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Astronomy / Space Related
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Reviews
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 Failure
Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
Gene Kranz's personal view of NASA's manned space program is profound:
his tenure at the agency spanned from the launch of the first U.S. chimp
and astronaut, to the 1993 Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. Kranz
was there for the early space-flight firsts and historic moon landing. As
such, Kranz was one of the people that "wrote the book" on space
flight methodologies. The book is loaded with behind-the-scenes info on
what really went on at Cape Canaveral. This book also contains gripping
accounts of the tragic Apollo 1 fire and the Apollo 13 "successful
failure" (in Ron Howard's "Apollo 13" movie, Kranz was
played by Ed Harris). |
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 A
Man on The Moon: 3 Volume Illustrated Commemorative Boxed Set
The author spent years of his life conducting hundreds of hours of
interviews with all the Apollo astronauts and members of their team. Their
combined depth of knowledge brings the Apollo storyline - from Earth to
the Moon -- alive like never before. You'll get "fly on the
wall" details of what a Moon mission was like: back room politics,
intense training, the thrill of lift-off and landing. Loaded with tidbits
of information for the space enthusiast.
The book is illustrated with dramatic glossy images taken on the Moon. The
epilogue contains information of the author's personal encounters with the
astronauts, and the appendices contain many biographical details on the
public and personal lives of all the Apollo astronauts, as well as a book
list and additional notes. |
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 The
Starflight Handbook : A Pioneer's Guide to Interstellar Travel
Ever wonder about the technical details of
reaching the stars? If so, this book is for you. This unique book contains
an un-mathematical treatment of interstellar propulsion, navigation,
communications, space-time effects, suspended animation, etc. Though a fun
book for the "star-trekker" in you, this is not a
"sci-fi" book: all concepts are based on current and proposed
science and engineering. |
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 The
Dream Machines: An Illustrated History of the Spaceship in Art, Science
and Literature
Illustrations of concept space vehicles and
prototypes jump from nearly every page in this illustrated history of
spacecraft design. Includes speculative designs throughout the ages: from
a wooden cabinets pulled by birds to the ship from "2001: A Space
Odyssey." A large section is devoted to the inspirational post-WWII
period leading up to the first manned flight in 1961. Comparisons are made
between actual and speculated achievements. One reviewer states that the
book "captures the romance of space travel more vividly than any
other writer." |
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 Calendrical
Calculations
This book offers accurate explanations of
calendar systems and algorithms to carryout the computer computations.
This just published book (September 30, 2001) comes with a CD-ROM with
Java, LISP, and Mathematica source code. One reviewer notes that this is
only one of two books he knew of that got the Chinese calendar system
right! A great buy for someone interested in the "nitty-gritty"
of date calculations. |
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 Marking
Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar
An all-encompassing history of the world's
standard calendar system. Along the way, the author tackles such topics as
the monoliths of Stonehenge, the ancient Egyptian calendar, lunar months,
Caesar's 445-day Year of Confusion, possible birth date of Jesus,
religious disputes on calendar reform, the establishment of time zones
with the rise of the railroads, and why Russia's October Revolution happen
in November. We learn how such people as Julius Caesar, Pope Gregory XIII,
and Isaac Newton tried to make sense of a calendar system that can never
be perfect. The history is backed up by mathematics to get the point
across. |
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 The Mapping Time: The
Calendar and its History
Global
survey of calendars used throughout history. Contains a
fascinatingly detailed account of the centuries-long struggle (political
subterfuge, mathematical confusion) to arrive at our modern Gregorian
calendar. Contains algorithms for calculating dates and converting
to various systems. |
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