Old Mechanics Illustrated mag in the late
50s/early 60s had their monthly TM article and I lucked off finding an old
issue with as sweet and cleverly designed 6 or 8" as you'll ever see,
cobbled together by some 16 or 18 year old kid named Al Nagler. 
	Maybe it's significance as a modern mirror making manual just doesn't cut
it anymore but still... Burn ATM? Wait, didn't people used to burn books
once? Can't quite remember. Must have been in the old days. Nothing we need
to know about now. 
	Jay (Doomed to repeat the past)
	


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