Beyond Earth: Our Path to a New Home in the Planets | 
so-soSplit decision. Half of this (speculative) nonfiction book makes a strong case for focusing space resources on Titan rather than Mars. The less interesting half is an attempt to predict future decades of American/world culture and history (as relevant to space) that reads like a fever dream cooked up in some ivory tower jam session. In any event, they sold me on Titan, except Mars is where Calvin and Hobbes went in their cardboard box. Mars wins!
Finished. Mixed feelings about this book. Future part looks like brief retelling of space books. Present part is praising Ilon Mask and sending boos to NASA. Maid me all depressed - ecological catastrophe seems so real ...
Where do you want to go to colonize solar system ? ...
#TBRtemptation post 1! This is a non-fiction account that looks into the developments and initiatives that may finally make space colonization an achievable reality. A leading planetary scientist and award-winning science writer team up to review the efforts of Elon Musk, Richard Brandon, NASA, energy progress, breakthroughs in physics, politics, etc., in making this happen. Intriguing! #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎
so-soI found this book genuinely bizarre. It's about the challenges and possibilities in colonizing our solar system, and it was brilliant in that respect. It had a great tone, and the information was presented in an incredibly engaging and accessible way. The other part of the book though, was a fake history of a future Earth--and that was strange and didn't work at all. My verdict: read the "present" parts, skip the "future."
so-soThe nonfiction aspects of this were generally good - lots of good stuff about the past and present of both crewed and robotic space flight. The authors' attempts to extrapolate into the future are at best mediocre science fiction. Worse, they're clearly skilled nonfiction writers; a more straightforward style would have resulted in a better book. The bad sci-fi is worth it if you're interested in astronomy, though.
It's hard to read any planetary science and not compare it unfavorably to either 1. science fiction, or 2. Carl Sagan. I think this will avoid a DNF, but it'll be close.
I need a vacation far, far, away. Titan looks good. This book counts for #readharder challenges #11 & 13 as well as PopSugars challenge multiple authors.
A new book in my favorite category of nonfiction! Can't wait to read it. I hope that whatever's beyond Earth includes cats.
(PS-my cats wouldn't pose for a pic this evening so this little guy will have to do! 😄)
