Book Reviews and Recommended Reading
More than 350 Nonfiction, Fiction, & Children’s Books Reviewed
Please use our NSS Amazon links! ANY purchase (books, electronics, etc.) earns a credit for NSS at no cost to you. Bookmark THIS LINK for ALL your Amazon shopping.
Opinions expressed are those of the reviewers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Space Society. To get a book reviewed by NSS: send query with book description to [email protected] Do NOT send attached files with your query. Do NOT mail books to the NSS address. We usually respond to queries within 10 days. Note: review copies must be provided free. They can be electronic, but books must also be available in print. We are ONLY interested in books about human exploration and settlement of space.
Book Review: The Case for Space
Book review: The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility, by Robert Zubrin. Reviewed by Greg Autry. Those of us deeply embedded in the space community understand that space development is the Rx for a dismal Malthusian future and Zubrin makes our case better than anyone has to date.
read more
In “Excess”: The Travails of 1967’s Astronaut Class
Two books – one released this week, and one released nearly half a century ago – give insight into the gradual whittling-down of NASA’s 1967 class of scientist-astronauts, who were unceremoniously christened the “Excess Eleven” (or “XS-11”). How did a group that produced a famously prolific, hyper-motivated space flier (Dr. Story Musgrave, the only astronaut to fly each Space Shuttle) also lose so many of its astronauts?
read more
Retro Books Corner: Mike Mars Flies The Dyna-Soar, 1962
Sometimes, young adult novels from the past define the desired values and “pulse” of an entire era. One book series, very aggressively marketed to teenage boys in the early 1960s, is the “Mike Mars” series written by science fiction author Donald A. Wollheim, and published by Doubleday.
read more
Book Review: Blue Darker than Black
This novel is the second book of an alternate history trilogy, chronicling the lives of two pilots in a secret Air Force program called Blue Gemini. This trilogy is “hard” science fiction, with care taken to get the technical details right. It all reads as if it really happened.
read more
Book Review: Daring Dozen
Category: Children’s Books Reviewed by: Ted Spitzmiller Title: Daring Dozen: The Twelve who Walked on the Moon Author: Suzanne Slade Illustrator: Alan Marks NSS Amazon link for this book Ages: 5 to 9 Format: Hardcover, Kindle Pages: 48 Publisher: Charlesbridge Date:...
read more
Book Review: Hey-Ho to Mars We’ll Go!
Children love nursery rhymes and Hey-Ho to Mars We’ll Go is a captivating version of the classic, The Farmer in the Dell. Parents or other caregivers may sing or simply read the lyrics. This playful story is magical in a scientific way.
read more
