Ignition! cover art

Ignition!

An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants

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Ignition!

By: John Drury Clark, Isaac Asimov - foreward
Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
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About this listen

Ignition! is the inside story of the Cold War era search for a rocket propellant that could be trusted to take man into space. A favorite of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, listeners will want to tune into this "really good book on rocket[s]," available for the first time in audio.

Ignition! 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 that eventually took men to the moon, missiles to the planets, and satellites to outer space. A classic work in the history of science, listeners will want to get their hands on this influential classic, available for the first time in decades.

©2018 John Drury Clark (P)2018 Random House Audio Aeronautics & Astronautics Astronomy Astronomy & Space Science History History & Culture History & Philosophy Military Military Science Science Witty Technology Classics
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If you don't have a strong grounding in chemistry, a lot of this book is going to be little more than vaguely recognisable strings of syllables. There's a few startling and wild anecdotes sprinkled amongst an otherwise highly technical history. I think I'd rather have a paper copy as a reference.

This is not really a popular science book

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Quite literally, it's a book about propellants. Their history, development, and use. The author, having lived the story he's writing, has in-depth knowledge of the subject and knows just how much to put in as well as what to leave out to make the story have the biggest bang for your buck. Not riveting by any means it is well worth a read.

A book about propellants

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If you're interested in kerbal space program you'll like this.
I personally loved this book

I'm an analytical chemist so I may be biased

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loved it! this book is funny, smart and doesn't skimp on the details you should read it!

this book is way more fun than it should be

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