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Ignition!
- An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 05-15-18
- Language: English
- Publisher: Random House Audio
Regular price: $28.00
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On the morning of April 26, 1986, Europe witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine. Dozens died of radiation poisoning, fallout contaminated half the continent, and thousands fell ill. In Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy draws on new sources to tell the dramatic stories of the firefighters, scientists, and soldiers who heroically extinguished the nuclear inferno. He lays bare the flaws of the Soviet nuclear industry....
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Here for the first time, in rich human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan. Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly - or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity, there was a span of hardly more than 25 years.
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Go, Flight!
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At first glance, it looks like just another auditorium in just another government building. But among the talented men (and later women) who worked in mission control, the room located on the third floor of Building 30—at what is now Johnson Space Center—would become known by many as "the Cathedral." These members of the space program were the brightest of their generations, making split-second decisions that determined the success or failure of a mission.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, with some interesting insights
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Publisher's Summary
Ignition! is the inside story of the Cold War era search for a rocket propellant that could be trusted to take man into space. A favorite of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, listeners will want to tune into this "really good book on rocket[s]," available for the first time in audio.
Ignition! is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety.
Acclaimed scientist and sci-fi author John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of history, sharing a behind-the-scenes view of an enterprise that eventually took men to the moon, missiles to the planets, and satellites to outer space. A classic work in the history of science, listeners will want to get their hands on this influential classic, available for the first time in decades.
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What members say
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Overall
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Joe K
- 09-19-18
Fun and informative.
The author has a fun writing style. It's an interesting look back at the evolution of rocket propellant, even if you are not great at chemistry.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- joseph
- US
- 08-30-18
fun science
An interesting and rare approach to practical science and a fun read to boot. enjoy
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Andrew J.
- 09-29-18
you don't need to know chemistry.
hilarious anecdotes about explosions and government contracting. if you don't know any chemistry at the start you'll know some at the end.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Greg
- 09-15-18
A fascinating look into high end chemistry
One for the chemistry buff!!!
Makes me feel like I wasted my youth creating ridiculously expensive precious metal acids, when I could have been making rocket fuels, oh to bed few decades older.
A fascinating look at chemistry & chemical engineering back when not everything wasn't already known and people risked life & limb for their knowledge.
Bravo to the narrator, so many devilishly complicated chemical names delivered flawlessly, if he doesn't have a degree with a chemical background ....
OK, to be fair if you don't have a science or engineering degree this might be heavy going, but if you do it reminds you of the first time you blew things up.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C. Tipton
- Houston, Texas USA
- 07-03-18
An audiobook only flawed by the unavoidable.
In audiobook format, it should many of the complaints - poor scanning and the like - that going the print book. it is read with spirit and clarity. Its only downfall is an artifact of the type of book and the audio format, that is, reading out chemical and mathematical formula.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Warren
- 06-08-18
very interesting dive into rocketry history
this was a very interesting dive into rocketry history, covering as many fuels as possible.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jan Westin
- 08-22-18
Verry interesting for the knowledgehungry engineer
Loved the detaining level and the humorous mix. Well enjoyed! Not for the faint of heart looking for an easy read tho.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Thomas E Carman
- Somerset, NJ, United States
- 08-19-18
A very entertaining read
You will rarely find a tale of science and engineering told with such wit and humor.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amber
- 08-11-18
A riveting tale...
A riveting tale accessible to the layman of the history of rocketry. A very well written book, read by a phenomenal narrator.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Billy
- 07-20-18
A Bit Dated
A lot of technical information is presented, but I didn't realise it was 40 yearsold.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful