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The Right Kind of Crazy: A True Story of Teamwork, Leadership, and High-Stakes Innovation
From Adam Steltzner, who led the Entry, Descent, and Landing team in landing the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars, comes a profound book about breakthrough innovation in the face of the impossible
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is home to some of history’s most jaw-dropping feats of engineering. When NASA needed to land Curiosity —a 2,000-pound, $2.5 billion rover—on the surface of Mars, 140 million miles away, they turned to JPL. Steltzner’s team couldn’t test their kooky solution, the Sky Crane. They were on an unmissable deadline, and the world would be watching when they succeeded—or failed.
At the helm of this effort was an unlikely rocket scientist and accidental leader, Adam Steltzner. After barely graduating from high school, he followed his curiosity to the local community college to find out why the stars moved. Soon he discovered an astonishing gift for math and physics. After getting his Ph.D. he ensconced himself within JPL, NASA’s decidedly unbureaucratic cousin, where success in a mission is the only metric that matters.
The Right Kind of Crazy is a first-person account of innovation that is relevant to anyone working in science, art, or technology. For instance, Steltzner
·How his team learned to switch from fear-based to curiosity-based decision making
·How to escape “The Dark Room”—the creative block caused by fear, uncertainty, and the lack of a clear path forward
·How to tell when we’re too in love with our own ideas to be objective about them—and, conversely, when to fight for them
·How to foster mutual respect within teams while still bashing bad ideas
The Right Kind of Crazy is a book for anyone who wants to channel their craziness into creativity, balance discord and harmony, and find a signal in a flood of noise.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is home to some of history’s most jaw-dropping feats of engineering. When NASA needed to land Curiosity —a 2,000-pound, $2.5 billion rover—on the surface of Mars, 140 million miles away, they turned to JPL. Steltzner’s team couldn’t test their kooky solution, the Sky Crane. They were on an unmissable deadline, and the world would be watching when they succeeded—or failed.
At the helm of this effort was an unlikely rocket scientist and accidental leader, Adam Steltzner. After barely graduating from high school, he followed his curiosity to the local community college to find out why the stars moved. Soon he discovered an astonishing gift for math and physics. After getting his Ph.D. he ensconced himself within JPL, NASA’s decidedly unbureaucratic cousin, where success in a mission is the only metric that matters.
The Right Kind of Crazy is a first-person account of innovation that is relevant to anyone working in science, art, or technology. For instance, Steltzner
·How his team learned to switch from fear-based to curiosity-based decision making
·How to escape “The Dark Room”—the creative block caused by fear, uncertainty, and the lack of a clear path forward
·How to tell when we’re too in love with our own ideas to be objective about them—and, conversely, when to fight for them
·How to foster mutual respect within teams while still bashing bad ideas
The Right Kind of Crazy is a book for anyone who wants to channel their craziness into creativity, balance discord and harmony, and find a signal in a flood of noise.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 13, 2015
137 people are currently reading
1624 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
April 12, 2016
I am clearly not the intended audience for this book. In it, the guy who lead the EDL (Entry, Descent, and Landing) team for Mars Science Laboratory talks about becoming an aerospace engineer, his early career at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and his eventual role as EDL lead for MSL. I think it's intended to be some sort of "inspirational" story about doing things that seem impossible and facing team challenges, but it didn't come off that way to me.
Maybe I'm jaded. I work in the space industry (though on the commercial side, not science side) and face similar challenges (design doesn't work, trying to get pieces worked by individual team members to come together, making mission ops decisions at the "last minute") but on a much quicker and cheaper scale. My job is similar to the role he describes, but I do it for a spacecraft platform, the backbone that supports the commercial payload. I didn't need all of his deep explanations of the process of design, test, and ops, and though some of the problems they ran into are interesting, they're the same types of problems we all run into in this industry.
The book needed a better editor or support writer. The flow of the space stuff was interesting enough, but I don't know that anybody needs to know of his high school days or his courtship of his first wife. Nor did it seem really relevant that he re-married and was expecting another child when MSL launched. If the idea is about how to lead, then these side stories were just human interest...and were distinctly uninteresting (more so in light of how it seems he doesn't talk about women). More annoying to me was the tone of the book. If you read it and don't understand how the design (etc) process works, you might think that MSL was entirely successful thanks to Steltzner. Never does he talk about the spacecraft that carried it to Mars NOR THE F'N ROVER DOING THE ACTUAL SCIENCE. Yes, if the "space crane" hadn't worked, the mission would have failed, but that could be said for the launch vehicle, the transit spacecraft, or the rover itself, too. Though he talks about his (male members of) his team, he makes it seem like he did everything (and maybe as a manager/lead engineer, he had final say, but really a good lead engineer knows who to go to for each task and has enough of a "jack of all trades" capability to call BS or to allow a design to proceed).
Worst of all, throughout the book there was a distinct lack of discussion of female team members. Steltzner goes on and on describing team members, often devoting paragraphs to them. He said perhaps 2 lines about women, and one of those lines was to use phrases that in my neck of the woods are what men say when they feel that a woman's a b**ch. It's an attitude I see a lot in the industry, especially from my male colleagues who are 10 years or more older than I am. One of the women he didn't mention much was the lead engineer for the entire project...way more important overall than he was. Yet he didn't mention many women (2 or 3, excluding his wives) and never in any good detail. This leads me to think that either JPL doesn't have a lot of women (something I suspect isn't true) or that Steltzner needs to retire because he doesn't see them as equal members of the team (something I've seen over and over again in my job...from customers and coworkers alike, men of a certain age...).
So unless you have a burning desire to glimpse how space missions are designed, feel free to skip this. That a (male) coworker recommended it to me makes me wonder about said coworker....
Maybe I'm jaded. I work in the space industry (though on the commercial side, not science side) and face similar challenges (design doesn't work, trying to get pieces worked by individual team members to come together, making mission ops decisions at the "last minute") but on a much quicker and cheaper scale. My job is similar to the role he describes, but I do it for a spacecraft platform, the backbone that supports the commercial payload. I didn't need all of his deep explanations of the process of design, test, and ops, and though some of the problems they ran into are interesting, they're the same types of problems we all run into in this industry.
The book needed a better editor or support writer. The flow of the space stuff was interesting enough, but I don't know that anybody needs to know of his high school days or his courtship of his first wife. Nor did it seem really relevant that he re-married and was expecting another child when MSL launched. If the idea is about how to lead, then these side stories were just human interest...and were distinctly uninteresting (more so in light of how it seems he doesn't talk about women). More annoying to me was the tone of the book. If you read it and don't understand how the design (etc) process works, you might think that MSL was entirely successful thanks to Steltzner. Never does he talk about the spacecraft that carried it to Mars NOR THE F'N ROVER DOING THE ACTUAL SCIENCE. Yes, if the "space crane" hadn't worked, the mission would have failed, but that could be said for the launch vehicle, the transit spacecraft, or the rover itself, too. Though he talks about his (male members of) his team, he makes it seem like he did everything (and maybe as a manager/lead engineer, he had final say, but really a good lead engineer knows who to go to for each task and has enough of a "jack of all trades" capability to call BS or to allow a design to proceed).
Worst of all, throughout the book there was a distinct lack of discussion of female team members. Steltzner goes on and on describing team members, often devoting paragraphs to them. He said perhaps 2 lines about women, and one of those lines was to use phrases that in my neck of the woods are what men say when they feel that a woman's a b**ch. It's an attitude I see a lot in the industry, especially from my male colleagues who are 10 years or more older than I am. One of the women he didn't mention much was the lead engineer for the entire project...way more important overall than he was. Yet he didn't mention many women (2 or 3, excluding his wives) and never in any good detail. This leads me to think that either JPL doesn't have a lot of women (something I suspect isn't true) or that Steltzner needs to retire because he doesn't see them as equal members of the team (something I've seen over and over again in my job...from customers and coworkers alike, men of a certain age...).
So unless you have a burning desire to glimpse how space missions are designed, feel free to skip this. That a (male) coworker recommended it to me makes me wonder about said coworker....
December 31, 2017
I fucking love Adam!
This is the story of his life and career, starting from his belated education (he started community college at 21), to the beginning of his career at JPL doing structural analysis (a relatively monotonous engineering job) to leading the entry, descent, landing team for the Curiosity rover.
In my opinion, Adam offers a deeply insightful commentary from the context of building a Mars rover landing system relevant to any undertaking that pushes beyond the bounds of the ordinary to the extraordinary.
It will be messy.
It will be stressful.
You will make mistakes.
You will feel overwhelmed and question yourself. Constantly.
There is a very real chance you will fail.
But all of this is necessary to achieving something spectacular.
It's a cliche how much engineers and scientists can become fixated on the technical and only the technical. Adam, however, provides a harmonious blend of commentary on both the technical project and the people behind it. He talks just as much about feelings, fears, worries, conflicts as well as aerothermodynamics and vibrational analysis. I really got the message that, when you get to the bottom of it, they really are the same.
This is the story of his life and career, starting from his belated education (he started community college at 21), to the beginning of his career at JPL doing structural analysis (a relatively monotonous engineering job) to leading the entry, descent, landing team for the Curiosity rover.
In my opinion, Adam offers a deeply insightful commentary from the context of building a Mars rover landing system relevant to any undertaking that pushes beyond the bounds of the ordinary to the extraordinary.
It will be messy.
It will be stressful.
You will make mistakes.
You will feel overwhelmed and question yourself. Constantly.
There is a very real chance you will fail.
But all of this is necessary to achieving something spectacular.
It's a cliche how much engineers and scientists can become fixated on the technical and only the technical. Adam, however, provides a harmonious blend of commentary on both the technical project and the people behind it. He talks just as much about feelings, fears, worries, conflicts as well as aerothermodynamics and vibrational analysis. I really got the message that, when you get to the bottom of it, they really are the same.
August 14, 2021
Enjoyable - didn't quite get "leadership book" vibes over "career memoir" vibes or vice versa, just an interesting reflection overall. The science stuff was cool, the personal life stuff felt thrown in merely to keep the timeline straight. Lots about how JPL works organizationally for better or for worse, and there are some derived lessons in here about asking for what you think you want then rising to the occasion.
May 1, 2022
Picked up this book as the author will be the keynote of an upcoming conference I'll be attending. I love all things planetary science (yes, I'm a member of the Planetary Society), I was looking forward to learning more about the development of the Sky Crane.
This book is about so much more. Steltzner shares his journey to the stars - and Mars - as well as his journey as a leader. Unlike many authors, he probably spends more time sharing his failures - and what he learned from them - than his successes. Now, I'm really looking forward to his presentation!
This book is about so much more. Steltzner shares his journey to the stars - and Mars - as well as his journey as a leader. Unlike many authors, he probably spends more time sharing his failures - and what he learned from them - than his successes. Now, I'm really looking forward to his presentation!
July 10, 2016
My first takeaway from "The Right Kind of Crazy" by Adam Steltzner is this: If you want to achieve a come-to-Jesus moment, you need to un-f***-up whatever is holding you back.
Such is the brash but ultimately likable sentiment of Dr. Steltzner’s book, co-written with William Patrick. When his team successfully landed NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars in 2012, Steltzner oversaw arguably the most revered NASA landing since Apollo 11 reached the surface of the Moon. To understand this incredible engineering feat, you should watch the viral NASA video known as the "Seven Minutes of Terror."
Curiosity’s landing captivated society. People stayed up late to watch live coverage in Times Square. Space enthusiasts like myself followed Twitter feeds on smartphones grasped in sweaty palms. The next day, A-list comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert featured the landing on their hit Comedy Central shows. Curiosity’s landing incited a cultural crush. Society realized just how colorful, cool, and even sexy, NASA could be. However, Steltzner’s book is not a wistful look back, nor is it an especially accessible primer for newcomers.
As the full title aptly states, the book is, "A True Story of Teamwork, Leadership, and High-Stakes Innovation." With a glaring lack of accompanying images, the co-writers impart the wisdom and perspective Steltzner gained over years of intensive trial-and-error mission development at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The Right Kind of Crazy" doles out thoughtful anecdotes. Reflections and takeaways come fast and furious. Sometimes the writing exhibits a hasty, back-of-the-envelope quality. This book is not an immaculately laid out management treatise. If it were, the work wouldn’t be so very … Steltzner.
Steltzner brings a crooner’s magnetism to his thought leadership. Though often likened to Elvis, he shows a jazzy Sinatra side as well. In fact, Steltzner drops a lot of musical names and metaphors throughout "The Right Kind of Crazy". Occasionally I would pause my reading and jump on YouTube to sample the tunes he referenced. The book, like its author, also exudes a sports car driver’s swagger.
This brings us back to this review’s opening. In the book’s first chapter, Steltzner recounts a last-minute software glitch that might have led to mission failure. He sets up a “tiger team” to troubleshoot the problem—or as he puts it, “get it un-f***ed-up if possible.” Later in the same paragraph, this team assembles to have a “come-to-Jesus session.”
It is not the last time Steltzner mixes culture, religion, and profanity to get his points across. This is not reckless communication, even if it is rather loose tongued. With this approach, Steltzner drives to the core of the book’s ethos: engineering and exploration can be good, paradoxically non-destructive, battles. He explains this after referencing another engineer at JPL who swore in a heated intra-staff discussion fueled by competing ideas.
“To many readers that may not seem like very strong language, but for me, coming from an environment where I barely met the people I was working with and everything was filtered through others, this sounded like war. It was the kind of war I wanted to be a part of.”
Elsewhere, Steltzner describes his back and forth with colleagues as punch and counterpunch, like boxers sparring in preparation for the championship bout. Fighting is a recurring motif in the book. Also recurring, quite compatibly, is the notion of engineering displaying sexy, even naughty aspects. “All engineers have lust for designs we want to see realized…” Steltzner explains in a chapter entitled “Puzzle Pieces.”
Sometimes undercutting Steltzner’s noble goals are the complex structures at JPL—both mechanical and organizational. Such complexity forces the authors to do a lot of name dropping, coupled with copious shoptalk. Sometimes it runs together. Yet, the cumulative effect is to reveal the steely beauty of custom spacecraft held together by old-school nuts and bolts. In close-quarters fashion, the book acquaints readers with passionate scientists and engineers, as well as their methodically devised robotic love children.
Steltzner’s brand of crazy rightly offsets the stereotypical notion of NASA personnel as stodgy guys in lab coats. Such a style may challenge the comfort zones of taxpayers, as well as old guard types at NASA. Nevertheless, if the incredible cultural impact of the Curiosity rover’s landing proves lasting, "The Right Kind of Crazy" may come to define 21st Century space exploration.
Such is the brash but ultimately likable sentiment of Dr. Steltzner’s book, co-written with William Patrick. When his team successfully landed NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars in 2012, Steltzner oversaw arguably the most revered NASA landing since Apollo 11 reached the surface of the Moon. To understand this incredible engineering feat, you should watch the viral NASA video known as the "Seven Minutes of Terror."
Curiosity’s landing captivated society. People stayed up late to watch live coverage in Times Square. Space enthusiasts like myself followed Twitter feeds on smartphones grasped in sweaty palms. The next day, A-list comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert featured the landing on their hit Comedy Central shows. Curiosity’s landing incited a cultural crush. Society realized just how colorful, cool, and even sexy, NASA could be. However, Steltzner’s book is not a wistful look back, nor is it an especially accessible primer for newcomers.
As the full title aptly states, the book is, "A True Story of Teamwork, Leadership, and High-Stakes Innovation." With a glaring lack of accompanying images, the co-writers impart the wisdom and perspective Steltzner gained over years of intensive trial-and-error mission development at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The Right Kind of Crazy" doles out thoughtful anecdotes. Reflections and takeaways come fast and furious. Sometimes the writing exhibits a hasty, back-of-the-envelope quality. This book is not an immaculately laid out management treatise. If it were, the work wouldn’t be so very … Steltzner.
Steltzner brings a crooner’s magnetism to his thought leadership. Though often likened to Elvis, he shows a jazzy Sinatra side as well. In fact, Steltzner drops a lot of musical names and metaphors throughout "The Right Kind of Crazy". Occasionally I would pause my reading and jump on YouTube to sample the tunes he referenced. The book, like its author, also exudes a sports car driver’s swagger.
This brings us back to this review’s opening. In the book’s first chapter, Steltzner recounts a last-minute software glitch that might have led to mission failure. He sets up a “tiger team” to troubleshoot the problem—or as he puts it, “get it un-f***ed-up if possible.” Later in the same paragraph, this team assembles to have a “come-to-Jesus session.”
It is not the last time Steltzner mixes culture, religion, and profanity to get his points across. This is not reckless communication, even if it is rather loose tongued. With this approach, Steltzner drives to the core of the book’s ethos: engineering and exploration can be good, paradoxically non-destructive, battles. He explains this after referencing another engineer at JPL who swore in a heated intra-staff discussion fueled by competing ideas.
“To many readers that may not seem like very strong language, but for me, coming from an environment where I barely met the people I was working with and everything was filtered through others, this sounded like war. It was the kind of war I wanted to be a part of.”
Elsewhere, Steltzner describes his back and forth with colleagues as punch and counterpunch, like boxers sparring in preparation for the championship bout. Fighting is a recurring motif in the book. Also recurring, quite compatibly, is the notion of engineering displaying sexy, even naughty aspects. “All engineers have lust for designs we want to see realized…” Steltzner explains in a chapter entitled “Puzzle Pieces.”
Sometimes undercutting Steltzner’s noble goals are the complex structures at JPL—both mechanical and organizational. Such complexity forces the authors to do a lot of name dropping, coupled with copious shoptalk. Sometimes it runs together. Yet, the cumulative effect is to reveal the steely beauty of custom spacecraft held together by old-school nuts and bolts. In close-quarters fashion, the book acquaints readers with passionate scientists and engineers, as well as their methodically devised robotic love children.
Steltzner’s brand of crazy rightly offsets the stereotypical notion of NASA personnel as stodgy guys in lab coats. Such a style may challenge the comfort zones of taxpayers, as well as old guard types at NASA. Nevertheless, if the incredible cultural impact of the Curiosity rover’s landing proves lasting, "The Right Kind of Crazy" may come to define 21st Century space exploration.
February 9, 2021
NASA, in my opinion, is simply the greatest organisation on, and off, the planet. Their achievements need no further elaborations and the professional talent is simply off the scale.
This book gives a great insight to the way NASA, and particularly those working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, work as a team to build innovative and awe-inspiring projects.
There is quite a lot of detail in this book, although it is written in a clear and easily understandable format, and whilst it relates to the design and preparation of uncrewed space travel, we can in this case read between the lines and learn from the way Adam and his colleagues work and relate these methods to our own professions.
I personally got the message of the book from about half-way through but nevertheless continued to the end and have come away with many lessons including the various approaches I need to take in order to “unf**k” a problem.
My only criticism of the book's presentation is that I would have liked a few photos of key people as well as the probes and landers/rovers. I kept my tablet nearby to refer to such images.
Despite that; nice book, Adam. Keep rockin'!
This book gives a great insight to the way NASA, and particularly those working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, work as a team to build innovative and awe-inspiring projects.
There is quite a lot of detail in this book, although it is written in a clear and easily understandable format, and whilst it relates to the design and preparation of uncrewed space travel, we can in this case read between the lines and learn from the way Adam and his colleagues work and relate these methods to our own professions.
I personally got the message of the book from about half-way through but nevertheless continued to the end and have come away with many lessons including the various approaches I need to take in order to “unf**k” a problem.
My only criticism of the book's presentation is that I would have liked a few photos of key people as well as the probes and landers/rovers. I kept my tablet nearby to refer to such images.
Despite that; nice book, Adam. Keep rockin'!
June 9, 2018
A page-turner to the end! There were some conflicting opinions on this book and I think it comes from going into it with the wrong impression. If you're looking for a book just about leadership or a book just about the engineering challenges of the Mars missions, this may not be the right one for you. Instead, it's a fascinating story that blends both things. There author's passion and enthusiasm for the work he does and the people he does it with is evident throughout. A highly recommended read, told through the lens of one man's career and the lessons he's learned in tackling incredibly difficult challenges with incredible people.
December 13, 2019
Part memoir, part leadership book. Adam Steltzner was the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) phase lead and development manager for the EDL (Entry, Descent, and Landing) phase for the Mars Curiosity Rover. The book describes the technical challenges faced on that and other missions that Steltzner was involved with. He also describes how he and his team responded to those challenges, as well as his growth as a technical leader and his successes and failures as a leader.
June 30, 2021
Provides a few useful tips about building and leading successful teams, but it's mostly about the author's experiences work on Mars rover technologies (which was quiet frankly more interesting than the leadership info provided). It was a bit of coincidence that I was reading this just as the Opportunity Rover mission was declared compete by NASA/JPL (the author was part of the team that designed the entry system for the rover).
February 21, 2016
Interesting and inspiring story about life and work of a space engineer. He mentions a lot of things which sound unpleasant, complicated or deadly boring. But also there are a lot of things I'd wish to know or experience. This book is a hymn to engineers in some way :)
August 1, 2016
Here you will find just how sexy a martian rover can be.
September 11, 2016
Very good narration of team work in a highly, if not the most, innovative environment.
May 15, 2021
This reminded me of Trady Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine. A high stakes environment, the stress and the excitement of technical innovation, a bunch of (mostly) guys who need to figure out how to work together, someone who needs to figure out how to keep everyone motivated.
This is a book about the EDL (Entry, Descent and Landing) development for the Mars Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the many hurdles and technical challenges they had to overcome (heat shields melting, parachutes exploding) until those famous 7-minutes when their labor of years would autonomously descend onto Mars. It's also a biography of the guy who let the EDL mission (who sounds about as chummy and cocky as you imagine a guy in his job to be). And what I probably liked most, it's also a book about the creative process and it's dark sides. His analogy is the 'dark room' - when you're stuck in your development and don't have any viable path out of it. How then to make curiosity-based decisions instead of fear-based ones. And how to transform 'unknown unknowns' into 'known unknowns' just a little bit.
It's pretty comforting to read about billion-dollar government-supported endeavours, and realize they run into all the same complications little projects run into as well. They also have organizational issues, they also run out of time and need to compromise with option B or C.
When you are system-engineering, you are really engineering not only the engineering system, but also the human system that creates it.
This is a book about the EDL (Entry, Descent and Landing) development for the Mars Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the many hurdles and technical challenges they had to overcome (heat shields melting, parachutes exploding) until those famous 7-minutes when their labor of years would autonomously descend onto Mars. It's also a biography of the guy who let the EDL mission (who sounds about as chummy and cocky as you imagine a guy in his job to be). And what I probably liked most, it's also a book about the creative process and it's dark sides. His analogy is the 'dark room' - when you're stuck in your development and don't have any viable path out of it. How then to make curiosity-based decisions instead of fear-based ones. And how to transform 'unknown unknowns' into 'known unknowns' just a little bit.
It's pretty comforting to read about billion-dollar government-supported endeavours, and realize they run into all the same complications little projects run into as well. They also have organizational issues, they also run out of time and need to compromise with option B or C.
July 29, 2019
As someone who is genuinely interested in the cutting edge accomplishments made by those in the space industry I was entertained from begining to end. Adam explained everything in such a way that you don't need to be a rocket scientist to grasp the concepts. In a way this was a book about one man's journey to be the best at what humanity has to offer in terms of exploration and the last remaining frontier. Adam gets into the nuts and bolts of space travel all the while maintaining a demeanor of curiosity and ingenuity. He speaks of overcoming obstacles, leading teams to victory in the face of doubt and generally just how to be a good person. There are many concepts and ideaologies I learned and will use in my life as my own career progresses. If I could pick two things it would be these; "Hold On To The Doubt": never let your fear of fear itself steer you away form what you feel is the right decision... aka don't ignore your spidey sense" as he puts it, embrace it. Also don't fear the Dark Room, that place we all know we've been to no matter what challenging task your trying to accomplish. The room in which you find yourself with no direction, no explanation, and no understanding of how to get out. The room where only the strong willed actually make it out and the ones who fear it run away never getting into the light. All in all I ended up leaving this one on the bookshelf for a later read when I get the chance or need a pick me up or a push in the right direction.
February 7, 2019
Like many, I was enthralled by the Curiosity rover landing in 2012. Steltzner was one of the leaders of the team that made the rover landing possible. In this book, he shares his career at the JPL, and details everything that went into safely landing a car-sized vehicle 34 million miles away. For me, this was two kinds of books. The first kind of book was a nonfiction account. Steltzner reduced complex scientific problems into something more easily digestible. He detailed the many problems they faced (both scientific and interpersonal), and all of the solutions attempted to overcome those problems. He shared his fears and general lines of thinking that went into his decisions. I enjoyed this type of book. The second type of book was a business principle book. I hate books like that, so obviously I didn’t enjoy how in each chapter he tried to boil down his lessons learned into some pithy leadership principle. And many of these principles are found in countless other leadership books: learning to wrestle with doubt and fear, bringing your whole self to your work, understanding risk, seeking for truth, and so on. I would have preferred a straight-up non-fiction account. Interesting read, and your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for business leadership books.
December 30, 2019
Before the Iraq War, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld famously spoke of the different bins into which all states of knowledge can be cast. [...] The final set, and perhaps the most important, is the unknown unknowns, the things you don’t even know that you don’t know. Intuition, which taps lightly into the irrational and, I believe, integrates a larger set of the rational than is available to our conscious mind, is a way of bringing in the unknown unknowns and of creating a broader model. Sometimes that model s so broad that you can’t articulate it. Sometimes it can’t be integrated at a conscious level. It appears to us as a “feeling.”
This was one of my favorite passages from the book. It is mentioned or referred to (even if implicitly) throughout all the book and I believe it embodies part of the inherent challenges of a space mission.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Not only is it fascinating to see how things happen at JPL but it also inspires me (and many others too) to keep moving forwards towards my interest in space.
I believe the first 10 seconds of the following video just portrait how much passion, work and effort the JPL/NASA team put into Curiosity and, particularly, in its EDL to Mars.
https://youtu.be/wnG-rFFpP8A?t=181
This was one of my favorite passages from the book. It is mentioned or referred to (even if implicitly) throughout all the book and I believe it embodies part of the inherent challenges of a space mission.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Not only is it fascinating to see how things happen at JPL but it also inspires me (and many others too) to keep moving forwards towards my interest in space.
I believe the first 10 seconds of the following video just portrait how much passion, work and effort the JPL/NASA team put into Curiosity and, particularly, in its EDL to Mars.
https://youtu.be/wnG-rFFpP8A?t=181
May 23, 2022
It's quite an enjoyable read about the extraordinary risk-taking and technological achievement that went into the Mars Curiosity mission from the point of view of an insider. Learning about the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was also particularly interesting to me, as were the stories of personal interactions among the technical community at JPL.
In a lot of accounts of space exploration, it is important to understand both the purpose of the mission and the findings. In many respects, these are the one deficiency of the book, at least to my taste. However, the author educates me in one important way in this book: He makes it clear that the learnings fall into two categories: One is the technical advances made in the course of accomplishing the mission. The other has to do with the scientific findings themselves. That distinction was enlightening for me, even if many others are already well aware of this.
In a lot of accounts of space exploration, it is important to understand both the purpose of the mission and the findings. In many respects, these are the one deficiency of the book, at least to my taste. However, the author educates me in one important way in this book: He makes it clear that the learnings fall into two categories: One is the technical advances made in the course of accomplishing the mission. The other has to do with the scientific findings themselves. That distinction was enlightening for me, even if many others are already well aware of this.
June 5, 2017
It's ironic that this book makes the best case for a liberal arts education because it is about what an engineer does. It is about the Curiosity rover on Mars, but it is really about what an engineer does and how they solve problems. If it sounds dry, what until you get to the chapter about how they solved the parachute issue. It's absolutely riveting.
How to frame the question, how to encourage a collaborative environment and how to work well with others are way beyond the science and math parameters that I usually put an engineer in. A great engineer is so much more.
This would be a great book to give to someone who is interested in engineering as a profession, but it's a great read for anyone.
How to frame the question, how to encourage a collaborative environment and how to work well with others are way beyond the science and math parameters that I usually put an engineer in. A great engineer is so much more.
This would be a great book to give to someone who is interested in engineering as a profession, but it's a great read for anyone.
November 12, 2017
This book's entertaining, and deals with subject matter (unmanned planetary explorers) that interests me a good bit. So why just 3 stars vs. 4 or even 5? I just found the style off-putting, reading more like one of those awful "business leadership" books you always see in airport bookstores than a story crafted by an engineer trying to communicate the joy they find in their work. Steltzner led the invention and development of the "sky crane" descent/landing technology for the Mars Pathfinder, a seemingly bizarre way to lower a Mini Cooper-sized rover to the surface that actually proved to be very elegant engineering. If you find this topic interesting, I hope you'll be able to stick with it despite the style.
December 18, 2017
I think this book is more about High-Stakes Innovation and the author's personal career-story than Teamwork and Leadership. After reading half of the book, I decided the content was not what I was expecting from the title. The unique engineering situation at JPL is interesting. However, I am not so much into rocket science and engineering, so a lot of times I got a little bit lost when there was too much technical details. But then, if those technical aspects were talked about in a too sentimental or abstract way, it does not feel right either. Anyway, this might be a good read for a glimpse into engineer's work at JPL and the author's personal journey. But the occasional talks about teamwork and leadership was not well organized or evidenced.
January 29, 2024
This was my first non-fiction space exploration read and I'm glad it's the one I picked. There isn't much in Adam Steltzner's early life to indicate he would work on one of the most important Mars missions. His writing and candour make you feel like people working on the greatest feats of human engineering and science are people with just exceptional curiosity and drive.
It's also a great book on leading teams, a candid account of both Adam's experience and some others around him. It's hard to not feel excited about interplanetary life while reading The Right Kind of Crazy.
P.S. Watch Adam's talks on youtube and this video of the Sky crane (https://youtu.be/p1WX0CATyn8?si=itIRq...) during/after reading for the best experience.
It's also a great book on leading teams, a candid account of both Adam's experience and some others around him. It's hard to not feel excited about interplanetary life while reading The Right Kind of Crazy.
P.S. Watch Adam's talks on youtube and this video of the Sky crane (https://youtu.be/p1WX0CATyn8?si=itIRq...) during/after reading for the best experience.
April 7, 2018
As already noted by reviewers, it is not clear what this book is about.
You will not learn nothing new about teamwork, leadership or innovation.
You will not see the consistent story.
Some of the episodes are unnecessarily stretched, some are included for unknown reason (other reviewers noted stories about his private life which could be interesting if the value would be more clear), some are short and repeat itself.
And i did not see the most important one - i did not see anything crazy.
What i liked is the author attitude. This is the attitude i would like to recommend to read this book for.
You will not learn nothing new about teamwork, leadership or innovation.
You will not see the consistent story.
Some of the episodes are unnecessarily stretched, some are included for unknown reason (other reviewers noted stories about his private life which could be interesting if the value would be more clear), some are short and repeat itself.
And i did not see the most important one - i did not see anything crazy.
What i liked is the author attitude. This is the attitude i would like to recommend to read this book for.
June 11, 2022
Nice book if you enjoy the background set by author related to engineering and Mars exploration.
He tries to be quite inspirational at some points but it results only in good examples instead.
In spite all of this I enjoyed very much the story of his journey in life and throughout his career at JPL.
The most remarcable fact was how he avoided during his youth a doubtful and not too promising future.
In my opinion, the most powerful message sent out is the idea that you can change your destiny by hard work and a bit or maybe huge curiosity.
He tries to be quite inspirational at some points but it results only in good examples instead.
In spite all of this I enjoyed very much the story of his journey in life and throughout his career at JPL.
The most remarcable fact was how he avoided during his youth a doubtful and not too promising future.
In my opinion, the most powerful message sent out is the idea that you can change your destiny by hard work and a bit or maybe huge curiosity.
March 18, 2023
A great look into the workings of NASA’s JPL research arm during development of the Mars Scientific Laboratory. Adam does a great job of sharing his experience as Chief Entry/Descent/Landing Engineer, and explains all of the technical considerations in a riveting way that non-engineers could understand.
One of my favorite aspects of the book - Adam has a clear knack for leadership within the technical realm. There are countless leadership lessons and takeaways for anyone considering leading engineers.
One of my favorite aspects of the book - Adam has a clear knack for leadership within the technical realm. There are countless leadership lessons and takeaways for anyone considering leading engineers.
August 14, 2023
This was a really fun story about one guy's experience working at JPL and trying to land stuff on Mars. The science is just enough to sound impressive without getting too involved.
There are also some management ideas sprinkled throughout this book. I have to admit that I'm wary of the recommendations. The ideas sound right, but most things sound right if they're surrounded by a good story and occasionally make you laugh. I'd like to see some research to back up the management ideas, but I really enjoyed the book anyway.
There are also some management ideas sprinkled throughout this book. I have to admit that I'm wary of the recommendations. The ideas sound right, but most things sound right if they're surrounded by a good story and occasionally make you laugh. I'd like to see some research to back up the management ideas, but I really enjoyed the book anyway.
November 21, 2017
The author details his work at JPL, and his work on the Mars lander along with other projects. It's a interesting take on how he used the team management concepts he highlights during the development several projects.
While the author gives several suggestions on the important concepts it is not completely clear on how these concepts can be applied in all setting.
I enjoyed it but might need a second read to appreciate it.
While the author gives several suggestions on the important concepts it is not completely clear on how these concepts can be applied in all setting.
I enjoyed it but might need a second read to appreciate it.
April 22, 2020
This book is really great, but the titles must be give a highly expectation of the story that mostly about teamwork, leadership and not the toward the science of how they work as engineer. But in fact its have some great aspect that we can learn but most of the story is really uncommon especially for me who are not understand anything about engineer and physics that involve behind them. But i can enjoy the story, but cant really relate to it somehow
April 4, 2021
Steltzner’s amazing story telling skills are on display in this book. He does a fantastic job weaving in lessons learned with the development saga of the Mars Curiosity Rover. As a designer, the darkroom concept from chapter 7 was an incredibly helpful way of describing the creative and innovation journey. I recommend this book for designers of all stripes to be inspired with the possibilities we can create as well as practical lessons to learn from one of NASA’s most innovative group.
February 15, 2022
A leadership book worth reading because the autobiography story is unique and significant in human history. The space exploration narrative connecting entrepreneur-like principles is fun. The one thing, which is the main thing, that Adam doesn’t get is we were made for glory and to seek glory which is the whole point of curiosity and space exploration. Curiosity is not a gene given to us by the kindness of evolution. Wonder is God-given.
February 19, 2018
I had the privilege of hearing Mr. Steltzner speak at a Simulation conference. He was captivating and obviously very passionate about life. I think that energy shone through in his book. I did enjoy the book but to really understand it and appreciate it the full scope of the book, you need an engineering background at the least.
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