The Dream Machines: An Illustrated History of the Spaceship in Art, Science and Literature |
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The Dream Machines: An Illustrated History of the Spaceship in Art, Science and Literature
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by Ron Miller
Sales Rank: 620863
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List Price: $65.75
$62.50
At Amazon
on 6-22-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 744 pages
Published by: Krieger Publishing Company July 1, 1993
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0894640399
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0894640391
Book Dimensions:
11.3 x 8.5 x 2 inches
Weighs: 5.2 pounds
From Booklist
Writer-artist Miller's new book is the most comprehensive history of spacecraft design concepts published to date. Written primarily in nontechnical language, it chronologically reviews the inspirations and scientific breakthroughs that set the course of humankind's exploration beyond the atmosphere. (It may surprise people to find out that the first story postulating space travel was written in A.D. 160 by Lukian of Samosata.) Nearly every page of the book contains black-and-white or duotone illustrations and photos, and there are two additional sections with 16 pages of colorplates. While the key spacecraft that were actually used in programs throughout the world are represented, along with their prototypes, the main focus of the book is on designs that were technologically sound--at least when originally conjured up--but only flew in the imagination. For example, in the section on Project Apollo, there is only one page showing the final configuration, but five pages showing its engineering evolution. Nearly 200 pages are devoted to the "golden age of the spaceship," the years 1946-61 (when Yuri Gagarin made manned spaceflight a reality). There are also depictions of classic fictional spacecraft, ranging from wooden cabinets pulled by birds to the Discovery from 2001: A Space Odyssey. While the price of the book may seem high, much of the material cited can be found only in bits and pieces throughout the body of space-related texts, many of which are long out of print. Further, Miller captures the romance of space travel more vividly than any other writer. Even at more than $100, this book is a bargain. A foreword by Arthur C. Clarke, plus a bibliography, add to the value Elliott Swanson
Book Description
Unique in the literature of spaceflight, this book is an encyclopedic history of the spaceship from the earliest yearnings for space travel to plans for the distant future. Covering in unprecedented detail over 2,000 years of spaceship design, the text chronologically documents thousands of events, with illustrations and photographs graphically demonstrating the centuries-long evolution of an idea that has changed our world forever. Included are rare photographs and illustrations from science fiction films, books, and magazines; unique drawings of Soviet spacecraft; NASA photographs never before reproduced; and artwork specially commissioned for this book. The illustrations are reproduced in two colors throughout, with a sixteen-page full-color section, appendixes, bibliography, and index. Winner of the Booklist Editor's Choice 1994 Technology Award.
Reader Reviews
The first surprise for the new buyer of Ron Miller's "Dream Machine: An Illustrated History of the Spaceship in Art, Science and Literature" is that it was published in 1993, leaving the book strangely out-of-date despite being exactly what the spaceship romantic has desired all these years. My library is chock-full of books and magazines on the subject of spacecraft, and I admit with shame to having discarded older books which would now be collectors items because the spaceships depicted in them were "out of date". Something Miller's book emphasizes is that there is no such thing as an idea that is out of date. "Dream Machines" (beautiful title) treats Defoe (1705), Jules Verne (1865) and H.G.Wells (1901) who dreamed of space travel with the same dignity as Tsiolovsky, Goodard and von Braun, who made it a reality. This book's 714 pages are packed with the brilliant, the outlandish, the amusing, the thought-provoking and the real - and the almost real - spaceships which have graced humanity's longing to go "out there". The fan of early science-fiction has a rich field to explore, no less the student of hard-core spaceflight technology. Of special interest are details of the spacecraft which almost made it - the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar, the European Space Agency Hermes spaceplane, the Russian Buran, and all the developmental designs which were considered, often discarded, with these never-to-fly spaceships. The impressive hard-cover book is well laid out, with bold-type dates and crisp drawings and a few color pages. There is some confusion about which drawing goes with which text due to minimal captions, but the generous white-space give the pages a friendly tone that allows the reader to go cover-to-cover (if one is so dedicated) or to leaf through looking for technological or impossible gems. The development and discards of the Apollo Moon project are well documented, and compared with the Soviet attempt to trump the United States in the Space Race to the Moon. The discussion of starship designs leans more to the "realistic" such as the British Interplanetary Society's "Daedalus", leaving Star Trek's "Enterprise" to get just a bit more than a mention. Many designers of spacecraft which never made the grade get their names into these pages. Author Miller has really delivered a work of love here. Strangely though, the reader's final emotion is one of sadness and loss. Here is all this brilliance, designing machines that could really take us off the Earth to however far we wish to go, yet few - very few - have become a reality, and usually by the power of short-sighted politics which beggar the vast vision of so many of those whose works are described in this book. If you dream of the Solar System and the stars, you need this one on your shelf.
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The Dream Machines: An Illustrated History of the Spaceship in Art, Science and Literature
Available from Amazon
Price: $62.50
Updated on 6-22-2008.
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