ReviewsThis insider's account of the early years of rocketry captures the excitement of researching and developing technologies that lie outside the realm of computer science. While we're accustomed to think of technological progress in terms of Moore's law, in a few short years these engineers went from launching metal tubes small enough to hold in your hand to propelling a two ton metal capsule containing three humans all the way to the moon., Ignition! is a history of liquid rocket propellants, but it's also a history of cold war and the space race, told from a particular point of view....That humor helps the accessibility, and as long as you remember some high school chemistry you shouldn't have a problem with the science either., Ignition! is a hard-to-get-your-hands-on account of early rocket science...Clark was an American chemist active in the development of rocket fuels back in the 1960s and 1970s, and the book is both an account of the growth of the field and an explainer of how the science works., Ignition! is a hard-to-get-your-hands-on account of early rocket science ... Clark was an American chemist active in the development of rocket fuels back in the 1960s and 1970s, and the book is both an account of the growth of the field and an explainer of how the science works., This insider's account of the early years of rocketry captures the excitement of researching and developing technologies that lie outside the realm of computer science., Read this book. You'll find plenty about John and all the other sky-high crackpots who were in the field with him and you may even get (as I did) a glimpse of the heroic excitement that seemed to make it reasonable to cuddle with death every waking moment--to say nothing of learning a heck of a lot about the way in which the business of science is really conducted., The funniest, most accessible book on rocket science. . . . Often hilarious, always informative, this history of rocket science is a must-read. It's rare that a book about as high-minded and serious a topic as rocket science manages to be both highly informative and laugh-out-loud funny. But if there's a better way to describe John Clark's Ignition! , I've yet to discover it. A cult classic among chemists., Ignition! , originally written in 1972, is back in print after a long hiatus. A classic book, it tells a rollicking story of an era when space was the frontier. An informative history, it reads like an adventure story.
Dewey Edition23
Table Of ContentContents In Re John D. Clark - foreword by Issac Asimov Preface 1 How It Started 2 Peenemunde and JPL 3 The Hunting of the Hypergol . . . 4 . . . and Its Mate 5 Peroxide - Always a Bridesmaid 6 Halogens and Politics and Deep Space 7 Performance 8 Lox and Flox and Cryogenics in General 9 What Ivan Was Doing 10 "Exotics" 11 The Hopeful Monoprops 12 High Density and the Higher Foolishness 13 What Happens Next Glossary Index
SynopsisThis newly reissued debut book in the Rutgers University Press Classics imprint is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety. Acclaimed scientist and sci-fi author John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of history, sharing a behind-the-scenes view of an enterprise which eventually took men to the moon, missiles to the planets, and satellites to outer space. A classic work in the history of science, and described as ?a good book on rocket stuff?that?s a really fun one? by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, readers will want to get their hands on this influential classic, available for the first time in decades., This newly reissued debut book in the Rutgers University Press Classics Imprint is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety. Acclaimed scientist and sci-fi author John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of history, sharing a behind-the-scenes view of an enterprise which eventually took men to the moon, missiles to the planets, and satellites to outer space. A classic work in the history of science, and described as "a good book on rocket stuff...that's a really fun one" by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, readers will want to get their hands on this influential classic, available for the first time in decades., Ignition! is the inside story of the Cold War era search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take humans into space. A favorite of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, this "really good book on rocket[s]" is back in print for the first time in decades. Readers will want to get their hands on this irreverent and fascinating debut book in the Rutgers Classics imprint., A classic work in the history of science, and described as "a good book on rocket stuff...that's a really fun one" by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, readers will want to get their hands on this influential classic, available for the first time in decades. This newly reissued debut book in the Rutgers University Press Classics imprint is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety. Acclaimed scientist and sci-fi author John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of history, sharing a behind-the-scenes view of an enterprise which eventually took men to the moon, missiles to the planets, and satellites to outer space.