This book describes a serious look at defending the planet in the event of an extra-terrestrial invasion. Travis Taylor, et al, have written the definitive book on the defense of earth against a potential alien incursion. Whatever your beliefs on the subject, and despite many of my own popular novels I am agnostic at best, the book also serves as an important primer on the potential future of warfare on every level. It is tightly grounded in current day realities of war and extrapolates thoughtfully but closely about future potentials. It should be on the reading list of anyone who is serious about national security and the future of war.
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About the Author
Travis Shane Taylor is a born and bred southerner and resides just outside Huntsville, Alabama. He has a Doctorate in Optical Science and Engineering, a Master’s degree in Physics, a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, all from the University of Alabama in Huntsville; a Master’s degree in Astronomy from the Univ. of Western Sydney, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Alabama. Dr. Taylor has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past sixteen years. He is currently working on several advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space based beamed energy systems, future combat technologies and systems, and next generation space launch concepts. He is also involved with multiple MASINT, SIGINT, IMINT, and HUMINT concept studies. He has published over 25 papers and the appendix on solar sailing in the 2nd edition of Deep Space Probes by Greg Matloff.
Dr. Bob Boan has been an active member of the space community for over a quarter of a century. He has worked on a variety of manned and unmanned space programs at different levels of responsibility over that time. Prior to his space experience he was a member of graduate school in several states. Dr. Boan is also recognized as a community expert on SIGINT, IMINT, and Communication systems and concepts. He also has significant MASINT experience. He has multiple relevant patents and technical publications. Dr. Boan has attended a variety of colleges and universities. He received his BS from Campbell University, then Campbell College. His Master’s was awarded by the University of Mississippi. He earned his doctorate at the Florida Institute of Technology.
Charles Anding received his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Mississippi State University in 1978. He has additional studies in systems engineering, digital signal processing and electromagnetic environmental effects. Mr. Anding has applied his creativity and expertise to solve a diversity of engineering problems for over 25 years. He has designed electronics and systems for space, military, industrial and medical products. He was the prime contractor's chief engineer for the design and development of a furnace system to grow semiconductor crystals in microgravity on both the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. He supported its use on multiple Spacelab missions, including training of the astronauts and sitting console for payload operations Mr. Anding was the chief engineer, along with Dr. Taylor as chief scientist, for the development of a novel new mission and spacecraft for exploring Pluto. He has designed and supported equipment on Navy fighter aircraft, Army main battle tanks, and attack helicopters. Non-invasive cardiac monitors for medical market, industrial robotics for the nuclear segment and user authorized handguns are just a few more examples of his broad experience base. He is currently designing controls for demilitarization of binary chemical weapons and beginning research and development for future fuel cell based power systems for rugged environments as well as building unmanned aerial vehicles for defense purposes. Dr. Thomas Conley Powell holds a B.A. in physics from Berea College, an M.S. in engineering science from the University of Tennessee Space Institute, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Kentucky. He is a senior scientist with BAE Systems in Huntsville, Alabama. Before joining BAE, he was a faculty member at the Space Institute; a member of the technical staff at Arnold Engineering Development Center, near Tullahoma, Tennessee; and a member of the technical staff of Teledyne Brown Engineering, in Huntsville. He has taught graduate courses in subjects ranging from astrophysics to nuclear engineering, and has worked in areas as diverse as aircraft control and nuclear fusion. However, his specialties are space trajectories, attitude dynamics, and numerical analysis. Recently he has developed an innovative fire-control system for artillery and surface-to-surface and surface-to-space rockets. He is writing a textbook on orbital mechanics.
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34 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An Introduction to Planetary Defense by Travis S. Taylor, et al., is a very comprehensive and scientific look at the possibility of and preparation for an alien contact and/or invasion. Opening up the book with a thorough and concise outline of the entire textbook (allowing one to easily prepare for an opening for a thesis paper), Taylor and Bob Boan waste no time in diving into the science and probabilities (or lack thereof) of an alien contact or invasion. Using graph's for visual assistance, they are able to easily explain scientific theories and examples that were once restricted to the realm of the scientific community. Boan's careful research, blended with Taylor's penchant for converting the incomprehensible to layman's terms, this book is the first step in the proper direction.
The book is divided into 7 main chapters, with subsections inside each. Each chapter focuses on one area of alien contact or invasion. These chapters are simple, so I took the liberty of shortening the chapter titles (or altering them to make this fun):
1) Chances of an alien invasion
2) Warfare with aliens
3) Which aliens are friendly, which want us for lunch
4) Do we need to know?
5) Did we say hello, or are you our lunch?
6) Who's prepared, and who's preparing?
7) Conclusion
While renaming the chapter titles may seem redundant, it is just one way that any student or professor can look at this book and not easily dismiss it as simply science fiction. The book should be in some classes, from politics to theoretical engineering, possibly even ethics. Each class could benefit from having a book such as this in the classroom, let alone the higher ups in our own government.... Read more ›
The book is divided into 7 main chapters, with subsections inside each. Each chapter focuses on one area of alien contact or invasion. These chapters are simple, so I took the liberty of shortening the chapter titles (or altering them to make this fun):
1) Chances of an alien invasion
2) Warfare with aliens
3) Which aliens are friendly, which want us for lunch
4) Do we need to know?
5) Did we say hello, or are you our lunch?
6) Who's prepared, and who's preparing?
7) Conclusion
While renaming the chapter titles may seem redundant, it is just one way that any student or professor can look at this book and not easily dismiss it as simply science fiction. The book should be in some classes, from politics to theoretical engineering, possibly even ethics. Each class could benefit from having a book such as this in the classroom, let alone the higher ups in our own government.... Read more ›
48 of 58 people found the following review helpful
By Keith Glass
Format:Paperback
First, some bona-fides. In my previous military career, I flew B-52Gs as an Electronic Warfare Officer, Instructor Electronic Warfare Officer, and Staff Instructor Electronic Warfare Officer, with a combined total of over 4500 hours of in-flight and simulator time, and spent 18 months on the Battle Staff of the 42nd Bombardment Wing (Heavy). I've helped plan missions that have never been flown (i.e. monthly contingency planning exercises), and planned what became the first few nights of B-52s in Operation DESERT STORM, 2 years before Kuwait was invaded.
Dr. Taylor's book provides the same type of background information on tactics, strategy, and alternatives as we used in formulating effective missions. The information is concise and informative, and yet engagingly written. This book needs to be on the reading list of every Intelligence officer as well as part of the reading for mid-level and higher Officer Development, and definitely covered during War College attendence.
And, frankly, it's also a interesting read, and would also make an interesting special for something like the Discovery Network. While written as a scholarly textbook, the level is suitable for the average college graduate.
Dr. Taylor's book provides the same type of background information on tactics, strategy, and alternatives as we used in formulating effective missions. The information is concise and informative, and yet engagingly written. This book needs to be on the reading list of every Intelligence officer as well as part of the reading for mid-level and higher Officer Development, and definitely covered during War College attendence.
And, frankly, it's also a interesting read, and would also make an interesting special for something like the Discovery Network. While written as a scholarly textbook, the level is suitable for the average college graduate.
27 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By Silverback
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is billed as the first, serious look by defense professionals at how the people of Earth might analyze, comprehend, and then defend against an Alien invasion. There are interesting and thought provoking ideas here but, their impact is lessened considerably and the credibility of the entire book itself is called into question by the occasionally illogical, and often clumsy and semi-literate writing style of the authors, for example, p.15 "If we are the only intelligent life form in the universe, why is there such a vast universe?" or p. 21 "It is most likely that any advanced civilization could eventually detect any lesser-advanced civilization." or p. 49 "We must refrain from automatically assigning the science of Earth as the set of natural laws that govern other celestial bodies. The natural laws, or at the least the understanding of them, are probably different in each alien civilization"
Given the book's subject, impeccable presentation is essential to convince readers that this is a serious book by professionals on a very serious topic; anything less relegates the book to science fiction status, and feeds the "giggle factor." Such a book as this could hold crucial ideas if we were ever faced with such an invasion but, it needs a complete re-write to be anywhere near as informative and influential as it could be. Attention also needs to be paid to upgrading many of the illustrations, which are also less than professional in quality.
Given the book's subject, impeccable presentation is essential to convince readers that this is a serious book by professionals on a very serious topic; anything less relegates the book to science fiction status, and feeds the "giggle factor." Such a book as this could hold crucial ideas if we were ever faced with such an invasion but, it needs a complete re-write to be anywhere near as informative and influential as it could be. Attention also needs to be paid to upgrading many of the illustrations, which are also less than professional in quality.
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a major let down. The language used is often clumsy and confusing. The references are hardly scholarly, including many science fiction films and novels, not to mention Wikipedia. You read that correctly, the text cites Wikipedia for a definition of "mecha."
The authors also suggest that internet searches will yield relevant information if desired. That's right, I paid for a book to tell me to look it up on Google. Graphs are referred to that were clearly left out of the book; for example, page 67 has a giant blank space where figure 2.3 belongs. Figures 2.2 and 2.4 are present, and figure 2.3 is referenced, but is absent. Additionally, the political slant presented is painfully obvious, tacky, and irrelevant.
While the topic of extraterrestrial attack allows for a great deal of speculation, the content they offer is poorly conceived, and there is very little offered at that. It appears that the formula for this book is: "[insert interesting topic] is beyond the scope of this book." The ideas that are presented are incongruous. For example, the authors describe at length the importance of developing laser-based weaponry, as it is assumed that light speed weapons will be of greater value than, say, nuclear missiles which are merely hypersonic. Fair enough. The authors then postulate that extraterrestrials will likely be able to travel at speeds at least 100 times greater than the speed of light. It appears to me that this would render the light speed lasers quite useless.
The authors seem to trapped in the mindset of the military-industrial complex, going as far as to advocate for a renewed global nuclear arms race. Don't bother with this book.... Read more ›
The authors also suggest that internet searches will yield relevant information if desired. That's right, I paid for a book to tell me to look it up on Google. Graphs are referred to that were clearly left out of the book; for example, page 67 has a giant blank space where figure 2.3 belongs. Figures 2.2 and 2.4 are present, and figure 2.3 is referenced, but is absent. Additionally, the political slant presented is painfully obvious, tacky, and irrelevant.
While the topic of extraterrestrial attack allows for a great deal of speculation, the content they offer is poorly conceived, and there is very little offered at that. It appears that the formula for this book is: "[insert interesting topic] is beyond the scope of this book." The ideas that are presented are incongruous. For example, the authors describe at length the importance of developing laser-based weaponry, as it is assumed that light speed weapons will be of greater value than, say, nuclear missiles which are merely hypersonic. Fair enough. The authors then postulate that extraterrestrials will likely be able to travel at speeds at least 100 times greater than the speed of light. It appears to me that this would render the light speed lasers quite useless.
The authors seem to trapped in the mindset of the military-industrial complex, going as far as to advocate for a renewed global nuclear arms race. Don't bother with this book.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thorough, methodical and exhaustive. Like a corporate report
Reads like any corporate report.
Thorough, exhaustive and impersonal.
Very, very useful for planners.
Initially i was put off by its dryness. Read more
Thorough, exhaustive and impersonal.
Very, very useful for planners.
Initially i was put off by its dryness. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Anandasubramanian
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great idea, poorly executed
This book fails both as science fiction and as military strategy. It reminds me of the worst academic military strategy books, full of charts and manufactured statistics,... Read more
Published on August 17, 2008 by Walt
1.0 out of 5 stars
Great idea for a book ...
... now they just need some guys who understand the "scientific" bits well enough not to screw them up, a guy who can "write", and, oh --- an "editor" would be nice as well. Read more
Published on February 19, 2008 by DJ Erwin
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sloppy & Careless Ad for Aerospace Industry
As other commenters have noted both the editing and the science behind the book are sloppy and careless. Read more
Published on January 7, 2008 by William B. Swift
5.0 out of 5 stars
Remember the Stars
An Introduction to Planetary Defense
I remember the stars. No, I remember the promise of the stars--the promise of a future antiseptic and soft around the edges. Read more
I remember the stars. No, I remember the promise of the stars--the promise of a future antiseptic and soft around the edges. Read more
Published on October 7, 2007 by A. D. Cox
3.0 out of 5 stars
Problem is well stated but no easy answers
The crux of the problem is that ANY species capable of interstellar travel must have the technology to generate and control energies many orders of magnitude more powerful than... Read more
Published on August 5, 2007 by Joseph Somsel
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good read, despite a few flaws
An Introduction to Planetary Defense: A Study of Modern Warfare Applied to Extra-Terrestrial Invasion is, just like its title says, a book discussing possible events in case an... Read more
Published on July 10, 2007 by Stefan Isaksson
3.0 out of 5 stars
An effort to be respected, if not a perfect product
While I emphatically agree that a more modern, serious treatment of the subject matter for mainstream consumption is long overdue, I was somewhat disappointed in this effort. Read more
Published on June 26, 2007 by Z. Wobensmith
2.0 out of 5 stars
Chutzpah defined
I HAVE read this book. There are many logical flaws in it, and it is quite disorganized, as others have mentioned. Read more
Published on May 12, 2007 by J. Runyan
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Sophomoric Effort
In all likelihood, there are genuinely good ideas lurking somewhere in this book. Unfortunately, the authors' credibility is repeatedly undermined by poor writing. Read more
Published on February 9, 2007 by N. Simpson
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