Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience [Hardcover]

Ben R. Finney (Author), Eric M. Jones (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 370 pages
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr (August 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520053494
• ISBN-13: 978-0520053496
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,798,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most human of all books on interstellar travel, October 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience (Los Alamos Series in Basic & Applied Sciences) (Paperback)

Most other books about interstellar travel are the same, talking about only the technology. But this one talks about the human part of it. The ideas range from "why do it?" to "it's all sooo easy!". The multiple viewpoints are very interesting. I would recommend this to anyone interested in science fiction and/or space travel.

5.0 out of 5 stars It covers all the problems other than propulsion, September 26, 2006

By 

Karen Vandewalker (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience (Paperback)

The better nuts and bolts books about interstellar travel cover propulsion. This one is different. It compares interstellar migration to the only comparable effort ever before made by people, the exploration and conquest of the Pacific Ocean islands by Polynesians in outrigged canoes.

I think the most interesting articles for me were about the economic and genetic effects. For example, economically, colonists in a starship may find it very difficult to take enough skilled people with them (10,000!) to maintain an industrial civilization. Also, ramping up the tools, the physical capital, to actually settle a distant solar system is not credible with actual, existing systems: We need to minimize the shipped mass, so we start with... a blacksmith hammer and build Western Civilization? How much stuff do we take? Or the genetic founder effect: How many people is the minimum for a genetically stable population? Well, if they are from different ethnic groups, maybe as few as four to six mothers, and a sperm bank. Otherwise, about 300 is the minimum (ouch).

If you care about this stuff, get the book. It's cheap at the price.