Section: Book Reviews

Rob Wilson / 9:41 am February 7th, 2006

James Oberg delves behind a recent Russian declaration of intent to mine helium-3 on the Moon, and finds little of substance there: Moonscam: Russians try to sell the Moon for foreign cash

Dwayne Day uncovers another space history myth: Apocrypha now: no go for seven orbits

Taylor Dinerman asks (and answers) the question: Will rocket racing help us get into orbit?

Pat Bahn has some ideas about both the general criteria and some specific individuals who deserve recognition: Choosing candidates for the Heinlein Prize

Jeff Foust weighs in on the second of two books sharing both the same title and general topic: Review: the other Return to the Moon

Ken Murphy / 4:17 am January 24th, 2006

“The Moon - Our Sister Planet” by Peter Cadogan

Published in 1981 by Cambridge University Press, it weighs in at 380 pages of content, plus a nice glossary and bibliography. Professionally and academically edited, and I sure don’t remember seeing any errors. OOP

So if you’ve worked your way through the “Pocket Guide to Lunar Mineralogy” and find yourself curious to know where to go next to learn more, there can be only one answer: “The Once and Future Moon” by Paul Spudis. Dr. Spudis is one of the currently recognized “Lunar experts” and he has been quite vocal in elaborating many of the “why”s of going back to the Moon, both scientific and commercial. He’s a great guy, and very no-nonsense. He’s helped to shape many of my views of going to the Moon, and we usually correspond or talk a couple of times during the year. There’s good reason that “The Once and Future Moon” made the Out of the Cradle Top 10 List.

“The Once and Future Moon” will give you the background depth needed for “The Moon - Our Sister Planet”. Peter Cadogan does a great job of digesting what we knew at the time, and provides a solid foundation in Lunar mineralogy, as well as orbital science, history, and key missions. The book is replete with engineering style drawings and graphics of the various space and landing craft, as well as instrumentation, including ALSEP components, as well as photographs of both Russian and American craft, making it a good all around reference.

I’ve always been partial to the British style of academic writing, as it’s very straightforward, builds logically and informationally, and is packed with data. That’s the style found in this book, so I was very much able to enjoy reading it. Some may find, though, that they have to slog a bit, and those specifically interested in mineralogy can probably skip right to chapter 3.

It’s another title that really needs to be republished or archived on the internet so that we can start developing a pool of talent that will be ready for our return to our Moon.

This book is loaded with information and knowledge, and is a solid Full Moon.

Ken Murphy / 1:01 am January 18th, 2006

Be sure to stop by the Forums to catch up on reviews of Luna-centric science fiction tales. The latest addition is “Lunar Descent” by Allen Steele, a rollicking fun tale.

Ken Murphy / 5:12 am January 15th, 2006

“Space Colonies”, edited by Stewart Brand. Published by the Whole Earth Catalog through Penguin Books. 155 pages of content. OOP

This is a rather odd little work that has an amazing amount of really interesting stuff in it. It is a compilation of articles collected from the Co-Evolution quarterly and divided into three sections: Vision, Debate and Space. In large part it’s a compilation of the debate (largely from a California perspective, IMHO) that occured after the publication of “The High Frontier” (back when it only cost $2.25 a copy), and the book begins with an extract from that book, as well as Dr. O’Neill’s testimony before Congress. The editor interviews Mr. O’Neill, and as a result you get a good fleshing out of the concept of putting colonies in free space.

Then comes the debate, and it’s as vigourous as anything you’ll see on the internet, but much better behaved. There are lots of drawings, photos and even cartoons. A lot of recognizable names appear in this section, including Rusty Schweickart, Carl Sagan, R. Buckminster Fuller, Ken Kesey, Jacques Cousteau, and Eric Drexler.

Next up is Space, and is about being out there. Of note is the picture of astronaut Bean urinating while on Skylab found in an article on unpleasant topics “There ain’t no graceful way”.

Overall there’s kind of a haphazardly put together feel to it. It’s a good reference, but not necessarily really well organized. I can only give it a waxing Half Moon (i.e. a bit better than average), but are you ready for the good news? Click below (and thank you Al Globus)

Would You Like to Know More?

Ken Murphy / 6:10 pm January 14th, 2006

Be sure to stop by the Forums to catch up on reviews of Luna-centric science fiction tales. The latest addition is ‘Growing Up Weightless” by John Ford, winner of the Philip K. Dick Award.

Ken Murphy / 12:36 am January 14th, 2006

“The case for going to the moon” by Neil P. Ruzic. Published in 1965 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in New York. Runs 231 pages of content, which includes ample B&W illustrations, photos, and even a picture of a diorama of a small nuclear plant on the Moon.

There are a couple of titles in the Lunar Library that really need to get republished. This small work is one of them. In his preface, Mr. Ruzic states:

“I am uneasy. I resent the passive attitudes many scientists have toward the challenge of science, especially their passivity concerning the greatest scientific, technological, and industrial opportunity of all time - the development of space - a challenge so limitless and exciting as ultimately to surpass all previous human accomplishment.”

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 4:16 am January 13th, 2006

One of the most important things to learn about the Moon is about the rocks of which it is made. This is pretty tough to do, because most of the Moon books that people find while out and about will be yet another re-hash of the Apollo experience. One should not lose hope though, as there are materials available to help learn more deeply about our little sister in space.

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 5:22 pm January 12th, 2006

This is one of the works that I consider to be a key reference in the Lunar Library (which has expanded to encompass the High Frontier). It’s drawn from the www.permanent.com website, which has evolved a bit since the publication date though not in any way to draw from the utility of having a hard-copy at hand.

READ MORE…

Rob Wilson / 8:11 am January 4th, 2006

Ok - I’m possibly a little early for a book review, but Michael Belfiore has just announced over at Dispatches from the Final Frontier that he’s signed a deal with Smithsonian Books/Harper Collins for a new book: The Entreprenauts: Visionaries and Daredevils of the New Space Age.

The book should be out in summer 2007. Until then, Out of the Cradle will be champing at the bit to review it!

Rob Wilson / 11:59 pm January 3rd, 2006

Grant Bonin asks the question: Are heavy lift launch vehicles the best technology for opening space to humankind? He makes a cogent argument as to why they may not be.

Sam Dinkin reminds us of some radical but prescient predictions from Wiley Lay’s book, Rockets, Missiles, & Space Travel - and some not so radical ones that we’re still waiting on.

Taylor Dinerman reviews Doug Beason’s book, The E Bomb: How America’s New Directed Energy Weapons Will Change The Way Future Wars Are Fought. An interesting update on the transformation of laser and microwave beam weapons from ‘SF’ to ‘USAF’ - and how they are now much closer to the latter than the former.

Dwayne Day debunks the myth that John F. Kennedy was unaware of the real nature of the so-called “Missile Gap” until after he became president.

Anthony Young reviews Apollo astronaut Harrison Schmitt’s new book, Return to the Moon. (Note that Ken Murphy also has a review of the book right here at Out of the Cradle).

Rob Wilson / 6:44 am January 2nd, 2006

…which has acquired another member this year. The distinction of ‘first post of the year’ went to our newest contributor, Ken Murphy. Ken has been writing some excellent book reviews over on the forums, and he has kindly agreed to post them, and possibly other timely commentary, here on the blog.

Welcome aboard, Ken.

Ken Murphy / 5:26 am January 2nd, 2006

Well, it looks like Out of the Cradle gets to be one of the first to review the “Return to the Moons” that have recently come out.

We’ll start out with the ‘Return to the Moon’ edited by Rick Tumlinson of the Space Frontier Foundation and Erin Medlicott, who is also active in the space advocacy community. For the record, I know Mr. Tumlinson personally from various conferences and he has tried to recruit me into the SFF. However, I paid for my copy so this is a paying consumer review of the work, warts and all.
READ MORE…

Mark Trulson / 12:34 am December 15th, 2005

As I sit here supposedly completing a list of items I want for the holidays, I glanced around my book shelves and thought of the good selection of tomes I already have. I decided to start a layman’s list of space related books.

This list is for someone interested in space who wants to get more informed about the subject.
READ MORE…