Book 19 - The High Frontier by Gerald O'neil

Not a sci-fi book, not a hopeful utopic look at the world, not overly hopeful but solidly realistic in his estimations. A roadmap to human orbital development, C.1979

I've wanted to read this book for years now. I really wanted something that could show me the hows and whens of the whole issue. I think in my head I built it up as some bible of orbital development, something that explains everything and makes it easy for me. And somehow I was right. If you ever want to be completly sold on the idea of space development, read this. It clears up everything and makes every element of the process clear and obvious and shows how we could have fantastic structures in space for cheap. On 1970s tech. It also helps that he massively overestimates everything. Makes you think he understands better.

My only criticisms are that O'Neil seemed fixated on 3 activities; Ballet dancing in space, 0G Love Hotels and man powered flight. Three things one can understand being excited about but maybe a better time would be while righting a tourist guide for the station, not while writing a speculative paper on how one might build a station. The only other thing is that the first 3 chapters are full on Doomsday mode. He makes some excellent points but comes out sounding a little depressing.

buy it buy it buy it