In article , David
Findlay wrote:
This has been discussed before, but in the interests of traffic, here goes:

What do you think are the essential books for readers of sci.space.*?

I think one of the most important would be Rocket Propulsion Elements. Any
others? Thanks,

Thoughts related to my interests and competencies, which have a tendency
not to be rocket science... b

http://www.astronautix.com/ is not a book, but is one of the most useful
reference materials around; ditto the various bits and pieces on
history.nasa.gov. Limiting oneself to dead-trees (g), Siddiqi (sp?) &
Chaikin seem to be the commonly mooted "space-race-era" histories, and I
keep hearing quite wonderful things about Jenkins' book on STS. Of
course, I only own one of those three... damn "money", and that "goods
and services" crap... I want books...

I do feel everyone should read /Case for Mars/, even if they throw it
across the room or tear out all the "and once we get SSTOs..." chapters
afterwards. This is a not uncommon reaction, based on my sampleset. The
other one I'd like to pimp at everyone is Sagan & Shlovskii's
"Intelligent Life In The Universe", which has a few v. outdated
chapters (ie, everything wrt Mars), but is excellent nonetheless.

Virtually everyone you can name has written (or, at least, put their
name to) an autobiography; I don't own any, but I do recall (being told)
that Mike Collin's book is a cut above most of them. A quick glance at
the shelf shows "A House In Space" (Henry Cooper); a 1978 book on
Skylab. Interesting reading, a good accessible read on space-station
lessons.

A good undergraduate physics textbook, for those of us who were never
very good at it, may well prove handy at times; everyone owns one
anyway, right?

There's a lot of general references which might prove useful; I have a
few "guide to the Solar System" type books of various vintages kicking
around, although most of the data they contain can be found online
easily enough. Ditto most general reference books; I tend to accrete
these (I have a medical dictionary, a journalism law reference, and a
popular-science book on the various chemical elements to hand just now),
and I suspect anyone else who lets themselves buy books on the "that
might come in handy" basis will... you never know when being able to
look up the world actinium reserves ("unimaginably little", since you
asked) might be important.

I really can't think of anything else particularly relevant, although
the Apogee books are excellent in their individual sectors.

--
-Andrew Gray