Erik Seedhouse

I picked up a copy of this cheap on eBay, which is good as Springer-Praxis books are not cheap. But they are interesting. The subtitle of this one reads “The future of humans living underwater”, and it covers a variety of different methods of doing so. The first section covers diving – free-diving, technical diving and saturation diving – but while the studies on free divers is interesting, the section on rebreathers reads like a technical sales brochure. The second section is about submersibles, but covers only Mir, Alvin and Shinkai before turning into an advertisement for hydrobatic submersibles (ie, ones that “fly” underwater). Section III deals with the reasons for colonising the ocean bottom, such as mineral exploitation, and the final section is about medical intervention to allow survival underwater. It’s fascinating stuff, despite the book’s tendency to read at times like it’s quoting verbatim from technical sales material; and while it’s good on the science and engineering of the current state of the art, it’s not so good on the history – the chapters on submersibles, for example, make no mention of the Trieste or Ben Franklin. But then it is a relatively slim book, only 187 pages, including appendix, epilogue and index. Nonetheless, pleasingly detailed.… (plus d'informations)

292 pages indexed. Worth buying if you are serious about the topic. Get this book from your library if you a casual reader. This is a detailed narrative of the key elements needed for NASA to return to the moon. This not light reading. 35 years ago America turned its back to the stars. are poorer for it.."The decision the United States made more than 35 years ago to retreat from the Moon and Mars was a mistake which cost a generation its chance to make a difference. For too long humans have been restricted to low Earth orbit operations and now is the time to move beyond Low Earth Orbit and start some real exploration....Returning to the Moon will allow NASA to restore its core values and once again enable the agency to pursue goals that raise the human spirit and reach for the stars once again.… (plus d'informations)