> this is fascinating book that anyone interested in rocketry will enjoy
It's criminal to limit it to people interested in rocketry. It's also fascinating to anyone interested in chemistry, engineering, history, and plain "stuff going boom", one of the Internet's most hilarious stories (Derek Lowe's "Sand won't save you this time") is essentially a straight excerpt from Ignition!, on Chlorine Trifluoride:
> It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.
And frankly, just open the PDF and look at pages 2 and 3, if that doesn't convince you the book is worth reading I'm not sure you have a soul.
Plus it's a very short book, the body itself clocks in at under 190 pages.
I'm a coder. I have only the vaguest claim to knowing any physics thanks to graduation requirements. It's just a fun book. Maybe having had a job where you're asked to do something crazy helps, but I have no problems recommending this to anyone who might be interested.
If you're a reader who can tolerate a memoir, and are looking for something a little different, I have no hesitation recommending ignition.
It's criminal to limit it to people interested in rocketry. It's also fascinating to anyone interested in chemistry, engineering, history, and plain "stuff going boom", one of the Internet's most hilarious stories (Derek Lowe's "Sand won't save you this time") is essentially a straight excerpt from Ignition!, on Chlorine Trifluoride:
> It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.
And frankly, just open the PDF and look at pages 2 and 3, if that doesn't convince you the book is worth reading I'm not sure you have a soul.
Plus it's a very short book, the body itself clocks in at under 190 pages.