Welcome to Litsy!

Finally done! Not my thing, I think; I'm more interested in the human angle of science/space exploration, and not when the human I'm expected to sympathise with is a guy who became a Nazi and was totally okay with slavery and forced labour as long as his pwecious widdle project survived. I actually can't believe the level to which Amy Shira Teitel's narrative expects the reader to sympathise with von Braun's aims.

I'm taking it a bit easier for a week and suddenly finding this easier going -- don't know if that's because of the break, or because it's starting to mention names I recognise (Neil Armstrong!)... Hmmm.

I love the idea that in designing a chair for a highspeed plane, they thought about what companies might have made the best chairs in the world with the right considerations in mind about length of use and shielding from vibrations... and copied the design from a tractor.

This is unfortunately not really grabbing me. Can't decide if it's a not-right-now or not-at-all, though. Hmmmmm.

This is slower-going than I hoped... was surprised how much rocketry depended on Nazi scientists, not because it should really be surprising but just because I'd always thought of it as very American!

I'm in the mood for some non-fiction, so here we go! I can also check this out because it might be up my mum's alley for Christmas.

Today's Book Cover of the Week is an excellent companion to Michael Chabon's recent novel #Moonglow and Theodore Melfi‘s new film #HiddenFigures—which hits theaters tomorrow!

Find out more about Amy Shira Teitel's #nonfiction #debut 'Breaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA' here: http://bit.ly/2hWolaj

#JewLit #bookcover #bookcoveroftheweek

Jewish Book Council will be closed for the week of Sukkot—which is a great opportunity for our staff to catch up on some reading! What #JewLit are you reading in the week ahead?

When I was born, the Apollo missions were coming to an end, but the Space Race captured my attention. I found Ms Teitel's YouTube channel a few months ago (Srsly, how did I not know about this?) The library called after a couple of weeks of waiting. Gonna crack it open while my sick kid naps. 🚀

Recently finished. Interesting book telling the history of the US space/ rocket program prior to the creation of NASA.