- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Tarcher; Reprint edition (Jan 11 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1585420360
- ISBN-13: 978-1585420360
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.1 x 2.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 503 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #406,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Humans are not native to the Earth. So posits astronautical engineer Bob Zubrin in the opening of Entering Space. We're native to just a small sliver of it, the spot where our species originated in tropical Kenya. We set out from that paradise about 50,000 years ago, north into "the teeth of the Ice Age," and all the ground we've gained since then has been thanks to our tenacity and our tools.
Zubrin reasons that it's time we cover a little more ground. Written with a boyish enthusiasm and formidable techie know-how, Entering Space urges us to realize "the feasibility, the necessity, and the promise" of becoming a space-faring civilization, of colonizing our own solar system and beyond. And Zubrin, author of the influential and widely acclaimed The Case for Mars, knows his stuff--NASA adapted his plans for near-term human exploration of Mars, and Carl Sagan gave the author no less credit: "Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue." Entering Space plots the second and third phases of humanity's course--now that we've mastered our own planet, Zubrin says we must first look to settling our solar system (beginning with Mars) and then to the galaxy beyond.
With its practicable visions of using "iceteroids" to terraform Mars and harnessing the power of the outlying gas giants ("the solar system's Persian Gulf"), Entering Space succeeds at making the fantastic seem attainable, the stuff of science fiction, science fact. --Paul Hughes --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Astronautical engineer Zubrin stirred up more than a few imaginations with his 1996 The Case for Mars, which explained how and why humans could visit the red planet cheaply and soon. Zubrin's confident followup divides its predictions and programs into three sections: the first covers near-term projects in Earth orbit, with a view to commercial possibilities. The second part takes on the Moon, Mars, asteroids and the outer solar system, and the third adopts an optimistic view of interstellar travel and extraterrestrial life. Zubrin's range can amaze: he begins with the Space Shuttle (misguided and inefficient, he argues) and ends with speculation about how humanity might "change the laws of the universe." In between, Zubrin (privy to some of the dealings involved) shows how American politics quashed recent chances of cheap space flight; how "shake-and-bake" processing can profitably mine helium from the Moon; what we can do to defend life on Earth against a real-life Armageddon asteroid; and how a magnetic sail might speed up and slow down a starship. Zubrin's engineering background and his crisp prose make him a confident explainer, as technical as he needs to be but rarely more so. Regular readers of science fiction and anyone else with high school chemistry and physics will understand his arguments about the engines, ships and industries he proposes to create. His gung-ho clarity may even raise suspicions, especially when he moves from physics to metaphysics: Will the species really stagnate unless we become a "Type II" civilization? But anyone who cares about space travel will care about some part of this book. While some will gravitate to the near-term proposals, others will happily escape their pull and reach, with Zubrin, for the stars. Agent, Laurie Fox of the Linda Chester Literary Agency. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
HUMANS ARE NOT native to the Earth. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
HUMANS ARE NOT native to the Earth. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A touch preachy, speculative and stodgy,
By A Customer
This review is from: Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization (Paperback)
Robert Zubrin is obviously dissatisfied with the state of affairs with NASA. He complains about the lack of funding for certain programs and the lack of direction from the top brass. He makes his point but he should have cut it short.The author seems to overlook potential pitfalls in his ideas. On using nuclear fusion for propulsion, Zubrin states that exhaust speed could reach 5 percent lightspeed, therefore Alpha Centauri could be reached in 86 years. This assumes that extra time for acceleration is negligible. For acceleration time to be negligible, the power involved would be well beyond what current research in fusion power suggests is reasonable. This oversight makes be doubt the feasibility of his much wilder proposals. I appreciate technical details but Zubrin uses a pedantic style of writing more suitable for a textbook than a leisurely read. Zubrin's previous work, The Case for Mars, was never so tedious. However, Zubrin does a good job on explaining many principles and concepts that would be of great interest to the space enthusiast--mainly on how to best exploit the solar system's resources while achieving inspirational goals for humanity. He also gives a concise overview of the debate on extraterrestrial intelligence an their detection. I do recommend this book for space enthusiasts, but they should take it with a grain of salt.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Check the numbers!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization (Paperback)
I have only read the first seven chapters of this book so far, but I feel compelled to point out some errors of information. Zubrin attacks any idea that doesn't go to Mars directly without proper research. A few hours of web searching have shown that his pessimistic numbers about solar power and lunar agriculture are not up to par. Zubrin is a rocket engineer, and so he thinks only in terms of rockets. So far in my reading I haven't seen anything about light sails or his own magnetic sail idea (for an interesting breakthrough on magsails, run a web search for M2P2). Zubrin really, really wants to go to Mars right now, and so he tries to discredit any colonization ideas that don't accomplish that objective. Personally, I don't know why we would go to all of the trouble to escape one gravity well only to go and crawl down another one.On the good side, the initial chapters have educated me on the reasons why space travel is so expensive, and I am looking forward to the chapters about colonizing the outer solar system. The book is very well written, with a comfortable level of technical detail, and even its negative aspects have caused me to learn much more than I expected to get out of this book when I purchased it. Absolutely worth the money, but I can only give it four stars becasue of Zubrin's unreasonable treatment of other people's ideas.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Truly thought-provoking,
By
This review is from: Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization (Paperback)
Some of Zubrin's ideas are rather wacky (like the prospect of humans somehow firing up a brown dwarf into a full-fledged star), but for the most part, this book is thought provoking and raises numerous good reasons for mankind to launch itself into space. His argument that we will stagnate if we remain solely on earth is quite convincing, as is his theorizing that our galaxy teems with other civilizations. For the most part, you can skip Zubrin's equations and tables and still enjoy the book. What really shines through is his passion about humanity's potential. We could do so much, he argues, if we could just get beyond the petty fighting that bogs us down on earth. After reading this book, I'm absolutely convinced that Zubrin is on the right track. He may be an engineer, but his real strength is the ability to transmit clearly and simply the reasons why we can't shut the door to the universe. I haven't read a better book about space exploration since Carl Sagan's Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot.
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