Pillar to the Sky

By: William R. Forstchen

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A towering epic to rank with Douglas Preston's Blasphemy and Michael Crichton's Prey

Pandemic drought, skyrocketing oil prices, dwindling energy supplies, and wars of water scarcity threaten the planet. Only four people can prevent global chaos.

Gary Morgan - a brilliant renegade scientist pilloried by the scientific community for his belief in a space elevator: a pillar to the sky, which he believes will make space flight fast, simple, and affordable.

Eva Morgan - a brilliant and beautiful scientist of Ukranian descent, she has had a lifelong obsession to build a pillar to the sky, a vertiginous tower that would mine the power of the sun and supply humanity with cheap, limitless energy forever.

Gunther Rothenberg - the ancient but revered rocket scientist who labored at Peenemünde with von Braun to create the first rockets and continued on to build those of today. A legend, he has mentored Gary and Eva for two decades, nurturing and encouraging their transcendent vision.

Franklin Smith - the eccentric Silicon Valley billionaire who will champion their cause, wage war with Congress and government bureaucracy, and most important, finance their herculean undertaking.

This journey to the stars will not be easy; it will be a tumultuous struggle filled with violence and heroism, love and death, spellbinding beauty and heartbreaking betrayal. The stakes could not be higher. Humanity's salvation will hang in the balance.

©2014 William R. Forstchen (P)2014 Blackstone

Great educational fiction

Most entertaining case for why and how to build a space elevator. Great listen. Good follow up to One Second After.

Take me out to the black…

I don't believe that I have ever experienced a story which portrayed the heart and soul of an engineer or scientist with such compassion, admiration, and understanding.

if it were lyrics set to music it could be an anthem for all those who dream of building a future above the sky.

If you're someone who dreams of the day when we finally break free of Humanity's Cradle and reach out to the stars, this book is definitely for you.

Love the story.. excellent narration!

I have long thought about space guns and elevators. The author gives a great view of the process of creating a space elevator, and the possibilities for earth if one were built.

Loved it

Can’t wait to read the book, need to copies and send to my 3 kids. I will be good for them.

Dreams do come true

Excellent book that should inspire the next generation of space adventures. It also does an in incredible job of recapping the history of innovation in america. It is a also a very thought provoking look into the space lrogram. However all of this is done with a wonderfully entertaining and inspiring story.

Amazing.

As usual William Forstchen has delivered a novel worthy of praise. His stories always make me think they are works of non-fiction and this one had me looking up at the sky to confirm if indeed a pillar exists!

The incredible dedication of the good characters.

I can’t think of anything that I didn’t like. There was so much to the story and even when things were going great, you still worried that something could go wrong. An amazingly good book and so well written and performed! So glad that I found it. Very highly recommended.

Nothing like One Second After but still good.

This book is NOT anything like one second after so if you are expecting another post-apocalypse novel you'll be disappointed. However the story is still excellent. Lots of really interesting science "faction" more along the lines of Chriton's Jurassic Park, or Timeline.

Amazon

Amazing story but somewhat difficult to follow because of the technical aspects but such a great story!

Amazing

If we do not build a pillar, we will die on this rock. We are at a dead end. At some near point in the future we will be unable to find the resources we need to complete a project like this, and once that happens we are no different than a person confined to a retirement home. Waiting for the unyielding end. Doing a project like this will be much easier if we do it while we still have oil.