Interested in new space books, check out READING SPACE: NSS Reviews and Recommended Reading .
Recent Review include Space Enterprise by Philip Robert Harris reviewed by David Brandt-Erichsen, How to Live on Mars by Robert Zubrin reviewed by Brian Enke. Saturn for My Birthday by John McGranaghan reviewed by Marianne Dyson.
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Category: Nonfiction Reviewed by: Douglas G. Adler Title: Space Ace: A Combat Pilot’s Journey from Vietnam to Beyond Earth Author:
Category: Nonfiction Reviewed by: Casey Suire Title: Return to Launch: Florida and America’s Space Industry Author: Stephen C. Smith Format:
Category: Nonfiction Reviewed by: Dale Skran Title: Reality Check Authors: Brad Wieners and David Pescovitz Format: Paperback Pages: 161 Publisher:
Category: Nonfiction Reviewed by: Mark Lardas Title: The Islands and the Stars: A History of Japan’s Space Programs Author: Subodhana Wijeyeratne Format: Hardcover/Paperback/Kindle
The National Space Society invites you to the next Space Forum Thursday, May 21, 2026, 8:00 pm to 9:15 pm EST NOTE NEW TIME! Return...
By Burt Dicht, NSS Managing Director of Membership with Dale Skran, NSS COO Image: Aerial view of Starship launch rehearsal (courtesy SpaceX) For the past...
The 44th Annual International Space Development Conference is in McLean, VA, June 4-7, 2026 The National Space Society is pleased to announce a keynote presentation...
By Burt Dicht NSS Space Coast Correspondent America’s human spaceflight program began 65 years ago today. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard made history as...
By Burt Dicht NSS Space Coast Correspondent Image: Falcon Heavy side booster landings took place within about 5 seconds of each other at landing sites...
The 44th Annual International Space Development Conference is in McLean, VA, June 4-7, 2026 The National Space Society is pleased to announce a keynote by...
The 44th Annual International Space Development Conference is in McLean, VA, June 4-7, 2026 The National Space Society is pleased to announce its Space Pioneer...
1 thought on “NSS Book Reviews”
I propose a work for review and discussion here that I think is about as good a resource about space settlements as will be written for a few decades to come. I know of it because Zubrin mentions it. It is, Frederick Jackson Turner, The Frontier in American History.
In Turner the future of space development and settlements is laid out plain to see. Since we haven’t any previous space settlements experience, Turner is practically a plan for how to go about it. Much of the good in Turner is that to apply it, you have to translate it from his 1890’s vocabulary, into the future. It’s a learning experience to do this. I especially liked Turner’s observation of progressive stages of settlement. It can serve as an antidote to the easy projection of future without detail, that certainly won’t go as we’d like it to.
So I think Turner is very much worth mentioning, here, and now.
Cheers — Martha Adams 2009 Mar 02