The rise of a literate middle class with time to devote to leisure resulted in a population eager not only to better themselves through education but to see this very education as a form of entertainment for the entire family. Throughout the 1800s, increasingly strict regulations curtailing the amount of time people could work during the week freed more hours of the day to devote to other activities. People considered leisure time to be an opportunity to better oneself through learning, not merely to indulge in fun and games. Books and instruments were marketed as alternatives to vices, such as card playing, gambling, and drinking. To pass the time during these new leisure hours, parents often taught children, adults instructed each other (men sometimes taught women as a romantic gesture), and even children educated each other.

Astronomy became one of the first subjects (along with geology) to capture the public's attention. In the 1700s and 1800s, public lectures fueled tremendous interest in science. Astronomy popularizers such as Benjamin Martin, Camille Flammarion, and Richard and Mary Proctor not only published books and journals enjoyable for the public to read, but they actively promoted astronomy as accessible to non-professionals. Margaret Bryan focused her activities on the education of young women. Scientific knowledge also stood as a mark of social standing; the instruments and books that one purchased served as status symbols, reflecting either the scholarly prowess or financial success of the owner.

People enjoyed astronomy between 1750 and 1930 by attending lectures, reading books, and engaging in hands-on activities at home such as parlor games and backyard stargazing-activities that are not so different from those we pursue today. At a very basic level, astronomy was (and still is) easy to do: the sky is visible everywhere (although modern light pollution makes star gazing in heavily populated areas increasingly difficult) and naked-eye star viewing requires little or no equipment, aside from perhaps a compass and a book of constellation maps or similar guide to star patterns. With the addition of even the most basic of telescopes to one's backyard astronomy efforts, a whole new universe seems to unfold.