Customer Reviews

The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Wow.

If the title of this book didn't clue you in : this guy thinks BIG. No, make that BIIIIG!

Mr. Savage presents a complete programme of technical innovation, starting with colonies at sea and then in orbit, and proceeding to a giant, galaxy-spanning human civilisation. These elements have all been presented before, individually, in both technical and fictional literature, but this is the first place I've seen anyone draw them all together into a single, relatively coherent path.

Now, I do think it's right to be skeptical about a lot of the technical specifics Mr. Savage discusses. I don't share the faith in OTECs that he has, I really doubt his belief that humans can tolerate a 20g acceleration for any protracted period, and I think he over-estimates the willingness of most people to spend their lives in zero-g, crouching inside hollow asteroids (however nicely planted) and munching on vatgrown algae.

Whatever you think of the technical feasibility of his programme, he does present some startling ideas, amongst which I particularly loved (I'm paraphrasing) "Mars is an ecosystem in kit form ... all it needs is a catalyst to spring into life - that catalyst is humanity". Mr. Savage also makes some observations based on the truly titanic human population he foresees - trillions of people living in each of thousands of inhabited systems - he calculates (statistically) that hundreds of exceptional Mozarts, Picassos and Einsteins will simultaneously be alive. Like I said, he thinks big, and reading this made me think a little bigger too - if nothing else, that's the real value in this book.

Mr. Savage has an unerring faith in both technology and humanity. His vision of the future is one of endless growth and boundless resource, but he confines himself to the 'how' of this - the 'why' he leaves to others. Some of the reviewers expressed concerns over the "white-people-in-space" aspect that one finds in much "utopian" literature - I really can't see any concrete evidence of that here. It doesn't seem either logical or fair to suppose that a treatise as optimistic and technocratic as this need necessarily subscribe to right-wing social theories - indeed the book is rather thin on the societal implications of the massive changes Mr. Savage predicts. That said, the people depicted in the book's few colour places do all appear caucasian, albeit with a bluish tinge :)

You don't need to believe this book, but I do think you should

This is a deeply inspiring book. Marshall Savage describes a series of steps to colonize our Milky Way Galaxy but also, at the same time, to clean up the Earth's ecosystems and feed (and bring energy resources to) the Earth's poor. The first step is "Aquarius" which involves building floating colonies on the tropical oceans -- colonies that use Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) to get enormous supplies of non-polluting, self-renewing electrical energy from the coldness of the ocean depths. In addition, this process raises huge quantities of nutrient-rich deep ocean water to the surface where (after the energy is extracted) it can be used for mariculture (ocean fish farming) to produce a variety of nutritious fish and sea vegetables.

Using the resources (including the finances and crucial technologies) gained in "Aquarius," Savage next describes space launch systems using laser and mass-driver technologies. This step is called "Bifrost." Then he outlines how we can establish colonies in orbit (a step called "Asgard"). Then on to ecospheres on the Moon (called "Avallon"), creating an Earth-like atmosphere (or "terraforming) Mars (called "Elysium"), and so on to the processes that might be used eventually to send giant spaceships to nearby stars ("Galactia").

This exciting book spawned "The First Millennial Foundation" (now called "The Living Universe Foundation"), an organization of people working to make this future pioneering the "high frontier" of space come true for humanity.

It is well worth reading.

Strange thing about this book- you are almost compelled to go out and form your own business exploiting the ideas contained within it. Of course, some of the ideas simply will not be done, such as the giant Earth based electromagnetic catapult for cargo transfer to orbit, but the ideas are so well presented that you know they COULD be done if the money and the will could be found. (The Lunar version of this catapult certainly could be done...) One of the most useful aspects of this book is the enormous list of references that one can look up, they give even the most obscure concepts a great deal of credibility. Marshall Savages most effective contribution to the study of space colonisation though, is that the homes one creates OUT THERE can be beautiful and functional at the same time. We don't have to live in Tuna Cans or Death Stars, we can create living breathing ecospheres that would tear your heart out to leave. A remarkable book. Please buy it. It deserves all the awards available!

This book is an organized starting proposal for getting enthusiasts focused on improving our chances for colonizing space. If you use search engines and look up "Millenial Project", you will find that the book has indeed inspired many people to try to refine the ideas and work at testing aspects of the plan and working to implement aspects that are implementable.

Yes, the plan in the book has some flaws, but they have been documented and being worked upon or around.

It is a compelling yet flawed vision, but is a good starting point for action.

Is it fiction or documentary? A dream or a vision of greatness? In my opinion it beats hell out of reading our current headlines. It is a step by step plan that builds much like my old organic chemistry classes did, that is it all seems so clear as long as you don't skip any steps. Extremely interesting, but also very entertaining. About 50 pages into this book I began wishing the author could be given the authority (and the money) to proceed. I will be sending copies to my best friends.

When I bought this book, I had no idea what I was in for. Savage explains detail to detail about the construction of floating ocean cities, with unlimited power from the oceans. These islands might save Earth in the future. He describes a space launch system that can be much faster and cheaper than current launch systems. He makes the colonization of space very easy, using materials from the Asteroids and the Moon, to support a population of 7.5 quadrillion. This is not science fiction. Everything stated in this book has been tested in the laboratory. Order this NOW!!!!

I have read and researched Mr. Savage's book for hours and have tested his ideas in a competitive policy debate forum. The result of this research is not only credibility to Savage's genius but also a sound proving of his ideas. They may seem initially far fetched and interlaced with quirky nomenclature, but careful research shows the true feasibility of his plan and at least gives a convincing argument for the use of OTEC in the coastal waters. This is real hope for the future.

First, let me say that I loved this book. It gave a breathtaking vision of humanity's possible future in space, and provided many of the technical details that back up some of the ideas.
However, the key word is "some." Some of the ideas are not supported by science. For example, there is no evidence that OTECs (ocean thermal energy converters) won't damage the undersea ecology, nor is there any evidence that a mass driver of any kind will work on Earth, even the one that is so poetically called "Bifrost Bridge."
Savage states that humans can spend their lives in the absence of gravity as long as they get electrical muscle stimulation. Sorry, but there's more to it than that. It's not just bone and muscle loss; astronauts in zero gravity get too much fluid in their heads; the experience is like suffering from a head cold. Also, if they spend a long time in space without gravity, then they get all kinds of chemical and hormonal imbalances. Therefore, we can't live our whole lives in gravity-free plastic bubbles. Even if we could, wouldn't a person raised without gravity be unable to stand up, let alone walk, in any kind of gravity field (even the moon's surface)?
Speaking of the moon, Savage talks about using water as a radiation shield on the moon. Excuse me? There's no water on the moon, except perhaps a little bit of polar ice. Where are we going to get the water? Carbonaceous chondrites? If we can extract water from those, why couldn't we just build an O'Neill-style space colony from lunar soil? (It takes as much energy to land on the moon as it does to get off it because the change in velocity is the same.) At least then, we could have Earth's gravity if we wanted.
I like the plan for terraforming Mars. After all, as Savage correctly states, we don't just want to put humans in space; we want to disseminate life to other planets as well. If a meteorite destroys Earth's ecology, Mars will still be safe. I know nothing about ecology--I will admit that. But from what I know of chemistry and physics, the idea is a good one. Evaporate the dry ice caps (they are made of carbon dioxide) and thus raise the temperature. Send a comet (perhaps multiple comets) crashing in to Mars to bring in some water and to liberate some carbon dioxide and water from the soil. Use algae to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. Of course, this will take a long time--a fact Savage blithely skips over.
I also like the idea of hollowing out asteroids and using them as space habitats. Perhaps we should do that to begin with, rather than worrying about making bubbles and living without gravity. As least we can spin an asteroid for artificial gravity.
Savage's plan to get us to the stars is questionable. It involves sending a "seed ship" of 100 people and letting them grow exponentially. There are two problems with that. First, in order to have a full range of occupations and industries, a society needs at least 500,000 people--and that's with today's technology! It will probably be a lot more by the time we send out starships. A settlment of 100 people would probably be unable to survive without continuing support from Earth and it's solar system--which would be impossible from a distance of 4.3 light-years (the distance to Alpha Centauri). Second, in order for the settlement to grow, the colonists would need to have large families. That might have worked in the days of the American frontier, when women were still thought of as baby-making machines. But few women today would be willing to become baby-making machines on top of having to live light-years from their home solar system.
Also, when Savage talks about the possibility of going 99% the speed of light or more, he doesn't deal with the question of radiation. To protect from it, we're either going to need to put a lot of asteroid dust on the front of the ship (which means a lot more mass to accelerate), or we'll have to use a LOT of energy to deflect the radiation, which would create a lot of drag against the interstellar medium and thus might not even work. It could probably be done in intergalactic space, so it will be useful for going to Andromeda (2.2 million light-years from Earth) and other galaxies.
Overall, the book was a great read. It's good... as a work of science fiction. If you want technical details and scientific plausibility, read Entering Space by Robert Zubrin.

When I read the intoduction to this book, it forever changed my life. This is a book that only a true nerd, a dreamer, an optimist could love. For no book has a greater scope than this bible of space exploration and fantasy science non-fiction. It may not be a overnight page-turner, and Mr. Savage my have his head in the interstellar clouds, but my mind was changed instantly and permenantly in favor of the goals of the Millennial Foundation.

Savage's sweeping vision of the future of mankind in space is truly inspirational. There are some holes in his science and some optomistic misconceptions about human nature, however. In particular, i think he discounts some the sweeping changes in science and technology we will experience in the next 50 years and he overestimates our ability to assimilate these changes and turn them to productive use. In any case, his ideas about the growth and revitalization of humanity through space travel are fascinating and point the way to a bright future. I think (and hope) this book will be seen as prophetic 20 years.