04/21/2014
Wilkinson takes readers on a lively tour through the ages by studying 10 world-wide architectural wonders. From ancient Babylon’s Tower of Babel, to a mercantile palazzo in Renaissance Italy, to a footbridge in contemporary Rio, Wilkinson focuses on what makes each structure specific to its time and place. Broadly exploring how architecture “shapes people’s lives and vice versa,” he uses each selection as a springboard to discuss the themes evoked. Designer Eileen Gray’s villa on the French Riviera, built in the 1920s for her lover, leads to musings on buildings and sex, while Henry Ford’s car factory in early 20th century Detroit connects architecture with mass production, and Nero’s Golden House inspires a thought-provoking discussion on the morality of architecture (Can a structure built by a bad ruler be good?). Concluding that today’s biggest challenge is the fact that the 21st century urban world “squats in squalor,” he urges political change, with architecture that benefits people, rather than “the developers, speculators, and corrupt bureaucrats who profit from it.” A witty, erudite narrator not shy about inserting his opinions, Wilkinson draws on his extensive knowledge of art, literature, history urban planning, sociology, and culture to explore the intimate relationship between architecture and society. Illus. Agent: Annabel Merullo, Peters, Fraser, and Dunlop (U.K.) (July)
Award-winning science writer and documentarian Rod Pyle presents an insider's perspective on the most unusual and bizarre space missions ever devised inside and outside of NASA. The incredible projects described here were not merely flights of fancy dreamed up by space enthusiasts, but actual missions planned by leading aeronautical engineers. Some were designed but not bui< others were built but not flown; and a few were flown to failure but little reported:
A giant rocket that would use atomic bombs as propulsion (never mind the fallout), military bases on the moon that could target enemies on earth with nuclear weapons, a scheme to spray-paint the lenses of Soviet spy satellites in space, the rushed Soyuz 1 spacecraft that ended with the death of its pilot, the near-disaster of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the mysterious Russian space shuttle that flew only once and was then scrappedamp;mdash;these are just some of the unbelievable tales that Pyle has found in once top-secret documents as well as accounts that were simply lost for many decades.
These stories tell of a time when nothing was too off-the-wall to be taken seriously, and the race to the moon and the threat from the Soviet Union trumped all other considerations.
Award-winning science writer and documentarian Rod Pyle presents an insider's perspective on the most unusual and bizarre space missions ever devised inside and outside of NASA. The incredible projects described here were not merely flights of fancy dreamed up by space enthusiasts, but actual missions planned by leading aeronautical engineers. Some were designed but not bui< others were built but not flown; and a few were flown to failure but little reported:
A giant rocket that would use atomic bombs as propulsion (never mind the fallout), military bases on the moon that could target enemies on earth with nuclear weapons, a scheme to spray-paint the lenses of Soviet spy satellites in space, the rushed Soyuz 1 spacecraft that ended with the death of its pilot, the near-disaster of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the mysterious Russian space shuttle that flew only once and was then scrappedamp;mdash;these are just some of the unbelievable tales that Pyle has found in once top-secret documents as well as accounts that were simply lost for many decades.
These stories tell of a time when nothing was too off-the-wall to be taken seriously, and the race to the moon and the threat from the Soviet Union trumped all other considerations.
Amazing Stories of the Space Age: True Tales of Nazis in Orbit, Soldiers on the Moon, Orphaned Martian Robots, and Other Fascinating Accounts from the Annals of Spaceflight
Amazing Stories of the Space Age: True Tales of Nazis in Orbit, Soldiers on the Moon, Orphaned Martian Robots, and Other Fascinating Accounts from the Annals of Spaceflight
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170464111 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Tantor Audio |
| Publication date: | 01/30/2018 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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