Burrows, Williams

• Exploring Space

  • A lengthy study of recent (mostly) American space policy history, starting from the dawn of the "Space Age" and extending through Voyager's final encounter with Neptune. Burrows does a thorough job getting everyone's point of view here, and many of the themes are quite interesting (such as the well-known idea that NASA's policy is, because of budgetary constraints, not to explore space but rather to survive the budgetary process at all costs). I just feel like a strong editor could've cut the book in half and given it a lot more impact. I was really dragging my way through by the end. Anyway, because I frequently show videos relating the story of Voyager's travels through the solar system to my introductory Astronomy classes, it was nice for me to see the story from a different perspective. This is worth picking up off the bargain shelf, for sure (that's where I got it).

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