The Rocket Company

The AIAA has published the following book:

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=360&id=1280

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563476967

The book is intriguing and seems to deal with many of the issues we
discuss here. The AIAA reference has a review by John Carmack.

Has anyone here read it? Is it worth purchasing?

Thanks,

Jim Davis

Jim Davis wrote:

The AIAA has published the following book:

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=360&id=1280

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563476967

The book is intriguing and seems to deal with many of the issues we
discuss here. The AIAA reference has a review by John Carmack.

Has anyone here read it? Is it worth purchasing?

It used to be online in its entirety.

Read chapters 1 and 4 here :

http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/arc...titlePage.html

http://cosmic.lifeform.org

Jim Davis wrote:
The AIAA has published the following book:

The book has four review on line and 3 at Amazon plus a few
recommendation on the message boards search "Stiennon Hoerr"

Preview: The Rocket Company - Music of the Spheres - Nov.29.05
Book Review: The Rocket Company - Selenium Boondocks - Sept. 27.05 -
Jonathan Goff
Book Review: The Rocket Company - Universe Today - Sept.19.05. - Mark
Mortimer
Review: The Rocket Company - The Space Review - Feb.23.04 - Jeff Foust

Jim Davis wrote:
The AIAA has published the following book:

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=360&id=1280

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563476967

The book is intriguing and seems to deal with many of the issues we
discuss here. The AIAA reference has a review by John Carmack.

Has anyone here read it? Is it worth purchasing?

Thanks,

Jim Davis

Jim,

I once read it online, it intrigued me enough to buy the book when it
came out. It's pretty good explanation of the current launch situation
& a plausible way to fix it. The 'characters' in it are really just
readable mouthpieces for the author's explanation of current conditions
and a way out. Think "the man who sold the moon," written as a future
history instead of a narrative fiction. It's only a good read if you're
interested in the engineering and politics of spaceflight.

I think its greatest weakness is that the author pretty drastically
underestimates the difficulty and likely schedule slippage of building
an SSTO or TSTO--just look to SpaceX's current troubles (which is on a
much simpler, smaller, expendable) to see the why not on his funding
and timelines. There's no real evenhanded approach to methods
either--the author has a particular point of view on how to get to
orbit and doesn't fairly treat any other solutions

But otherwise an enjoyable read for any alt.spacer.

tom

Jim Davis wrote:

The AIAA has published the following book:

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=360&id=1280

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563476967

The book is intriguing and seems to deal with many of the issues we
discuss here. The AIAA reference has a review by John Carmack.

Has anyone here read it? Is it worth purchasing?

It used to be available online for free, and I read it there.

It's not worth purchasing IMO. It's a highly idealistic and
simplified 'golly gee wow' book, not a serious treatment. The whole
narrative is designed from the start to produce a foregone conclusion.

The parts available online now [1] give an indication of the low
writing quality and the extremely awkward mixture of exposition and
numbers that characterize the book.

D.

[1]
http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/arc...titlePage.html
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

Jim Davis wrote:

The AIAA has published the following book:

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=360&id=1280

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563476967

The book is intriguing and seems to deal with many of the issues we
discuss here. The AIAA reference has a review by John Carmack.

Has anyone here read it? Is it worth purchasing?

It used to be available online for free, and I read it there.

It's not worth purchasing IMO. It's a highly idealistic and
simplified 'golly gee wow' book, not a serious treatment. The whole
narrative is designed from the start to produce a foregone conclusion.

The parts available online now [1] give an indication of the low
writing quality and the extremely awkward mixture of exposition and
numbers that characterize the book. That it's publication here passed
with such little note should tell you much.

D.

[1]
http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/arc...titlePage.html
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL