Thom reviewed Beyond: Our Future in Space by Chris Impey
Review of 'Beyond: Our Future in Space' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This excellent book surveys the recent past, present, and future efforts of space exploration, then goes Beyond, to examine the future of humanity. Chris Impey has a refreshingly optimistic outlook and this well written book was a joy to read.
Each of the four parts has many interesting points, some of which I had not encountered. In the first section, the information about the explorer gene was particularly interesting, and in the present his comparison of near-future space travel to the early Internet is especially good. Each major section is preceded by a few paragraphs of fiction, imagining the world of young pioneers, soon headed for space.
The illustrations were mostly small and a few were difficult to read, but all were sourced in the back of the book. This, plus the excellent end notes for each chapter, allowed me to track down additional information. The index in this book …
This excellent book surveys the recent past, present, and future efforts of space exploration, then goes Beyond, to examine the future of humanity. Chris Impey has a refreshingly optimistic outlook and this well written book was a joy to read.
Each of the four parts has many interesting points, some of which I had not encountered. In the first section, the information about the explorer gene was particularly interesting, and in the present his comparison of near-future space travel to the early Internet is especially good. Each major section is preceded by a few paragraphs of fiction, imagining the world of young pioneers, soon headed for space.
The illustrations were mostly small and a few were difficult to read, but all were sourced in the back of the book. This, plus the excellent end notes for each chapter, allowed me to track down additional information. The index in this book is also well done.
Reading this, I was favorably reminded of an earlier book, [b:Colonies in Space|1672032|Colonies in Space|T.A. Heppenheimer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1365589917s/1672032.jpg|1667039] by [a:T.A. Heppenheimer|1194986|T.A. Heppenheimer|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], which I read over 30 years ago. In both cases, authors who were very savvy in their fields extrapolated, piece by piece, on future of humanity in space. While precious little of the earlier book has come to pass, I hope that Impey's prediction of the future is closer to the mark.
Beyond is beautifully written, well sourced and a pleasure to read. I would recommend this book to everyone.