HN Books @HNBooksMonth

Reading Ignition! convinced me that there's more than raw intelligence to experimenting with energetic chemistry. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0813595835/

⬐ function_seven

Note to anyone that might be tempted to get this as an audiobook: Don't!

It didn't occur to me that the subject matter would be incompatible with narration, but it (IMO) just doesn't work that way. Large portions of the book have equations and heavy notation. Here's an actual passage:

> it can be simplified to cee equals bracket two aitch over em end-bracket to the one half power times bracket one minus parentheses pee e over pee cee end parentheses to the ar over cee pee power end bracket to the one half power.

Yeah, I just couldn't keep listening to that. I need to get a print copy, because the subject matter is interesting.

⬐ PebblesRox

Reminds me of a family story about my aunt recounting a Feynman lecture to her kids. She was drawing some diagrams he'd used and they said, "Wait a minute, how do you know what these looked like? Weren't you just listening to the audio?"

She realized that Feynman's verbal explanations were so clear that she had not had any trouble visualizing the diagrams as he drew and discussed them.

If anyone wants to get into some of the obscure history niches, see the book Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants (ISBN13: 9780813507255):

* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/677285.Ignition_

It's not about rockets in general, but about rocket fuel specifically. It's the "#1 Best Seller in Petroleum (Engineering)" category:

* https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-History-Liquid-Prop...

I've always loved Ignition![0] for the perspective it gives on working with the chemistry of this stuff.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-Univers...

The best place to start is Apollo by Murray/Cox: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/282086.Apollo Rather than focusing on the astronauts, this is very much a story of the engineering and management that made the project possible.

From someone who helped develop the lunar lander, there's Thomas J. Kelly's "Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module": https://www.amazon.com/dp/1588342735/

Another good book (so I've heard - I own a copy but haven't made time to read it yet) is Sunburst and Luminary by Don Eyles, who worked on the guidance system at MIT: https://www.sunburstandluminary.com/SLhome.html

For deep technical details (but light on first-person stories), there's How Apollo Flew to the Moon: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2323178.How_Apollo_Flew_...

Finally, not strictly related to the space race, but for some truly wonderful first-hand tales from the development of rocket propellants, you can't beat John D. Clark's Ignition!: https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-Univers...

That is pretty much all there is: If earth was more massive, the chemical rockets we've been producing wouldn't have enough thrust-to-weight ratio to reach orbital velocity (about 25k km/h). We would have to load the rockets with so much fuel to break free of gravity that they would be too heavy to lift themselves.

This is all assuming yields and fuels we have now. If we lived on a more massive earth and we were trying to escape its gravity, I'm sure we'd be using more exotic and dangerous fuels (like all those fun fluorine and boron fuels Dr. Clark mentions in Ignition![0]) to do the job. We just happened to have the capability in the middle of the century to use a fuel we were already making (refined petroleum) for jet engines.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-Univers...

The book was out of print for a while, and this PDF was the only way to,read it for less than $400. But now it's back in print for $17: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813595835/ Basically the same content, highly worth reading in either format.

He addresses the calamity that engineers don't read several times in the book - formulations are attempted a few years after someone proved it didn't work. Makes me wonder if a similar approach wouldn't be advisable in programming...

⬐ CaliforniaKarl

Thanks much for the heads-up about the paperback edition! I've got an order in now with Books, Inc., to pick one up.

⬐ bigiain

It's available from Amazon for Kindle too (I bought it last time it was discussed here).

⬐ dormando

The kindle version apparently used to be a shoddy PDF scan. Any idea if amazon's been updated to the 2018 reissue and if that's any better?

All of the reviews claim it's crud.

⬐ PEPCK

The copy linked above is a proper Kindle ebook, not a scan.

⬐ Varriount

It's also available on Audible in audiobook format too.

https://www.audible.com/pd/B07CTTXLL6

⬐ InternetOfStuff

Thank you for making me aware.

There's a paperback reprint now: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0813595835/

This is probably the best book on how the professionals had fun building rockets back in the day. It's a gread read, and full of useful practical chemical engineering advice and cautionary tales. You might find PDFs, but you can also buy it here: https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-Univers...

⬐ richardhod

Some quotes here give insight into the fun and dangers involved. https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/663284-ignition-an-inf...

'“It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.” '

I think I learned about the book from this blog, or a HN post of it,and it is both fun and expertly informed. http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/thi...

Finally back in print after 40 years!

https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-Propellants-Univers...

⬐ olliej

Oooh I need to buy a hard copy! Do we know how much (if any) goes back to him or his family?

⬐ busterarm

I'm uncertain about any relatives, but it is published by Rutgers University Press, which is a non-profit publisher.

Get the softcover one though, the hardcover version is a complete ripoff.

The book Ignition!, mentioned in the article/comments, is soon back to print[0]. After reading these articles I think the book is a must read. Too bad the Kindle version is quite bad quality.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-History-Liquid-Prop...

⬐ peteri

Thank you very much for that, I've now swapped my pre-order to paper after reading some of the kindle reviews.

⬐ pixl97

>Ignition!

FOOF