A great book about the end of the Jazz Age and the discovery of Pluto
595136
Michael Byers' new book is centered around the discovery of Pluto in 1930 at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.  What really brings the book to life is the cast of characters who have assembled there.  A Kansas farm boy looking to escape the drudgery of his life by making a perfect mirror for his telescope on his farm.  A scrappy young astronomer educated at Harvard who wants to show up the rich swells for whom everything seems so easy.  A beautiful young woman who is slowly going mad and trying with all her power to resist it.  A feckless heir to a fortune who reinvents himself among the old sedimentary rocks of Arizona.  The idioms and feelings of the Jazz Age permeate the book throughout.  The characters are drawn with a tender love by the sympathetic narrator.  In the end, the story is the search for all the lost things in our own lives and about how even if we don't always find exactly what we are looking for, we do sometimes find what we need.
3686524
I first read this book back in the late 1960s and remember it fondly. Lately, we've been doing some tutoring and have been looking for a high school level book on the history of astronomy. This isn't a popular genre anymore. Too many modern books focus on the wonders of space which is understandable since we seem to find new stuff out there every five minutes. Unfortunately, they read a bit like atlases. They cover a lot of material, but lack any real narrative. This old book is a bit dated, at least in its later sections on modern discoveries, but it holds up surprisingly well. After all, the past hasn't been changing as quickly as the present. This book, by the astronomer Fred Hoyle, is also very well written with good, clear explanations and a good sense of motivation and narrative drive.

It starts with the ancients and gives a feel for how people first started to understand the regularities of the heavens. It starts with sundials and standing stones and simple observational gear for measuring the declination and right ascension of stars, though Hoyle avoids cluttering things with technical vocabulary. The story continues with the triumph of the geocentric system and its challenges. Eventually, the heliocentric system takes over and the age of optical instruments leads to new data, new models and new understanding. The mathematics are minimal, but important concepts are introduced nicely.

Written in the 1960s, there is a good discussion of spectroscopy, radio astronomy, stellar evolution and the fusion reactions that power the stars. Even better, Hoyle explains how we learned what we know. A lot has happened since the 1960s. We have telescopes of immense size on earth and in orbit. Our sensors cover a much broader range of the spectrum. We have sent probes to explore the planets and their moons. This book doesn't cover any of that, but in some ways that is a strength. Hoyle presents a good history, taking the reader up to a modern era, but before the great explosion of discoveries of the last few decades. It's a comprehensible story. The giants' shoulders weren't quite as tall as they seem these days.
907447
I won a free copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads.

Wonderfully engaging story of the eclipse of 1878 and the scientists who were there watching. Published in preparation for another American occurrence of this phenomenon, the author has witnessed 4 in various points of the globe in various comfort levels and has a deep appreciation for the beauty and specialness of this event that really comes through in the writing.

We follow a few leading scientists, an arrogant planet hunter, a woman trying to overcome bias, Thomas Edison and the sagas of their lives and after the eclipse. I literally see the Detroit Observatory that was home base for the planet hunter during this time from my office and had never heard of him nor realized that he is buried somewhere in the cemetery next door. Really neat to learn about Watson this way - as his arrogance lead to endowed medals in the sciences. Learned a great deal about science, America and eclipses.
1425998
As an admirer of the space program since elementary school, I have had so many feelings over the past few years with shrinking federal budgets, changing vehicles in which we get to space, and evolving public perceptions of space. This book, written by a trio of authors who care deeply about preserving space heritage, really brought to light so many of the sites that made up the fabric of this part of American history. Of course, we all know the big news events of the 1960s, but this book examines how America got to that point, to fulfill President Kennedy's declaration, and how now, those sites can continue to fill in the gaps of a story that is generations in the making. History enthusiasts, space pioneers, and an interested American public should buy this book, read it, and take action!
4190717
A entertainingly written story of the highlights of unmanned space exploration.  Coauthor Holly Henry's touch is evident throughout the book.  In fact, I suspect she did most of the writing. I read the book in two sittings and found it wonderfully informative. There were several errors in the astronomical data and explanations which should have been caught by the prime author and corrected in the 2016 revised and updated edition. There are 60 pages of chapter notes that provide more detailed information. These are worth reading through. Notably absent from the book was unmanned exploration of Mercury, Venus and the Moon.  Even with this aside, I highly recommend this book.
2856258
This 1955 has all the things we dreamed of space, including piracy, gunfights and our quest for more.  I only wish they had done better in proofing the transfer to digital.  My dad would have read this as a teenager and I know that it was stories like this that spurred his own quest for knowledge and dreams in the latter half of the twentieth century.  I hope this will spark the imaginations of our up and coming scientists an  explorers.
3995292
By FRED WEINBERG

Before we get to the book review part of this story, I have to make some disclosures.

First, the author, John Getter, happens to be not only a friend of long standing but a colleague as well.  He was my Las Vegas based producer at ABC news when I did technical work for the network.

But a more important disclosure is that like many people my age, I can still name the original seven astronauts, the names of their Project Mercury capsules and can tell you that on the first suborbital flights we used Redstone rockets and on the subsequent orbital Mercury flights we used the Atlas missile, a version of which is still being used today.

I choked back tears the day we lost Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White in an Apollo capsule, I did not learn about Apollo 13 from a Ron Howard movie and I watched the landing of the first space shuttle mission on a 13 inch color TV with the firm knowledge that when we could fly a plane back from space--not when we landed on the moon--our scientists and engineers had truly atoned for our getting beat into space by the Soviets with Sputnik in 1957.

In short, like Getter, my objectivity as a journalist might be called into question when it comes to the space program.

All that said, Getter has produced two more excellent books in his Moonwalkers series and, because of advances in technology made possible ironically by the space program's pure research, you can not only but they as an ebook on the burgeoning number of ereaders available today because, again, of the space program, but in paperbacks which you can get the author to autograph, [...].

The first is kind of a timeline from the beginning of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958 to the final moo landing, Apollo 17 in December of 1972.

If you grew up when Getter and I did but you've forgotten some of the trivia you learned following the program, this book is for you.

For example, if you've forgotten that after the successful docking of Gemini Agena 8 a stuck thruster placed the crew's life in danger and Neil Armstrong engineered a solution in the capsule, the date was March 16, 1966, three years before Armstrong was the first man on the moon.

The photos in the book are worth having by themselves, the book should be required reading for those who were born after we actually landed on the moon.

The other book is called "Star Truck" and it details the Shuttle program, warts and all, which was the first attempt at a reusable vehicle in space.

The author does not spare NASA its screw ups.

Getter's description of that horrible day in 1986 when we lost the Challenger and its crew is as riveting a piece of writing as exists. Not only was he there, he was there in a dual capacity as a friend of the Mission Commander and a journalist for CBS News.  That kind of reporting doesn't happen every day and is the standard he sets for his whole series of Moonwalkers books.

But while we had some tragedy in the program, the triumph was exquisite.

It's not that we're better engineers than the Russians, who are now our partners in the International Space Station.

It's that we encourage thinking outside the box.

Getter's book--his whole series--is written from both the viewpoint of a journalist and a fan.
It's a great read.

Ebooks are available at Amazon and the other purveyors, depending on which device the Space program made it possible for you to own.

Paperbacks through johngetter.com.
4728245
A great read for anyone who lived through the Gemini, Apollo, and the early days of the Space Shuttle era.
205615
For every level from the casual reader to the macro-seeker. It's not just a recap; it's an adventure that sucks you into the ups and downs of the most significant astronomical undertaking in your lifetime.
Pluto.
Seriously, Pluto.
Anyone who's read this knows that anything is possible.
4839497
I bought the second book first as this is the period I was most interested in and will now have to go back and read the first book last like a typical time traveler. I guess if you are a hardcore science fiction fan you know some of this, to me every few pages was a revelation as the story of Robert Heinlein's life was given context to me.

Things that come to the forefront of what I learned: Heinlein's struggles with his health (I had heard of them but never knew how many he had had); the man's fight for the rights to his own work (especially unauthorized foreign editions); the games played in Hollywood;  his lifestyle at home; his work with blood donor programs; the many trips the Heinleins took; and many more events which maybe I heard of before bu now were given context.

I think sometimes we have difficulty separating the life portrayed with the book that reveals it. Heinlein's politics were his politics plain and simple, you may not like them, or may have loved them but that is what they were.

It was great to understand and watch how certain ideas came about and eventually became books while others became great might-have-beens. Heinlein struggles at times between illness, well meaning and not so well meaning editors and Hollywood to bring us a body of work that is indeed grand. Well worth the time and effort of any reader interested in the lives of Robert and Virginia Heinlein.
4844532
For someone interested in Heinlein and his "development" , this book is fascinating and highly recommended. I put "development" in quotes because it was startling to see how EVERYTHING in his later philosophy, characters, etc. were all here in this first book. They didn't change for 50 years---the female stereotype, the sexual freedom, the political beliefs that strangely combine libertarianism with a very strong safety net, etc. I kept saying "Aha! Starship Troopers",  " Oh, Stranger in a Strange Land", etc. I am glad it was published, unlike my feelings about many posthumous publications (like the Walter Miller book).
On the other hand, I can see why he could not get it published in 1939. There is almost no story, and it is one long exposition of his philosophy.  If you want good SF, read almost anything else.
3282682
It was like a step back in time to read about the wives of the original astronauts and how they coped with their husbands 'fame, bravery and weaknesses. It's time their story was told and how they were thrust into the spotlight and how they had to uphold an image of the dutiful housewife. I enjoyed every minute of the book and hated to see it end...like saying good bye to some old friends. If you loved that era of the space race and the history of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts, you will like this book. Highly recommend it!
1277696
This is one of the best social histories of an incredible and interesting decade.  It is both well written and engaging, and is full of wonderful stories. Frederick Lewis Allen had an exceptional understanding of the forces driving society at this time, and has a wonderful way of telling how these forces drove events.  This is an "entertaining read" probably because the subject is good and the author is very talented. I would suggest that you treat yourself an evening with this little gem!
1556163
There are tons of books about the future soldier entering the future space military, many of them quite good. This one stands out among them as a commentary on war as well as culture. Of course the science is a bit retro as the book was written in the 70's, but it really wasn't distractingly old (like a Jules Verne novel). I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it highly.
2264515
My grandpa gave this book to me as an Armenian Christmas gift and I really enjoyed it, especially with regards to early pioneers of rocketry, Wernher von Braun's work on space travel in the early 1950s, early Apollo missions, and the bare bones of knowledge of all Apollo missions that landed on the Moon (except Apollo 13). It is quite amazing that JFK promised to have a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, and his dream came true with the Apollo 11 mission in June 1969. It is pretty astounding to comprehend the courage and perseverance that the Apollo astronauts experienced when making the epic journey to the moon, yet America's desperate determination to get to the Moon was motivated by the Cold War superpower rivalry because the Soviets had gotten a man and woman into orbit ahead of the US, and the USSR had its own plans to send men to the moon (the N1 rocket designed for Moon trips failed on all flight tests).

If anyone is interested in learning about the space race of the 1960s, this book is a valuable must-read for those who celebrate the exploits of American astronauts when they traveled to the moon.
3360697
I love this book. When the whole Pluto to-do erupted, my thought was, why don't they just leave well enough alone? This book didn't change that view, but I now have some insight into what went on behind the scenes. In any case, well before I reached the Pluto part of the book, I became totally enthralled with the writing and was willing to forgive the decision to render Pluto a non-planet (or more accurately, a dwarf planet).

Although I wasn't at all interested in astronomy prior to reading the book, the title caught my attention - clearly a title suggesting an author with a sense of humor - and decided to give it a try. The book is a delightful and highly readable, down-to-earth look at how astronomy and astronomers work. I became entranced by the nonstop search for something new "out there," the endless nights on the job, the transition from the terribly tedious previous methods of taking and examining photos to the current digital methods (a good deal of Mike Brown's work entails writing computer programs to analyze his digital photos for specific things-out-there that he's searching for). Much of the book read like a mystery; once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I wanted to know what happened next. How many books on scientific topics can you say that about?

This book nicely captures the anxiety that goes with withholding the announcement of a new find till it's been thoroughly analyzed and documented (a process that takes many months), risking that someone else gets there first and earns the glory. So it was easy to get caught up in  the saga of an astronomer who beat Brown to just such an announcement and the subsequent evidence of a major ethical misdeed. It's no secret that science is full of ethical lapses, but I've rarely had such a close-up view of one such.

Mixed in with his stories about searching for new planets, Brown relates how his personal life evolved in a way that changed his priorities: his new wife (another "find") and sometime later, his infant daughter about whom he collected scads of data, just as you might expect of a scientist. I appreciate Brown for describing astronomy and the life of astronomers in a way that I, a nonscientist, could not only read about, but also find fascinating. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
732117
Tycho and Kepler is a detailed biography of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, covering both their personal lives and their scientific careers.  It's arranged in chronological order, smoothly transitioning between the two scientists.  I liked this format a lot because it made it so easy to see how their lives related to one another.  There was actually quite a lot of personal drama, although it was mostly presented an impersonal manner - enough so that I really want to read some historical fiction now to get a "first-person" perspective on this fascinating time period!

Another part of the story which was surprisingly prominent was the detailed description of the astronomical concepts involved in both Tycho's and Brahe's work.  There were a lot of informative figures used to help with these explanations, as well as an appendix of astronomy terms, but there were still some times when I felt a little lost. The scientific mindset of the time was explained much better. A very interesting point the author raised was they way in which scientists of the time approached astronomy.  Due to their inability to prove any of their theories, in judging the validity of any system they could only consider its' ability to make predictions and its' elegance.  They didn't treat these systems as realistic models of the world, but as useful mathematical tools. Brahe and Kepler changed all that and in doing so changed the way we do science.

I really enjoyed the focus on what these two men did for science.  I also felt like I learned a lot reading this, despite little previous knowledge of the time period. Over all this was a fun and interesting read, that was both well researched and easy to follow.