Scan barcode
sugar_book_fairy's review against another edition
funny
informative
slow-paced
4.0
As someone who has the bare minimum understanding of chemistry, this man's witty way of telling this story made me addicted to reading it. I like your words magic man!
beeostrowsky's review
4.0
Most of the chemistry is well above my head—no rocketry pun intended—because this literally is rocket science. But I was able to glean enough of the thought processes involved to enjoy the ride-along... especially when the author was recounting anecdotes about times someone did something that was inadvisable in retrospect.
__kya__'s review
4.0
Beautiful book, recommend to anyone interested in rocketry and chemistry. Who knew a semi-technical topic could be so incredibly fascinating!
finnaflyer's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
omad's review
5.0
I don't know chemistry to save myself, and this book is very heavy on it. But it's so beautifully written and easy to read that I could skim over all the parts I didn't understand, and still enjoy a wonderful story on the development of liquid rocket fuels.
As always, the best parts are the mishaps and accidents.
As always, the best parts are the mishaps and accidents.
lukemcclure's review
3.0
I really didn't pay enough attention in AS chemistry to understand a lot of the science, but the writer throws a surprising amount of humour in so it was never TOO much of a slog.
lourens's review
3.0
The tone is comical. The author probably does the best job possible writing a story encapsulating the liquid propellant development up to the 70s. Thing is, the best job is still very repetitive. The book shines in its quirky and particular anecdotes, but a big part is outlining the consequential chemical combinations that were tried. Listing of chemicals gets dull.
I'm still happy I read the whole book, as it contextualizes many rocket fuel fundamentals & trade-offs, which makes them in turn easier to remember. And it explains the roots of rocketry today. In the closing of the book, the author states that "There appears to be little left to do in liquid propellant chemistry ...". Pages before, he says "big first-stage space boosters will continue to use liquid oxygen and RP-1... ". 50 years later, this exact rocket propellant is used in SpaceX's Falcon 9 (one of the most flown boosters this decade). So, John Drury Clark seems to have known his field!
I'm still happy I read the whole book, as it contextualizes many rocket fuel fundamentals & trade-offs, which makes them in turn easier to remember. And it explains the roots of rocketry today. In the closing of the book, the author states that "There appears to be little left to do in liquid propellant chemistry ...". Pages before, he says "big first-stage space boosters will continue to use liquid oxygen and RP-1... ". 50 years later, this exact rocket propellant is used in SpaceX's Falcon 9 (one of the most flown boosters this decade). So, John Drury Clark seems to have known his field!
imitira's review
2.0
The first third of this book is pretty entertaining, the second bogs down with chemistry, and I may get around to finishing the last someday. There's enough dry wit on show from the author to make for outburst of laughter, but there's a lot of data in here. I also felt faintly disappointed about the horizon from time to time - there's some footnoted references to interesting projects in hopeful tones, but it generally turns out that they've failed in one way or another since the book was published in the early 70s.
malexmave's review
5.0
Originally started reading the PDF version of this in April 2016, but since the PDF was suboptimal, I stopped reading it after a while. Then the new release came out, and I waited for three months (!) for my copy - yes, it was this popular.
What can I say. It's a pretty great book. If you are at all interested in rocket fuels or chemistry, I highly recommend it. While I don't have the faintest clue about chemistry, the anecdotes alone are worth reading the book for, and I can only imagine that chemists will get a lot more out of this book.
What can I say. It's a pretty great book. If you are at all interested in rocket fuels or chemistry, I highly recommend it. While I don't have the faintest clue about chemistry, the anecdotes alone are worth reading the book for, and I can only imagine that chemists will get a lot more out of this book.
raviwarrier's review
3.0
A word porn of chemical terms.
A treasure for chemists but for the scientifically-challenged, this book would be like reading a graduate level chemistry textbook in 10th grade, which is why it bored me/went over my head.
A treasure for chemists but for the scientifically-challenged, this book would be like reading a graduate level chemistry textbook in 10th grade, which is why it bored me/went over my head.