I have written many book reviews, particularly for The Observatory, an independent journal published in the UK. Here are some examples.
Emerging Space Powers, by B. Harvey, H. H. F. Smid & T. Pirard (Springer, Heidelberg), 2010. Pp. 732, 24 x 17 cm. Price £27.50/$44.95/€44.95 (paperback; ISBN 978 0 4419 0873 5).
In the 1950s and 60s, space activities were dominated by the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. By the 1970s, Europe, Japan and China had begun to recognise the technological and scientific benefits to be realised from significant investments in their domestic space endeavours. Towards the end of the 20th century and in the first decade of the current century, new players arrived on the scene, notably India, Korea (North and South), Brazil, Israel and Iran. These up-and-coming space powers are the subject of this comprehensive account.
The present book has evolved considerably from the original 1999 volume about the Indian and Japanese space programmes, authored by Brian Harvey. Although Harvey has enlarged and updated his account of their important contributions and ambitions, the book has now been expanded to include contributions by two other well-known writers in the field of space activities. Each of them has been responsible for a different section of the book, summarising the technical advances in rocketry and satellite development in these less familiar space programmes.
Not surprisingly, almost half of the book is devoted to Japan and India. This is as much a reflection of the availability of open technical literature as the technical complexity of each programme. In the cases of North Korea and Iran, interpretation of the scarce – and sometimes misleading – information released by each country inevitably leads to considerable speculation. The launches of “ghost” satellites by North Korea are a classic example.
Well illustrated throughout, this hefty tome is a valuable one-stop reference for the status of the programmes in emerging space nations up to the end of 2009. Although most of the book is devoted to technical aspects of each programme, there is some effort to address the motivations and priorities of each nation. Appendices include a full list of launches involving these countries, plus details of space institutes in Iran, Brazil and North Korea.
Spacefarers, edited by M. J. Neufeld (Smithsonian Books, Washington, DC), 2013. Pp. 256, 23.5 x 16 cm. Price $29.95 (about £19) (hardbound; ISBN 978 1 93562 319 9).
In 2011, NASA held a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of human spaceflight and the 30th anniversary of the first Shuttle mission. Entitled “1961/1981 Key Moments in Human Spaceflight”, the meeting was a celebration of human spaceflight and its importance in both social and cultural history. This book was inspired by the papers presented to the conference, although many of the chapters are revised versions, completely rewritten or specially commissioned.
Edited by Michael J. Neufeld, a museum curator in the Space History Division of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., the book is something of a rarity because it explores themes beyond the more usual accounts of technical and programmatic evolution and geopolitical history. Instead, it comprises nine chapters devoted to the images of astronauts and cosmonauts, as presented by the media, state propaganda and popular culture.
The chapters are grouped into three sections. The first group addresses the role of astronauts in pre-Space-Age TV dramas, the mythology of the military test pilot / astronaut and their portrayal as heroes endowed with “the right stuff”.
The second section examines the importance of Yuri Gagarin in Russian popular culture, the press coverage of human spaceflight by Paris Match up to 1981, and the ways in which government propagandists used astronauts and cosmonauts to publicise national core values.
The final three chapters look at the role of IMAX movies in shaping popular perceptions of Space Shuttle astronauts, the media treatment of female astronauts, and a comparison of the ways in which astronauts are portrayed in Tom Wolfe’s classic of creative non-fiction and a novel written three decades later.
As expected with a book which is produced as an academic resource, each chapter is well written and extensively referenced. For sociologists and students of popular culture, this investigation of spacefarers as national role models provides plenty of room for thought, discussion and in-depth research.
However, it also highlights the dramatic changes in our perceptions of astronauts and cosmonauts over the past half century. When the Space Age began, the name of each courageous space traveller was on everyone’s lips and tickertape parades were held around the globe to greet the returning heroes. Today, crewed flights to low Earth orbit are largely routine and ignored by the media, while the dedicated men and women who maintain our toehold in space remain largely anonymous.
Emerging Space Powers, by B. Harvey, H. H. F. Smid & T. Pirard (Springer, Heidelberg), 2010. Pp. 732, 24 x 17 cm. Price £27.50/$44.95/€44.95 (paperback; ISBN 978 0 4419 0873 5).
In the 1950s and 60s, space activities were dominated by the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. By the 1970s, Europe, Japan and China had begun to recognise the technological and scientific benefits to be realised from significant investments in their domestic space endeavours. Towards the end of the 20th century and in the first decade of the current century, new players arrived on the scene, notably India, Korea (North and South), Brazil, Israel and Iran. These up-and-coming space powers are the subject of this comprehensive account.
The present book has evolved considerably from the original 1999 volume about the Indian and Japanese space programmes, authored by Brian Harvey. Although Harvey has enlarged and updated his account of their important contributions and ambitions, the book has now been expanded to include contributions by two other well-known writers in the field of space activities. Each of them has been responsible for a different section of the book, summarising the technical advances in rocketry and satellite development in these less familiar space programmes.
Not surprisingly, almost half of the book is devoted to Japan and India. This is as much a reflection of the availability of open technical literature as the technical complexity of each programme. In the cases of North Korea and Iran, interpretation of the scarce – and sometimes misleading – information released by each country inevitably leads to considerable speculation. The launches of “ghost” satellites by North Korea are a classic example.
Well illustrated throughout, this hefty tome is a valuable one-stop reference for the status of the programmes in emerging space nations up to the end of 2009. Although most of the book is devoted to technical aspects of each programme, there is some effort to address the motivations and priorities of each nation. Appendices include a full list of launches involving these countries, plus details of space institutes in Iran, Brazil and North Korea.
Spacefarers, edited by M. J. Neufeld (Smithsonian Books, Washington, DC), 2013. Pp. 256, 23.5 x 16 cm. Price $29.95 (about £19) (hardbound; ISBN 978 1 93562 319 9).
In 2011, NASA held a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of human spaceflight and the 30th anniversary of the first Shuttle mission. Entitled “1961/1981 Key Moments in Human Spaceflight”, the meeting was a celebration of human spaceflight and its importance in both social and cultural history. This book was inspired by the papers presented to the conference, although many of the chapters are revised versions, completely rewritten or specially commissioned.
Edited by Michael J. Neufeld, a museum curator in the Space History Division of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., the book is something of a rarity because it explores themes beyond the more usual accounts of technical and programmatic evolution and geopolitical history. Instead, it comprises nine chapters devoted to the images of astronauts and cosmonauts, as presented by the media, state propaganda and popular culture.
The chapters are grouped into three sections. The first group addresses the role of astronauts in pre-Space-Age TV dramas, the mythology of the military test pilot / astronaut and their portrayal as heroes endowed with “the right stuff”.
The second section examines the importance of Yuri Gagarin in Russian popular culture, the press coverage of human spaceflight by Paris Match up to 1981, and the ways in which government propagandists used astronauts and cosmonauts to publicise national core values.
The final three chapters look at the role of IMAX movies in shaping popular perceptions of Space Shuttle astronauts, the media treatment of female astronauts, and a comparison of the ways in which astronauts are portrayed in Tom Wolfe’s classic of creative non-fiction and a novel written three decades later.
As expected with a book which is produced as an academic resource, each chapter is well written and extensively referenced. For sociologists and students of popular culture, this investigation of spacefarers as national role models provides plenty of room for thought, discussion and in-depth research.
However, it also highlights the dramatic changes in our perceptions of astronauts and cosmonauts over the past half century. When the Space Age began, the name of each courageous space traveller was on everyone’s lips and tickertape parades were held around the globe to greet the returning heroes. Today, crewed flights to low Earth orbit are largely routine and ignored by the media, while the dedicated men and women who maintain our toehold in space remain largely anonymous.
