Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants [Hardcover]

John D Clark (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813507251
• ISBN-13: 978-0813507255
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,325,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Origin of Reprint Edition, April 15, 2005

By 

Customer (Ohio) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants (Hardcover)

Buyers should know that these reprint editions come from University Microfilms Books on Demand service and that the UMI price to individuals (they sell over the web) is $72. The vendors (who pay 20% less) just charge you $104 and have the book drop shipped from Ann Arbor. Quality of printing is good and even photos reproduce well.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conveys the can-do, pioneering spirit of early rocketry, September 8, 1999

By 

A. Nowatzyk (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants (Hardcover)

This book has the right mix of technical details, descriptions of experiments with spectacular results, background info about the why's and how's, and about the politics involved. It is a very engaging and uplifting book because Clark captured a lot of the enthusiasm he had for rockets.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertainingly Educational!, May 21, 2001

By 

J. Kemker "JohnK3" (Tucker, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants (Hardcover)

Of course, being a hard-core rocket geek, I first read this book hoping to learn about one of my favorite subjects. What I found was a wonderful, personal account of the men behind the technology. This book is an entertaining read that manages to teach quite a bit along the way. My favorite quote from the book is where Clark describes Red Fuming Nitric Acid (RFNA), a powerful oxidizer, as a substance that "attacks flesh with the avidity of a school of pirhana." That one passage did more to instill a sense of caution in my chosen hobby than anything else I've read or heard before or since.