Jeff Foust has a review of the book (in the context of last week’s release of the 2013 ASAP report, which I’ve been meaning to comment on), over at The Space Review.
[Update a while later]
And of course the server at The Space Review would go down the day that he reviews my book. I must have crashed it with my link. 😉
The “cheapness of human life” quote was an interesting choice, and I think it reflects a common pattern of how people think about risk. When many look at history they judge that our predecessors simply valued life less than we do – and assume that this was because they were less enlightened. It’s a common past-time. You might call it the dark side of Progress. However, if you actually go read the words of those who lived in these apparently more barbaric times, you will discover that what you’re seeing is the lens of history. What you read about in history books is the stuff that is considered important. It isn’t just considered important now, it was considered important then too, and people were willing to lose their lives to do it.
There is a phrase from Shakespeare. “Hold their manhoods cheap.”
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
Henry V was saying that any man in England who wasn’t at the battle would be embarrassed for missing the fight when in the presence of someone who was there.
I received my copy today. Having been a regular reader here for a while now, there is nothing surprising to me in the first 100 pages or so, but I’m sure it would surprise someone who isn’t a total space geek. Now, how about getting some copies into the hands of congressional staffers…?
I need to figure out how to raise funds to do that.
Rand,
If Kickstarter is not an option we could just send you money orders, to a P.O. Box if you don’t want scammers to get your snail mail address.
How much money do you need to make it happen?
Well, to get to all the places you need in DC (e.g., every Congressional office), involves hundreds of books at several dollars per book. So a few thousand (including costs of travel to DC for a press conference). Obviously eBooks are (basically free), but you can’t leave an eBook sitting around a staffer’s office where someone else might see it.
After reading the comments, all I can say is…what crawled up Dwayne Day’s arse and died? Although I did read something from him over there a few weeks ago (don’t remember what though) that gave me the same kind of reaction.
He’s a self-important putz. I tell him so at every opportunity.