If you need it, you need it.

This certainly isn't a book for reading. But it is a true reference -- statistics, tables, and formulae important to solar system astronomy. Within its special field, it is an excellent handbook. For example, I once used it to determine the density of earth's atmosphere at various distances above the planet's surface. You won't find quite as much precise detail about such things for the other planets, but odds are, if you need data, this book will have the best that was available at the time it was written.

Plus it has information on what to do with the data -- the formulae required for important calculations, plus context on when to use them.

The result is dry. It's a book for looking things up, not a book for casual use. With a bachelor's in physics and math and a strong interest in astronomy, there are parts of this I can't understand. But since the sections are largely independent of each other, you can at least safely ignore the parts you don't need. At minimum, you can certainly get a lot of fodder for astronomers' cocktail parties out of this volume. ( )