James E. ObergCritiques

Back in the good ol' days of the early 80's this was the book to read on the Soviet Space Program. James Oberg, is the primer expert on the Russian Space Program and this was his take on what they might do. It is now out of date. Thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union we now know somethings that we could only speculate about. Still this is a good read and should be read before tackling the revelations of the early 90's.

Enjoyable, but did not stretch my mind.

Interesting book but a little out dated (the Challenger disaster being the big news of the book). The book is divided into themes for chapters. There are chapters on what it's like to be in space, how much better the human eye is than the camera, how basic human needs are taken care of in space (and what is done with the waste), etc. The writing is a little choppy, cutting between eras as needed for the thread of the theme, rather than smoothly segueing through eras or different missions to space. I found that style of writing the most difficult piece of the book. By about chapter four, I was finally in synch with the book and able to read more quickly.

This is one of my favorite space books. It explores different aspects of living and working in space. The author is very knowledgeable about space exploration and this helps to draw the reader into every aspect of being a space explorer. Being a physician and an Obstetrician, I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Space Death, Space Birth.

The body of the book fails in its attempt to do for space power what Mahan did for naval power. The three appendices, however, provide a useful elementary introduction to the principles of orbitology, spacelift and space treaties.