Beyond: Our Future in Space 1st Edition

While I found parts of this book interesting, it was mostly just a rehash of the same tired old information that would already be known by the kind of people who would be interested by it in the first place. It also failed to discuss in any detailed way actual proposals to explore and expand into space.Additionally, the book could use some judicious editing. It directly contradicts itself in places, the grammar is occasionally rough, and rather than flowing smoothly, it tends to meander and double back on itself, often repeating previous information or imparting facts and anecdotes that seem to have little to do with the subject at hand.Finally, I was disappointed by the length of the book. The book proper ends at 65 percent, with fully 35 percent dedicated to footnotes, bibliography, and acknowledgments. This ratio seems a little skewed to me.This book is not without merit, but this diamond in the rough needs a lot of polishing.

A colony on Mars? Really?Some of us grasp the existential crisis humanity faces today, and fear that global climate change, an asteroid collision, a super volcano, a viral pandemic, or some other easily imaginable catastrophe could put an end to the human project — if not the human race — by the beginning of the next century. By contrast, congenital optimists foresee a glorious future for humanity among the stars. Here, for example, is astronomer Chris Impey, writing about Our Future in Space: “the space industry may be where the Internet was in 1995, ready to soar. . . Leaving Earth may soon be cheap and safe enough that it becomes an activity for the masses rather than the experience of a privileged few.” Others take a similar view — Stephen Hawking, for instance, who asserts that “the human race doesn’t have a future unless it goes into space.”So, if you’re wedded to a gloomy view of our species’ destiny, you probably won’t enjoy this book. For my part, there’s just enough of the optimist left in me to find Chris Impey’s vision intriguing. Not totally convincing — I’m still wringing my hands over climate change and a possible pandemic — but well argued and totally grounded in a deep understanding of science.Here is Impey’s thesis: “The itch that led our ancestors to risk everything to travel in small boats across large bodies of water like the Pacific Ocean is related to the drive that will one day lead us to colonize Mars.” This “itch,” Impey argues, arises from our DNA. Today, hardly more than 500 human beings have left our planetary home to venture into space, most of them barely so, in orbital and sub-orbital trips. Tomorrow — by mid-century, Impey believes — tens of thousands will have had that experience and dozens will be setting up our first permanent home on Mars.Don’t think for a minute that Impey is some starry-eyed fantasist: first and foremost, he’s a scientist. Our Future in Space is laid out in three parts: Present, Future, and Beyond. At each level, the author grounds his story in facts. He describes the origins of the US space program in Wernher von Braun’s V-2 rockets and the arms race with the USSR. In discussing the challenges of the next several decades, he is unrelentingly honest: “traveling into space is four hundred times more dangerous than flying but only twice as risky as driving.” This is not a throwaway line; Impey cites the statistics to prove this. In fact, he draws on a fount of fascinating numbers, explaining that today’s spacecraft are “mostly just hauling fuel around: the actual payload was 4 percent for the Saturn V and 1 percent for the Space Shuttle.” Even in Beyond, where Impey ventures far into a possible future among the stars, his feet remain firmly planted on terra firma. Though he draws analogies from Star Trek and science fiction novels, he never leaves the reader in any doubt that he is fully aware it’s all speculation.Chris Impey is a University Distinguished Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. He’s also a prolific author. Our Future in Space is his eighth book.

The author really covers all bases, from the ancients, to the space program, to Seti, and finally, to what space means for us as a species. Lots of interesting stuff, but it did not really have that feel of a must read book, and I'm not sure why. Nevertheless, if the subject interests you, I would give this a read. Imprey even tosses in a little ongoing vignette about what it would be like to be a passenger on a voyage to another galaxy. As an example of an interesting tidbit, he mentions that a band of 40-80 chimps has more genetic variation than all 7 billion humans on earth, suggesting humans at some point came very close to extinction.

If I could, I would give it 3 1/2 stars. Seemed somewhat uneven. I know it wasn't meant to be a history of space flight, but I thought there were some historical events that were either glossed over, or their implications weren't discussed. More so, I got a little tired of reading about the current space entrepreneurs. I suppose the author was trying to give us Americans the hint that this is the way of the future for the US space program, but he seemed to go on and on about them and it bordered on hero worship. The most interesting part of the book was the on the future of space exploration. The author offers some very interesting and novel ideas on how we can continue to explore space. Many of his ideas seem obtainable in the near future.It was a worthwhile read, I am not in a big rush to go out an read his other books on the subject of space and astrophysics.

I bought this for my husband who loves it. He thought it was informative and made him aware of some of the issues people have faced when developing new technological innovations.

This book provided excellent information about past, present, and future activities in space by people internationally. It was enjoyable reading, and sometimes humorous. I especially liked why the dinosaurs went extinct.

I wanted to really like this book. It is timely and important and very informative. After last chapter and when I was done, I was looking for something more, however. Something that the well informed author was not yet ready to say or cover.

There's not a lot of new info here if interested in where we've been and where we're going as far as space is concerned. But it's all in one place and makes for good read.

i didn't receive this book that i believed i had purchased----why?