Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space [Paperback]

Stanley Schmidt (Editor), Robert Zubrin (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 1996 | Series: Wiley Popular Science

"Let the meek inherit the earth—the rest of us are going to the stars! Here's how it's going to be done." — Robert Zubrin

"These articles are not 'just science fiction.' They are things we can do—and with any luck at all, and vision and determination, we will." — Stanley Schmidt

Take off on a thrilling journey of space exploration and speculation—to the realm where science fiction becomes science fact—as leading writers, researchers, and astronautic engineers describe a not-too-distant future of interstellar travel and colonization. From cable cars that ride "skyhooks" into space to rockets that can refuel out of Martian air, from "terraforming" planets (a process that makes them habitable for human life) to faster-than-light propulsion systems, Islands in the Sky offers an astonishing collection of challenging—and plausible—ideas and proposals from the pages of Analog magazine. Brilliant and provocative, here is fun-filled reading for everyone interested in science, technology, and the future.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A fascinating selection of "Analog" magazine's finest articles by leading researchers and science writers. Contains an astonishing range of new proposals for space travel and colonization including plans for the exploration of Mars, ideas for interstellar travel at the speed of light and the process of terraforming other planets to accommodate human life. Describes the latest in space exploration research and development by the world's foremost astronautic engineers.

From the Back Cover

"Let the meek inherit the earth—the rest of us are going to the stars! Here's how it's going to be done."— Robert Zubrin

"These articles are not 'just science fiction.' They are things we can do—and with any luck at all, and vision and determination, we will."— Stanley Schmidt

Take off on a thrilling journey of space exploration and speculation—to the realm where science fiction becomes science fact—as leading writers, researchers, and astronautic engineers describe a not-too-distant future of interstellar travel and colonization. From cable cars that ride "skyhooks"into space to rockets that can refuel out of Martian air, from "terraforming"planets (a process that makes them habitable for human life) to faster-than-light propulsion systems, Islands in the Sky offers an astonishing collection of challenging—and plausible—ideas and proposals from the pages of Analog magazine. Brilliant and provocative, here is fun-filled reading for everyone interested in science, technology, and the future.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471135615
• ISBN-13: 978-0471135616
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #375,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, September 25, 2001

By 

cmpst52 "cmpst52" (Denton, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space (Paperback)

This book is an excellent collection of essay by the leading producers of cool, far-out ideas alive today. Just reading it will expand your horizons and help you look at the final frontier in a new way.

Some of the essays, such as G. Harry Stine's on Single-Stage to Orbit spacecraft, are on near-term science and technology. Other essays, such as "Islands in the Sky," are longer-term and closer to science fiction. All are good.

My personal opinion is that the asteroids -- not the planets -- are the future of mankind, so the Mars-exploration essays by Zubrin et al. I found less enthralling. But you Mars fans out there NEED this book.

The essay, "The Economics of Interstellar Commerce" alone makes this book worth the cost.

Although I enjoyed John Lewis's _Mining the Sky_ more (simply because my bent is toward the asteroids), this book is better written and required reading. 4 stars.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a very mixed bag, March 9, 2002

By 

Bryan Erickson (Eagan, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space (Paperback)

I'm giving this five stars for the benefit of the chapters by Robert Zubrin and Martyn Fogg, which are ingenious and daringly original analyses of astronautic engineering and terraforming, respectively - each is the godfather of his field. The other material ranges from curiously quirky but not well-thought out (on terraforming Venus) to the kind of worthlessly unintelligent and uninteresting speculations you might expect to overhear from some goon at the bookstore but not to read in print (see the chapter on settling the Oort Cloud). This book was assembled as a "best of" selection from Analog; in a better world it would have been edited by the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, which would have known where to make the cutoff. Still, the good entries are fantastic enough to be well worth the purchase price.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An uplifting, optimistic view of our future in space, October 8, 1998

By 

Ramesh Gopal (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space (Paperback)

I found Islands in the Sky a very entertaining, enlightening and uplifting book to read. It boldly addresses a wide range of subjects dealing with space exploration and appears to come up with concrete answers! There is an underlying optimism in the whole book that given human ingenuity, anything is possible. This is a far cry from the many 'post-modern' books that crowd store bookshelves seeking to convince us that science is not the answer, that mankind is bad and its actions are always in conflict with the environemnt. This book speaks to those of us who believe that we are the masters of our universe.

Some chapters are too abstruse and perhaps only for the specialist, but most of the book is eminently readable. A must for every space enthusiast.