Ad Astra: An Illustrated Guide to Leaving the Planet

by Dallas Campbell

Please Read Brand New, International Softcover Edition, Printed in black and white pages, minor self wear on the cover or pages, Sale restriction may be printed on the book, but Book name, contents, and author are exactly same as Hardcover Edition. Fast delivery through DHL/FedEx express.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, Space, Travel, Technology

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2017

Reviews

[Gorab · Rating 4 out of 5]

This non-fiction Science book reads like pop music!
A visually captivating potpourri of space trivia, interesting stories, evolution of Russian and American rockets, life-support, interiors, logistics, day to day life, edibles, accessories etc.
What makes the experience unique is the depiction of human side of space travelers.

What I learnt:
The details of missions before the Apollo series - how many iterations (and lives) it took for that "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"

Loved:
1. The publication quality - each page adorned with stunning illustrations!

2. Aptly structured in smaller portions - this can also serve as a coffee table book.

3. Interesting interviews with intriguing funny conversations - like what kind of passport or visa one needs? Talks on interpersonal aspects, psychology, relationships.

4. The current evolving rules and regulations for humans in space.

Recommended:
For anyone intrigued by space.
Not recommended if you are seeking non-layman scientific or technical details.

P.S.: Had an unforgettable immersive experience with Interstellar soundtrack as companion.

[Negar Gh · Rating 5 out of 5]

i enjoyed it as much as an 11 yo me would have enjoyed it. maybe one day i'll actually end up on mars (if they omit the clause on how tall astronauts should be!)

[Cav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a quirky read. Ad Astra: An Illustrated Guide to Leaving the Planet is pretty much as its title implies; a look at all things related to leaving our home planet. Author Dallas Campbell talks about the history of space travel, space suits, space foods, The International Space Station, the moon, Mars, and many other space-related topics here. The scope of the book is actually quite broad.



The book has a bit of an unorthodox format; it features many tables, graphs, and even interviews with notable people. I'm guessing Campbell was trying to increase the book's appeal to those with shorter attention spans, as well as trying to make the writing accessible to the layperson. I think he did a pretty good job of this, and I will always applaud an author's efforts towards such aims.
The PDF or printed version of this book makes for great reference material, as it is loaded with illustrations that help Campbell tell his stories.
The Cupola inside the International Space Station (ISS):



I would recommend this one to anyone interested.
4 stars.

[William Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful exploration of our place in the universe. Playful. Inventive. Detailed. Quirky.
And a beautiful book: will be a fitting memento of our Space Age so far, and an inspiration to the next generation of moon-gazing geese-harnessers.

[Daniel Wrench · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cool nicely-written read on a whole range of things related to spaceflight. Some of things I particularly enjoyed learning about were:

- the Concordia research station on Antarctica, where some brave people stay at over winter in one of the most isolating experiences in the world
- the crane-folding exercise endured as part of JAXA's astronaut training program
- the passage used for testing the vocal clarity of astronaut candidates

Shout out to the photo of a blackboard with "the space debris problem" and a diagram written on it, and for some wild reason, a goose standing in front of it.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely fantastic! I knew nothing about Space and Space travel at all, but I know so much thanks to this book. Dallas makes the subject engaging, entertaining, and funny, whilst still being educational and interesting. I demolished the book in a day and couldn't stop reading up on the subject afterwards - completely fascinating!

[Kye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ad Astra is a poetic memoir of human endeavour to venture deeper into space. It was written with humor, insight, knowledge, and love. An unexpected pleasure to stumble upon. This book is a wonderful addition to anyone’s library, even those who never even dreamed of ever leaving earth.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book filled with interesting facts and anecdotes about the history of the space program, plenty of stuff you never knew and what's planned for the future. I'm glad I read this when I did because the book is still quite new, some of the information may be a little out of date in ten years or so.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A guide to space travel / leaving Earth.

A few bits of this book were interesting, but overall it was too rambling and wasn't really science or entertainment.

Reading time around 3 hours, so probably around 50,000 words.

[Christiana Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, I don't think I'm leaving just yet..

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject, well written

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Characterful and very readable, with many interesting nuggets and anecdotes. I always like a good story, well told, about heroically saving a dying space station, or “printing” a false-colour image of Mars by printing pixel values on ticker tape and shading them with crayons. Hearing about Francis Godwin's space swans (good band name?) from The Man in the Moone was interesting the first time but I got tired of them constantly turning up through the rest of the book.