Space Travel (Science Fiction Writing Series) [Paperback]

Ben Bova (Author), Anthony R. Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997 | Series: Science Fiction Writing Series

Space Travel explains science, to help you make your fiction plausible. You'll engineer your rockets with accurate technical data. Show your characters' physical responses to weightlessness. Know the environment of space, how inhospitable it is - and how it's opening for business. Build an Earth-orbiting habitat for your story's setting. Discover our solar system ... and the staggering immensity of interstellar space. Consider the prospect of near-lightspeed travel. Imagine the conflicts, legal and military, your fictional missions might spark. In this book, you'll see what is real today - and what may become real tomorrow.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... an excellent survey of rocketry basics, space conditions, industries, and habitats, the Moon, Solar System, and universe, relevant international treaties, military uses, and more. A very nice introduction to astronomy for either writers or beginning students. -- Analog, Tom Easton

Product Details

• Paperback: 273 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books; 1st edition (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898797470
• ISBN-13: 978-0898797473
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #890,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and highly flawed, August 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Space Travel (Science Fiction Writing Series) (Paperback)

I'm afraid this book is nowhere near the quality of its companions "World-Building" and "Aliens and Alien Societies." The writing style and the information are overly simplified, reading more like a children's book than a guide for aspiring SF writers. Indeed, some of the material is simplified to the point of being dead wrong. For instance, in discussing orbits it perpetuates the myth of centrifugal force. Bova also grossly exaggerates relativistic time-dilation, saying a 2,000-light-year journey at 90% lightspeed would take 20 subjective years for the ship's crew; the actual figure is about 872 years. Overall, I feel the book focusses too much on near-Earth, near-future space travel and too little on more cosmic stuff, but that's a matter of taste. The most frustrating thing, which had me yelling at the book several times, is that (save for a couple of copied diagrams and one table containing Kelvin degrees) the book gives all measurements in non-metric units, not even giving metric equivalents in parentheses. Since metric is the universal measurement system for scientists, and indeed for virtually the whole human race save us stubborn Americans, this book's state of denial about the metric system sets a very bad example for aspiring SF writers. I cannot recommend this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Excellent Book in the "Sci-Fi Writing Series"., August 14, 2002

By 

chemikalguy "chemikalguy" (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Space Travel (Science Fiction Writing Series) (Paperback)

This is another of the books in this series that was put together by Ben Bova and a host of others. Mr. Bova has written a ton of Sci-Fi, and he is definitely an authority on the subject.

This book covers the science behind spacecraft, and delves into the history of spaceflight, both manned and unmanned. It also covers the technology, even going into the math of calculating thrust, impulse, etc.

I have used the section on theoretical spacecraft design in a novel that I am currently writing. I have found the information it includes to be very valuable.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prepares you for more advanced works, June 21, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: Space Travel (Science Fiction Writing Series) (Paperback)

This is, for the most part, a good book. Although it does have some errors of style (METRIC UNITS! PLEASE!) and a few errors of fact, as noted by other reviews, it covers a wide scope in adequate detail.

This books gives the basics of space science. From these basics, you should be able to branch out to more advanced tomes (Example books: The Starflight Handbook, The Third Industrial Revolution, etc.)

Use this book to get started, but don't trust its entirety.