“With its 140 entries, it strives to provide an understandable introduction to the fundamentals of astronomy for upper division high school students and undergraduates. Those familiar with the Principles of Science series will immediately recognize the general format employed in this volume. Each entry starts with a list of related fields of study followed by a summary of the topic including how the entry is organized. After this comes definitions of principal terms and then a discussion of the topic’s relevant concepts followed by a list of further readings. Explanatory illustrations, diagrams, star charts, and photographs are interspersed. As one might expect, among the topics covered are stars, constellations and other celestial bodies like planets, asteroids, and comets. However, there is also discussion of space exploration with essays on topics like deep space navigation, earth‐imaging satellites, and space robotics. In addition, there are articles on related scientific processes like crystal spectroscopy, interstellar chemistry, and particle acceleration. Value added is provided by a series of appendices including Nobel notes, a glossary, a timeline, and a list of famous figures and events. A general index provides access to specific subjects. Principles of Astronomy is another well‐designed volume in a series that provides strong, basic coverage of key concepts in the primary sciences. Those libraries that found the other volumes in the series to be of value will want to add this title to their collections as well.”