Stephen Tonkin lives in England on the edge of the New Forest, but was raised under the dark skies of tropical Africa, which fed his childhood passion for astronomy. This started in October, 1957, when his father took him outside to see if they could spot Sputnik (they couldn't!). Nowadays, he spends most of his time doing astronomical outreach with the astronomical societies of which he is a member, independently, and in his role as a STEM ambassador. He has taught astronomy to people of all ages for more than 30 years and has authored many articles and several books on practical aspects of astronomy. He writes equipment reviews and a monthly Binocular Tour column for BBC Sky at Night magazine. Includes a link to freely downloadable higher resolution colour charts that you may print out or display on your tablet or other device. For many decades, the advice given to beginning amateur astronomers has been "start with binoculars" but, beyond that, there has not been any specific advice on how to go about it. Stephen Tonkin shows you why this advice is appropriate, and takes you on a year-long journey through the night sky visible from northern temperate latitudes. At the end of this journey, you will have a sound basic knowledge of the sky and will have gathered useful snippets of astronomical information and whimsy along the way. Although the book is intended to be used with a decent star atlas (the star charts in the book are size-limited by the page size), readers have the option of downloading a full set of higher resolution colour charts to print out or for use on a tablet or smartphone.