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Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take Us to the Stars
From brilliant young polymath Andrew Rader—an MIT-credentialed scientist, popular podcast host, and SpaceX mission manager—an illuminating chronicle of exploration that spotlights humans’ insatiable desire to continually push into new and uncharted territory, from civilization’s earliest days to current planning for interstellar travel.
For the first time in history, the human species has the technology to destroy itself. But having developed that power, humans are also able to leave Earth and voyage into the vastness of space. After millions of years of evolution, we’ve arrived at the point where we can settle other worlds and begin the process of becoming multi-planetary. How did we get here? What does the future hold for us?
Divided into four accessible sections, Beyond the Known examines major periods of discovery and rediscovery, from Classical Times, when Phoenicians, Persians and Greeks ventured forth; to The Age of European Exploration, which saw colonies sprout on nearly continent; to The Era of Scientific Inquiry, when researchers developed brand new tools for mapping and traveling farther; to Our Spacefaring Future, which unveils plans currently underway for settling other planets and, eventually, traveling to the stars.
A Mission Manager at SpaceX with a light, engaging voice, Andrew Rader is at the forefront of space exploration. As a gifted historian, Rader, who has won global acclaim for his stunning breadth of knowledge, is singularly positioned to reveal the story of human exploration that is also the story of scientific achievement. Told with an infectious zeal for traveling beyond the known, Beyond the Known illuminates how very human it is to emerge from the cave and walk toward an infinitely expanding horizon.
For the first time in history, the human species has the technology to destroy itself. But having developed that power, humans are also able to leave Earth and voyage into the vastness of space. After millions of years of evolution, we’ve arrived at the point where we can settle other worlds and begin the process of becoming multi-planetary. How did we get here? What does the future hold for us?
Divided into four accessible sections, Beyond the Known examines major periods of discovery and rediscovery, from Classical Times, when Phoenicians, Persians and Greeks ventured forth; to The Age of European Exploration, which saw colonies sprout on nearly continent; to The Era of Scientific Inquiry, when researchers developed brand new tools for mapping and traveling farther; to Our Spacefaring Future, which unveils plans currently underway for settling other planets and, eventually, traveling to the stars.
A Mission Manager at SpaceX with a light, engaging voice, Andrew Rader is at the forefront of space exploration. As a gifted historian, Rader, who has won global acclaim for his stunning breadth of knowledge, is singularly positioned to reveal the story of human exploration that is also the story of scientific achievement. Told with an infectious zeal for traveling beyond the known, Beyond the Known illuminates how very human it is to emerge from the cave and walk toward an infinitely expanding horizon.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2019
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596 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
November 24, 2019
An interesting history book on exploration. Though Mr. Rader is a SpaceX employee, I enjoyed his account of the actual human past history more than his take on future space exploration. He made space travel seem too easy; space is vast and full of danger (have the Kelly astronaut twins study results come out yet?).
July 25, 2019
Beyond the Known is an examination of how humanity's need for exploration has shaped our progress through history and how it will eventually take us into the unknowns of space. Written by SpaceX mission manager Andrew Rader, it's a book that reads less like hard science and more like wide-eyed awe of what our species has (and will) accomplish. This has become one of my favorite non-fiction finds of 2019 so far.
Rader breaks down the book into four main epoch's of explorations: Classical, European, Scientific Advancement, and the future of space travel. The book progresses at a breakneck speed, gleefully covering incredible topics that could (and probably do) have full length books written on them: the rise of the Greeks and their influence on the world, pre-Columbus discoveries of the Americas, advanced civilizations in North America, China's rise and fall as an exploratory power, and the impact of diseases in the New World being some of my favorites. Rader's chapter on the future of space travel is also particularly well informed, coming from someone so well positioned to speak on the subject.
Rader's writing style never gets bogged down in too much scientific detail to turn off the layperson, and his excitement and knowledge shine through in the paragraphs which makes this a very easy and fun read for anyone interested in human history.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Scribner.**
Rader breaks down the book into four main epoch's of explorations: Classical, European, Scientific Advancement, and the future of space travel. The book progresses at a breakneck speed, gleefully covering incredible topics that could (and probably do) have full length books written on them: the rise of the Greeks and their influence on the world, pre-Columbus discoveries of the Americas, advanced civilizations in North America, China's rise and fall as an exploratory power, and the impact of diseases in the New World being some of my favorites. Rader's chapter on the future of space travel is also particularly well informed, coming from someone so well positioned to speak on the subject.
Rader's writing style never gets bogged down in too much scientific detail to turn off the layperson, and his excitement and knowledge shine through in the paragraphs which makes this a very easy and fun read for anyone interested in human history.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Scribner.**
November 22, 2019
Compressed in Andrew Rader’s Beyond the Known is an astonishing amount of knowledge about things that both matter and are of fairly general interest – not just a collection of facts about the history and science of exploration, but rather an exploration of how we should think about history and science. It’s a book of big ideas illustrated throughout with intriguing stories.
I learned that the people and societies of both the ancient and medieval worlds were far more connected (and far more intrepid) than those of us who were educated a generation ago were taught. Rader makes compelling arguments that the early Polynesians reached South America, that the Romans traveled to China, and that one man (Ibn Battuta) was able to traverse the interior of Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, India, China and Indonesia in the mid 14th century just as the Black Death was also spreading across the known world.
Rader turns on its head the traditional narrative that Europe gained technological superiority by the early Renaissance and was thus poised to go out and conquer the rest of the world. Instead, he argues that exploration -- and the resources marshalled and knowledge gained in that enterprise – was the cause, not the result, of the rise of Europe. As Rader explains, China was unquestionably the world’s leading economic and military power in 1400, but shortly thereafter it turned to isolationism out of fear that foreign influences might change its culture. Just as China ceased its exploration and projection of power and trade abroad, the nascent European nations were there to fill that void.
Indeed the synergistic connection between exploration and technology is a recurring theme of the book and something Rader shows was commonly on the minds of both explorers of centuries past and those pioneering space exploration today. In exploring the unknown, people so often discovered not necessarily that for which they were searching, but instead radically new knowledge that would alter the course of history, including the direction of future exploration. If there is any unifying argument in the book (and it’s not a given that there would be one in a work so broad in scope), it is that exploration is inherently desirable, beneficial, and even necessary, for the future of humankind.
In a book that has so much substantive depth in both history and science, it’s perhaps an unexpected surprise that the author has an impressive understanding and facility with language as well, and I mean this in two different senses. First, language is part of the historical focus, and word etymologies are often used to show links between cultures and societies. Second, while it should come as no surprise that Rader (a rocket scientist with a Ph.D. from MIT) has a very high level of analytic sophistication, his command of the English language is at a level not necessarily predictable from his educational and career background.
As an example of the former (language in history), among the evidence of the early connection between Rome and India is that the names for the days of the week, despite having no similarities in pronunciation or spelling, are derived from words with the same meaning, e.g. Monday (which comes to English from Latin) is from Moon Day while the same day of the week in Hindi is Somwar, where Soma means moon in Hindi.
As far as the latter (writing skill), the paragraph introducing the chapter titled “Lands of Ice and Snow” is typical: “Exploration begets more exploration, and the unknown calls as a siren to our souls. Even disasters motivate us to follow paths blazed by the first pioneers, attempting to succeed where others have failed. Nowhere was this truer than the Arctic, where repeated catastrophes forged legends of heroic adventure. Mercantile objectives aside, the conquest of the north became a battle of humans against nature. During the Victorian age, a confident European society decided to harness newfound industrial technologies to prevail at last. With Britain victorious against Napoleon, the Royal Navy’s energies could be redirected to peacetime struggles. With careful preparation, and armed with modernity’s latest marvels, how could such efforts fail?”
One of the book’s treasures is its footnotes, which provide all sorts of curious tidbits of information. I learned, for example, that Yuri Gagarin, credited with the world’s first manned space flight, actually never touched the controls – they were locked except in case of emergency. Canning preceded the can opener by decades – originally cans were punched open with a hammer and chisel. Some footnotes are quite humorous, e.g. Wernher Von Braun’s biographical film “I Aim for the Stars” is sometimes unofficially subtitled, “But Sometimes I Hit London.”
Rader manages the missions of individual rockets in his day job, but in Beyond the Known he writes the story of how human exploration led us to where we are and how the next exploratory missions of humanity as a whole should be managed.
I learned that the people and societies of both the ancient and medieval worlds were far more connected (and far more intrepid) than those of us who were educated a generation ago were taught. Rader makes compelling arguments that the early Polynesians reached South America, that the Romans traveled to China, and that one man (Ibn Battuta) was able to traverse the interior of Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, India, China and Indonesia in the mid 14th century just as the Black Death was also spreading across the known world.
Rader turns on its head the traditional narrative that Europe gained technological superiority by the early Renaissance and was thus poised to go out and conquer the rest of the world. Instead, he argues that exploration -- and the resources marshalled and knowledge gained in that enterprise – was the cause, not the result, of the rise of Europe. As Rader explains, China was unquestionably the world’s leading economic and military power in 1400, but shortly thereafter it turned to isolationism out of fear that foreign influences might change its culture. Just as China ceased its exploration and projection of power and trade abroad, the nascent European nations were there to fill that void.
Indeed the synergistic connection between exploration and technology is a recurring theme of the book and something Rader shows was commonly on the minds of both explorers of centuries past and those pioneering space exploration today. In exploring the unknown, people so often discovered not necessarily that for which they were searching, but instead radically new knowledge that would alter the course of history, including the direction of future exploration. If there is any unifying argument in the book (and it’s not a given that there would be one in a work so broad in scope), it is that exploration is inherently desirable, beneficial, and even necessary, for the future of humankind.
In a book that has so much substantive depth in both history and science, it’s perhaps an unexpected surprise that the author has an impressive understanding and facility with language as well, and I mean this in two different senses. First, language is part of the historical focus, and word etymologies are often used to show links between cultures and societies. Second, while it should come as no surprise that Rader (a rocket scientist with a Ph.D. from MIT) has a very high level of analytic sophistication, his command of the English language is at a level not necessarily predictable from his educational and career background.
As an example of the former (language in history), among the evidence of the early connection between Rome and India is that the names for the days of the week, despite having no similarities in pronunciation or spelling, are derived from words with the same meaning, e.g. Monday (which comes to English from Latin) is from Moon Day while the same day of the week in Hindi is Somwar, where Soma means moon in Hindi.
As far as the latter (writing skill), the paragraph introducing the chapter titled “Lands of Ice and Snow” is typical: “Exploration begets more exploration, and the unknown calls as a siren to our souls. Even disasters motivate us to follow paths blazed by the first pioneers, attempting to succeed where others have failed. Nowhere was this truer than the Arctic, where repeated catastrophes forged legends of heroic adventure. Mercantile objectives aside, the conquest of the north became a battle of humans against nature. During the Victorian age, a confident European society decided to harness newfound industrial technologies to prevail at last. With Britain victorious against Napoleon, the Royal Navy’s energies could be redirected to peacetime struggles. With careful preparation, and armed with modernity’s latest marvels, how could such efforts fail?”
One of the book’s treasures is its footnotes, which provide all sorts of curious tidbits of information. I learned, for example, that Yuri Gagarin, credited with the world’s first manned space flight, actually never touched the controls – they were locked except in case of emergency. Canning preceded the can opener by decades – originally cans were punched open with a hammer and chisel. Some footnotes are quite humorous, e.g. Wernher Von Braun’s biographical film “I Aim for the Stars” is sometimes unofficially subtitled, “But Sometimes I Hit London.”
Rader manages the missions of individual rockets in his day job, but in Beyond the Known he writes the story of how human exploration led us to where we are and how the next exploratory missions of humanity as a whole should be managed.
October 21, 2019
4.5 stars
Starting with the earliest humans and ending with the future of space travel, this book celebrates exploration among all cultures and the advances that inevitably follow. This is one of those reads that are filled with new information and google rabbit holes. I quite honestly learned so much more than I thought I would and it lead to a new stack of books on my TBR as follow-up. Very entertaining and educational and one that I highly recommend. I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Starting with the earliest humans and ending with the future of space travel, this book celebrates exploration among all cultures and the advances that inevitably follow. This is one of those reads that are filled with new information and google rabbit holes. I quite honestly learned so much more than I thought I would and it lead to a new stack of books on my TBR as follow-up. Very entertaining and educational and one that I highly recommend. I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
July 11, 2021
While I initially bought this book out of interest for its take on future interstellar exploration, I soon found myself fully immersed in its account of human history and the role adventure and exploration have played throughout. Each chapter and sentence is jam-packed with information, making this a sometimes slow but nevertheless extremely captivating read. Beyond the Known is intellectual bar trivia cranked up to 11, but also paints a vivid picture of our history and our potential for the future. A must read for lovers of fun facts and historical tidbits!
October 2, 2019
I knew this would be interesting and informative, but I was pleasantly surprised by how readable/accessible it was. It flowed very well and didn't lose me at any point.
December 11, 2019
One star just for the interesting little facts I learned from it. Otherwise a good part of this book is rather boring and/or with various very dubious claims about space exploration.
January 10, 2020
I'm fascinated with the history of exploration in the realm of human history. I grew up reading lots of books and articles in the library about Columbus, Magellan, Cook, and Cortez. Their journeys were mostly about finding routes to the east in search of resources or glory, but what I admired most was their fascination with the unknown. I am still in childlike wonder when I read about their adventures. Yet, the history is only a foundation. In the movie Interstellar, Cooper puts it best as he and his team debate escaping earth into the unknown, "We’re still pioneers, we’ve barely begun. Our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, cause our destiny lies above us.” What the book does well is educating the reader about the major times of exploration in human history without overwhelming him or her. It lays the foundation and gives us a picture of what exploration will look like in our lifetime, why it matters, and what it could look like even hundreds and thousands of years from now.
dnf
October 30, 2020I'm not going to rate this. It's not bad, and I did actually enjoy the first roughly hundred pages or so, but I lost interest.
September 24, 2023
great book on exploration, it’s history and future, as a key and persistent human activity.
December 5, 2022
This reads a bit like a world history, but with a focus on exploration. Very interesting and well-written.
July 19, 2021
Basically, humans are curious explorers, and this book is a fascinating, very brief account of historical exploration, modern exploration, and (hopefully) future exploration. I found part 1 and part 4 especially interesting. I do not have a science background, and the book is written in an accessible and engaging format that easily kept my interest.
October 27, 2019
Beyond the Known was a book I requested on NetGalley because it had the promise of space talk in the title. I love space, astronomy, NASA, and anything dealing with the cosmos. I also love history, so much to my delight, this book covers everything on this list, and more.
The book details human exploration through time up until now. I was pleased to discover that it not only covered Western expansion and exploration, but Eastern expansion and exploration as well. There’s a lot of interesting facts thrown in there as well, such as Vikings not getting scurvy by accidental well-balanced diets. That’s not the kind of facts you get taught in school.
Rader then takes us into the speculative future where robots could potentially seek out new worlds, the ability of having spaceships capable of reaching even our closest stars, and where we could have colonies on the Moon and Mars. He also delves into why, after all this time, is space exploration needed.
“Breakthroughs don’t come along if we just sit around waiting for them.”
Pushing ourselves to explore the unknown has always been a hallmark of humanity. While there are still things to be known about Earth, we can’t help but look up at the stars and think “I wonder what’s out there?” It’s something that will take time, money, and many failures. However, we cannot let failures stop us. Failures teach us something important too. Rader emphasizes the importance of continuing to explore the unknown just for these reasons.
This was a fantastic read. It was very approachable and like having a conversation directly with the author. I’m also glad that there were references in the back so that I can learn more on some of the topics mentioned. I strongly suggest this if you’re a history buff or a science/space buff. Let’s put it this way: if you love the Star Trek: Enterprise title credits, you’ll love this book.
Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book as an eARC.
The book details human exploration through time up until now. I was pleased to discover that it not only covered Western expansion and exploration, but Eastern expansion and exploration as well. There’s a lot of interesting facts thrown in there as well, such as Vikings not getting scurvy by accidental well-balanced diets. That’s not the kind of facts you get taught in school.
Rader then takes us into the speculative future where robots could potentially seek out new worlds, the ability of having spaceships capable of reaching even our closest stars, and where we could have colonies on the Moon and Mars. He also delves into why, after all this time, is space exploration needed.
“Breakthroughs don’t come along if we just sit around waiting for them.”
Pushing ourselves to explore the unknown has always been a hallmark of humanity. While there are still things to be known about Earth, we can’t help but look up at the stars and think “I wonder what’s out there?” It’s something that will take time, money, and many failures. However, we cannot let failures stop us. Failures teach us something important too. Rader emphasizes the importance of continuing to explore the unknown just for these reasons.
This was a fantastic read. It was very approachable and like having a conversation directly with the author. I’m also glad that there were references in the back so that I can learn more on some of the topics mentioned. I strongly suggest this if you’re a history buff or a science/space buff. Let’s put it this way: if you love the Star Trek: Enterprise title credits, you’ll love this book.
Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book as an eARC.
January 15, 2020
Read complete book thoughts and exclusive author interview on Armed with A Book.
If you are someone who is fascinated by the history of the world, this is a book for you. All the snippets of information that you learned during history classes in school will come together in your mind to form the big picture. To me, many secrets were revealed and almost everything that I read blew my mind. I found Beyond the Known on a list of highly anticipated Fall 2019 books and took my search to NetGalley to see if I could read it. Many thanks to Simon and Schuster who approved my request, and Andrew for writing this book, as they allowed me to go on a journey back in time and then back to the present and the future, without leaving the comforts of my home.
I have always been fascinated by history and did not realize how much I wanted it all to play out like a movie in my mind until I read about this book. When we learn history in school, it is usually very centered around the country we live in. My education in India was no different and while many of my years were full of the happenings in South Asia in general, and India in particular, in the 1900s (those are the years I clearly remember), a lot about the foundations of civilizations has long escaped my memory as I have grown older. This book was the perfect way to learn more! And I was not disappointed.
Beyond the Known begins at the very beginning, when our ancestors were still in Africa. It goes all the way into the time humans landed on the moon and how we might go forward. Andrew did an amazing job of putting together a volume of history that touches on the whole world. You won’t find the details of everything in this book, but you will learn many little things that you might not have known before. Many of the curiosities that I had as I read the book were answered in subsequent chapters and I was quite impressed with that. It is the only book in my memory so far that took me to the depths of the unknown, things I had known but hadn’t pondered for long on before. This is a book I will go back to time and time again when I am looking for some inspiration about not just mankind but also the things we have accomplished and the things we are capable of.
I hope you will pick it up!
If you are someone who is fascinated by the history of the world, this is a book for you. All the snippets of information that you learned during history classes in school will come together in your mind to form the big picture. To me, many secrets were revealed and almost everything that I read blew my mind. I found Beyond the Known on a list of highly anticipated Fall 2019 books and took my search to NetGalley to see if I could read it. Many thanks to Simon and Schuster who approved my request, and Andrew for writing this book, as they allowed me to go on a journey back in time and then back to the present and the future, without leaving the comforts of my home.
I have always been fascinated by history and did not realize how much I wanted it all to play out like a movie in my mind until I read about this book. When we learn history in school, it is usually very centered around the country we live in. My education in India was no different and while many of my years were full of the happenings in South Asia in general, and India in particular, in the 1900s (those are the years I clearly remember), a lot about the foundations of civilizations has long escaped my memory as I have grown older. This book was the perfect way to learn more! And I was not disappointed.
Beyond the Known begins at the very beginning, when our ancestors were still in Africa. It goes all the way into the time humans landed on the moon and how we might go forward. Andrew did an amazing job of putting together a volume of history that touches on the whole world. You won’t find the details of everything in this book, but you will learn many little things that you might not have known before. Many of the curiosities that I had as I read the book were answered in subsequent chapters and I was quite impressed with that. It is the only book in my memory so far that took me to the depths of the unknown, things I had known but hadn’t pondered for long on before. This is a book I will go back to time and time again when I am looking for some inspiration about not just mankind but also the things we have accomplished and the things we are capable of.
I hope you will pick it up!
December 31, 2020
During a year in which many of us were confined in our homes (shout-out to 2020), “Beyond the Known” — a book about exploration — was the perfect escape. Andrew Rader takes us back through history and tells us stories and factual tidbits along the way that illustrate our innate desire to explore, how this compulsion shaped our modern world, and how we — and maybe beings from other worlds — will continue to fuel this drive as we venture into space.
I picked up the audiobook version because I’m a sucker for authors who narrate their own work, but I also highly recommend this version because the chapters are succinct. I’d compare the audiobook to a narrative podcast series in that each chapter is a complete episode and you will feel fulfilled if you need to turn it off. If you have the time though, you’ll be compelled to keep going on.
The book is packed with information, but Rader manages to organize, prioritize, and convey it all with an air of excitement and approachability. Some of the best parts of the book are the *notes*. I was worried at the start that these might be distracting and take me out of my listening groove, but they were delightful. The roughly 11-hour audiobook felt like a road trip with a pleasant and knowledgeable driver. The book as a whole is the driver’s story of the road, and each note is a comment thrown in about a landmark as it passes by. Each landmark is interesting and adds to the whole story, but never detracts from the driver’s main plot.
I think it bears mentioning that Rader approached some difficult topics in a very poignant way while writing this book. He chose a vast array of explorers who helped shape the world as we know it, including those who were exploited during their lives and have since been minimized by some historians. This shows a great deal of care on Rader’s part and resonates with many of the experiences being shared by marginalized peoples in 2020.
I really enjoyed this book, but that’s not too surprising as it struck all the same chords that the actual act of exploration does. I learned new things, expanded my mind, and it has propelled me to pick up some other nonfiction books that have been sitting on my bookshelf for far too long.
I picked up the audiobook version because I’m a sucker for authors who narrate their own work, but I also highly recommend this version because the chapters are succinct. I’d compare the audiobook to a narrative podcast series in that each chapter is a complete episode and you will feel fulfilled if you need to turn it off. If you have the time though, you’ll be compelled to keep going on.
The book is packed with information, but Rader manages to organize, prioritize, and convey it all with an air of excitement and approachability. Some of the best parts of the book are the *notes*. I was worried at the start that these might be distracting and take me out of my listening groove, but they were delightful. The roughly 11-hour audiobook felt like a road trip with a pleasant and knowledgeable driver. The book as a whole is the driver’s story of the road, and each note is a comment thrown in about a landmark as it passes by. Each landmark is interesting and adds to the whole story, but never detracts from the driver’s main plot.
I think it bears mentioning that Rader approached some difficult topics in a very poignant way while writing this book. He chose a vast array of explorers who helped shape the world as we know it, including those who were exploited during their lives and have since been minimized by some historians. This shows a great deal of care on Rader’s part and resonates with many of the experiences being shared by marginalized peoples in 2020.
I really enjoyed this book, but that’s not too surprising as it struck all the same chords that the actual act of exploration does. I learned new things, expanded my mind, and it has propelled me to pick up some other nonfiction books that have been sitting on my bookshelf for far too long.
November 1, 2019
#BeyondTheKnown #NetGalley
Beautiful time traveling around the civilization, evolution and space race. Andrew provides a depth and fresh about how technology transformed human including dark side of sciences. A very interesting read.
Beautiful time traveling around the civilization, evolution and space race. Andrew provides a depth and fresh about how technology transformed human including dark side of sciences. A very interesting read.
January 6, 2020
The first 2/3 + of the book is a history lesson on the historic explorations and developments regarding our earth and civilizations. Those that study history will be familiar with the many names that appear and a quick excerpt of their accomplishments. Those whom are newer to exploration history will encounter names they will want to explore further (as well they should!).
The final part of the book takes us on a study of our space accomplishments and the possible future of space travel and colonization. Much is theory regarding the future, although it does wrap your mind to open up and to think. Much of it impossible in my lifetime, if possible at all?
It is well written and progresses rapidly, holding your interest, as there is much history to cover in a small 300+ page volume. I was truly surprised at the many familiar names (and a couple unfamiliar) that arose in this short history course.
The final part of the book takes us on a study of our space accomplishments and the possible future of space travel and colonization. Much is theory regarding the future, although it does wrap your mind to open up and to think. Much of it impossible in my lifetime, if possible at all?
It is well written and progresses rapidly, holding your interest, as there is much history to cover in a small 300+ page volume. I was truly surprised at the many familiar names (and a couple unfamiliar) that arose in this short history course.
July 14, 2019
This is a well written book making for an engaging read that is more like fiction at times. The author breaks down the book into four parts in chronological order. The first three are on the discoveries made by early and more recent explorers and how they helped shape the world that we live in. The last section is devoted to the last great untapped area of exploration - space where a great deal is still left for future endeavors.
I recommend this book for those looking for an engaging read on the how our world was shaped by exploration and the opportunities for the future.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.
I recommend this book for those looking for an engaging read on the how our world was shaped by exploration and the opportunities for the future.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.
March 5, 2020
As a fan of both history and space exploration, this book tickled my fancy. I originally heard Andrew Rader talk on a podcast (The planetary society or Are we there yet.. I can't remember which one!) and thought I'd get a copy.
The book makes a compelling case: we need to tackle space, the next frontier to continue our development as a species and reach our full potential. This is not something new, since the dawn of time we have been embarking on dangerous but ultimately rewarding journeys which have shaped society as it is today.
This book also covers aspects of less well known feats of exploration, such as the colonisation of countless islands by Pacific peoples, Nordic exploration of Greenland and North America and China's voyages of discovery which were suddenly halted by a change in leadership.
The book makes a compelling case: we need to tackle space, the next frontier to continue our development as a species and reach our full potential. This is not something new, since the dawn of time we have been embarking on dangerous but ultimately rewarding journeys which have shaped society as it is today.
This book also covers aspects of less well known feats of exploration, such as the colonisation of countless islands by Pacific peoples, Nordic exploration of Greenland and North America and China's voyages of discovery which were suddenly halted by a change in leadership.
October 16, 2019
Great science/history writing
I loved this book. It has everything I want in good non-fiction writing, including a conversational tone and a good sense of humor. As a book about exploration, it falls into the overlapping areas of history and science, with emphasis on the former, and with the latter well-explained. The footnotes were also great, adding a lot of clarification, additional information, and humor. I strongly recommend this book.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.
I loved this book. It has everything I want in good non-fiction writing, including a conversational tone and a good sense of humor. As a book about exploration, it falls into the overlapping areas of history and science, with emphasis on the former, and with the latter well-explained. The footnotes were also great, adding a lot of clarification, additional information, and humor. I strongly recommend this book.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.
August 5, 2020
An excellent very accessible read, both for the scientifically and non scientifically inclined audience.
May 21, 2020
Beyond the Known is by Andrew Rader is a study of the human drive to explore and its effects in
the past, present, and future of humanity. The book is divided into sections about the initial expansion
and spread of humans around the globe, the rediscovery and reconnection of the world, modern
exploration of the last frontiers on earth and forays into space, and a prediction of future interplanetary
and eventually interstellar exploration and colonization.
I came across this book after listening to a talk by the author at a local bookstore. I was initially
drawn to the talk due to my interest in space the current profession of the author being a SpaceX
mission manager. Because of this, I feel that my opinions of the book were in some way shaped by my
preconceived notions about it being about modern and future exploration. That is not what Beyond the
Known is about. Instead, it is a “book about how exploration enriches us” (2). That being said, it is an
interesting study into how intrinsic the will to explore is in all of humanity and how that core interest has
made history bound to the exploration of the unknown. The book also does deliver on some of my hopes
for it, but only really in its last third. His connection of the evolution of rockets to the “[evolution] [of
planes] from a risky proposition into the safest means of transport” (213) is an idea that has been in my
mind for some time but has never been put into such a well-fitting analogy. Where the book truly thrives,
however, is in connecting futuristic concepts into a single predictive narrative for humanity’s space-bound
future. From “electromagnetic rail guns [...] built by tunneling through Mars’s Olympus Mons” (259) to
“fusion reactors [burning] heluim-3 [gathered from] the Moon’s regolith” (261), Rader crafts a world that
sounds like science fiction but unlike in other books, is consistently backed up by citations to credible
research papers. Of course, it’s not a coincidence that the part of the book I like most is the part that I
hoped would be its core theme, and I’m sure that those who are more interested in both studies of
human nature or predictions of the future grounded in the history of our species would disagree with my
highlights.
Overall, Beyond the Known is by all means not a bad book, however, it feels fractured into two
separate ideas, one about the ancient world and one the modern. There’s something here for both
history buffs and sci-fi nerds, but not enough for a truly satisfying experience. That being said, for those
willing to leave their expectations at the door and wish to both expand their understanding of humanity
and glimpse into speculations about a possible future, Beyond the Known is a great pick.
the past, present, and future of humanity. The book is divided into sections about the initial expansion
and spread of humans around the globe, the rediscovery and reconnection of the world, modern
exploration of the last frontiers on earth and forays into space, and a prediction of future interplanetary
and eventually interstellar exploration and colonization.
I came across this book after listening to a talk by the author at a local bookstore. I was initially
drawn to the talk due to my interest in space the current profession of the author being a SpaceX
mission manager. Because of this, I feel that my opinions of the book were in some way shaped by my
preconceived notions about it being about modern and future exploration. That is not what Beyond the
Known is about. Instead, it is a “book about how exploration enriches us” (2). That being said, it is an
interesting study into how intrinsic the will to explore is in all of humanity and how that core interest has
made history bound to the exploration of the unknown. The book also does deliver on some of my hopes
for it, but only really in its last third. His connection of the evolution of rockets to the “[evolution] [of
planes] from a risky proposition into the safest means of transport” (213) is an idea that has been in my
mind for some time but has never been put into such a well-fitting analogy. Where the book truly thrives,
however, is in connecting futuristic concepts into a single predictive narrative for humanity’s space-bound
future. From “electromagnetic rail guns [...] built by tunneling through Mars’s Olympus Mons” (259) to
“fusion reactors [burning] heluim-3 [gathered from] the Moon’s regolith” (261), Rader crafts a world that
sounds like science fiction but unlike in other books, is consistently backed up by citations to credible
research papers. Of course, it’s not a coincidence that the part of the book I like most is the part that I
hoped would be its core theme, and I’m sure that those who are more interested in both studies of
human nature or predictions of the future grounded in the history of our species would disagree with my
highlights.
Overall, Beyond the Known is by all means not a bad book, however, it feels fractured into two
separate ideas, one about the ancient world and one the modern. There’s something here for both
history buffs and sci-fi nerds, but not enough for a truly satisfying experience. That being said, for those
willing to leave their expectations at the door and wish to both expand their understanding of humanity
and glimpse into speculations about a possible future, Beyond the Known is a great pick.
May 31, 2020
**As per all of my reviews, I like to preface by saying that I listened to this book in audiobook format. This does indeed slightly skew my rating. I have found that audiobooks, give me a better "relationship" with the characters if done well, but also kills the book for me if narrated poorly. Also due to the nature of listening to the text, names and places may be spelled incorrectly here as I often do not have the physical volume in front of me.
Also, I have written this review in a "rolling updates" style. In that I basically chronicle my reading as I progress. This may make for a jarring and spoilery review so be warned.**
Long story, but I actually read this book by accident... The book I was looking to read was "Heaven on Earth" but this book has such a suspiciously similar cover, I completely picked up the wrong one... Oh well, it's definitely not a regret. So the book attempts to chronicle the history of humankind's attempts at exploration. And boy does it start from the beginning. I'll come right out and say it, I was pretty bored with the first third of the book. It describes early man's attempts to self realize, Becoming hunter-gatherers, finding food, early migration across continents, etc...All very interesting stuff for someone looking to read about early man. Not exactly what I was in the mood for. It's a slow crawl, but the book really picked up and piqued my interest when we got to the Age of enlightenment. That's with the early names I was familiar with and their actual contributions began and the book then pivots to be a very good study of early philosophy, science and reason.
The book by the end is a bit of an oddity. It starts to go pretty deep into actual science by the the end, which is cool, but wasn't expecting it. Overall the book offers a very high level view of where we've been, and what's next up on the horizon. It mentions a lot about SpaceX and how the future of space flight and exploration, they'll be a rather large contender. I liked the book, it really peaked for me during the Enlightenment age and the change of outlook, but honestly it's nothing that I didn't really know. Nice to have it all summarized here in a nice book, but the admittedly yawn worthy start, kind of soured me early on, and it then just flirted with the rest of the topics. Enjoyable, but if you're expecting a deeper dive this isn't really here.
December 30, 2023
There was one surprise that saddened me a little, in that the author completely skipped ocean exploration. At first I rationalized it by thinking to myself that if the goal of the book - at least the first half - is to prove how our movements, by foot, by ship, by air, have brought cultures into contact with one another around the planet, then, of course, maritime exploration doesn't fit this genre; we're hardly about to find new civilizations at the bottom of the sea. But, then, a constant subtext of exploration has been finding ancient civilizations, "new" forms of plant and animal life, and that, our oceans offer in grand abundance, sometimes all in the same place, as shipwrecks can act as living reefs and reveal stories from our long ago past that aren't available on dry land.
But I nitpick.
Overall this book is a tour de force, a whirling and spinning series of global circumnavigations that eventually launch us into space. We start in the deep past and end by looking into the deep future. We see how cultures intermingled, nicely or not, oftentimes erasing the presence of one another. The popular history view we've been given was First Contact history; explorers sailed the seas and met "the natives" of various lands. Those "natives" may have displaced others who came before them, but we hardly pause to think in those terms because for Europeans the history of a newly "discovered" land began once they arrived. This book reminds us that there is prehistory that often has more impact on today's world culture than we know.
It also lets us look forward. Will we find new life on other planets? At least we're looking, and we'll probably be more respectful with Them, if we do find them, than our predecessors were with their fellow humans on our own planet.
We don't seem to have lost that exploration gene. We have, though, adopted risk assessment. When we consider the way that explorers of old simply worked on belief - they believed that there had to be land over the horizon - and set sail into the unknown, we should cringe. Today we'll send unmanned vehicles to the depths of the ocean and on trips past all the planets in the solar system long before we let anybody stand before a king or a queen and demand to be launched on a mission to Mars.
We know better. But, then, without those who came before us, those who were willing to gamble their lives on those beliefs, we wouldn't be where we are today.
But I nitpick.
Overall this book is a tour de force, a whirling and spinning series of global circumnavigations that eventually launch us into space. We start in the deep past and end by looking into the deep future. We see how cultures intermingled, nicely or not, oftentimes erasing the presence of one another. The popular history view we've been given was First Contact history; explorers sailed the seas and met "the natives" of various lands. Those "natives" may have displaced others who came before them, but we hardly pause to think in those terms because for Europeans the history of a newly "discovered" land began once they arrived. This book reminds us that there is prehistory that often has more impact on today's world culture than we know.
It also lets us look forward. Will we find new life on other planets? At least we're looking, and we'll probably be more respectful with Them, if we do find them, than our predecessors were with their fellow humans on our own planet.
We don't seem to have lost that exploration gene. We have, though, adopted risk assessment. When we consider the way that explorers of old simply worked on belief - they believed that there had to be land over the horizon - and set sail into the unknown, we should cringe. Today we'll send unmanned vehicles to the depths of the ocean and on trips past all the planets in the solar system long before we let anybody stand before a king or a queen and demand to be launched on a mission to Mars.
We know better. But, then, without those who came before us, those who were willing to gamble their lives on those beliefs, we wouldn't be where we are today.
December 26, 2019
A strong explorers case for expanding civilization out into space. There are stronger arguments that were left unsaid. There needs to be stronger public support in the corporate sphere. Also, people might count Virgin Galactic out, but in the long term SpaceX will be battling an aged Boeing/Lockheed Martin. In the end this battle like the Portuguese and the Arabic will change our society and the products we see. It isn't the end, but the beginning of a physical shift in society and a shift in industry. In the end Andrew is a Canadian. Despite what the media will say about him being on "Canadas biggest Know It All" he is a strong piece in creating what will be this centuries Fur Trade.
Bullet Points:
- The Conditions and Appearance of humans
-The Spread of Sapiens
-Early civilization at industrial face value
-Phonecian, Greek and Roman powers
-Colonialism in roughly 4 phases--globally
.Cook and Magellan
.Peru and Mexico at a glance
-The fall of Chinas Sea presence
-The rise of Europe, industrialism, Colonialism furthers. Hudson Bay.
-World wars lead to heading into Space, Kennedy, Von Braun and the development of aircraft.
-Antartic race.
-Fermi Paradox, Anthropic Principal, Dyson Delimma, Kartachev Scale, Mars/Moon as Insurance, Moon and Titan as fuel depos, Mars as a fixer upper and the moon as a radio dark zone compared to all of the emissions we've been sending out since Hitler.
Overall, I'm not sure I'd consider this advanced material, but a taste for beginners and the marketing crew. If you enjoy the pre Europe History, you get more detail in Jared Diamond, and a few textbooks I have laying around. If your kid wants to use BYOR.com, program, go into physics, Engineering, astronomy or many subcategories or cross pollinating subjects this book is rated PG13, but can be read with adult supervision for younger.
Bullet Points:
- The Conditions and Appearance of humans
-The Spread of Sapiens
-Early civilization at industrial face value
-Phonecian, Greek and Roman powers
-Colonialism in roughly 4 phases--globally
.Cook and Magellan
.Peru and Mexico at a glance
-The fall of Chinas Sea presence
-The rise of Europe, industrialism, Colonialism furthers. Hudson Bay.
-World wars lead to heading into Space, Kennedy, Von Braun and the development of aircraft.
-Antartic race.
-Fermi Paradox, Anthropic Principal, Dyson Delimma, Kartachev Scale, Mars/Moon as Insurance, Moon and Titan as fuel depos, Mars as a fixer upper and the moon as a radio dark zone compared to all of the emissions we've been sending out since Hitler.
Overall, I'm not sure I'd consider this advanced material, but a taste for beginners and the marketing crew. If you enjoy the pre Europe History, you get more detail in Jared Diamond, and a few textbooks I have laying around. If your kid wants to use BYOR.com, program, go into physics, Engineering, astronomy or many subcategories or cross pollinating subjects this book is rated PG13, but can be read with adult supervision for younger.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2021
I highly enjoyed most of Mr. Rader's impassioned panoply of all things exploration. 3/4ths of the book, covering the whole of known human exploration history, were outstanding, though I do wonder about the veracity of some of his claims. For instance, I don't doubt that Christopher Columbus could have been as dumb as described, but is this something one might read in just one speculating source? Also, the wandering Pytheas, contemporary of Alexander the Great, was a revelation.
Most of the final 1/4th was enjoyable as well, although I had the feeling of being talked down to as Mr. Rader explained why it is necessary to humanity for humans to head to Mars as our next grand expedition. Personally, I don't believe that extra-terrestrial exploration is necessary for humanity (and bemoan the consequences of such thinking), but I do believe-as outlined throughout most of the book-that exploration and movement is part of our DNA and a large part of what it means to be human. Extra-terrestrial exploration should be guided by the human spirit that wanders just to see what else is out there and wonders what it's all about-not by the so-called necessity to solve human problems that may very well be easier solved in other ways.
Lastly, there were a couple of errors I found highly bothersome: (1) On p.258, the book suddenly states "On average, we'll be hit by an asteroid large enough to demolish a city about once every century..." What? Since when? What context are we talking about here? (2) Somewhere on a different page, the author called "carbon" and "silicon" molecules-which they are not-when he easily could have said "carbon-based" and "silicon-based" instead-which is clearly what he meant.
Most of the final 1/4th was enjoyable as well, although I had the feeling of being talked down to as Mr. Rader explained why it is necessary to humanity for humans to head to Mars as our next grand expedition. Personally, I don't believe that extra-terrestrial exploration is necessary for humanity (and bemoan the consequences of such thinking), but I do believe-as outlined throughout most of the book-that exploration and movement is part of our DNA and a large part of what it means to be human. Extra-terrestrial exploration should be guided by the human spirit that wanders just to see what else is out there and wonders what it's all about-not by the so-called necessity to solve human problems that may very well be easier solved in other ways.
Lastly, there were a couple of errors I found highly bothersome: (1) On p.258, the book suddenly states "On average, we'll be hit by an asteroid large enough to demolish a city about once every century..." What? Since when? What context are we talking about here? (2) Somewhere on a different page, the author called "carbon" and "silicon" molecules-which they are not-when he easily could have said "carbon-based" and "silicon-based" instead-which is clearly what he meant.
February 14, 2020
An intellectual tour de force. The knowledge gleaned from "Beyond the Known" is insightful, abundant, and richly revealing. Its gripping center-plot? Nothing less then the sagacious, yet often messy art of exploration itself. With page-turning appeal and meticulous attention to historical/scientific detail, this masterpiece rivals the finest works non-fiction could offer, and, in my honest opinion, should deservedly place Andrew Rader in Pulitzer consideration. The threads of discovery, from BC to beyond the atmosphere, unfurl the nuanced and often overlooked tapestry that bind our species, our decisions, and our futures together. For anyone with the courage and curiosity to question boundaries, I cannot lavish enough praises on this read. I'll leave you with but an excerpt of its thought-provoking powers:
"Our most vibrant societies have always been outward looking. Exploration harnesses our restless energies toward constructive purposes. Life shouldn't only be about basic survival. Space travel offers the promise of a future worth living, a reason to get out of the bed in the morning. The goal of settling other worlds would act as a call to our youth to develop their technological skills, so that they, too, might participate in the greatest adventure of our age. This is a challenge we've faced many times throughout history, one at the very heart of our nature. Once wanderers on the plains of Africa, we've now come full circle in our travels. We stand at the shore of a cosmic ocean, one that can never be tamed. From a world that has become too small, we're moving out into a universe that will forever be too large...."
"Our most vibrant societies have always been outward looking. Exploration harnesses our restless energies toward constructive purposes. Life shouldn't only be about basic survival. Space travel offers the promise of a future worth living, a reason to get out of the bed in the morning. The goal of settling other worlds would act as a call to our youth to develop their technological skills, so that they, too, might participate in the greatest adventure of our age. This is a challenge we've faced many times throughout history, one at the very heart of our nature. Once wanderers on the plains of Africa, we've now come full circle in our travels. We stand at the shore of a cosmic ocean, one that can never be tamed. From a world that has become too small, we're moving out into a universe that will forever be too large...."
April 9, 2022
I love books on explorers and exploration. Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, Endurance by Alfred Lansing, In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides, and Sea of Glory by Nathaniel Philbrick are among my favorite books in this genre.
Thus, when I ran across Andrew Rader's Beyond the Known, which purported to be something of an overview of exploration, my interest was piqued.
Well, the book is an overview, but it barely scratches the surface of some of the great expeditions of history, leaves others out entirely, and—worst of all—wanders off on rabbit trails to "explore" topics only tangentially related to exploration. Often what Rader offers is snippets of world history. Then, in the final chapters, he turns to the exploration of space and gives free rein to speculations about life on other planets, what intelligent aliens might look like, and even how humans might someday explore the stars by transferring their consciousness to machines. Yep.
If you're a fan of brief introductions to topics or enjoy Rader's podcast (I had never heard of it), you'll probably like this book. For me, it was a disappointment.
Thus, when I ran across Andrew Rader's Beyond the Known, which purported to be something of an overview of exploration, my interest was piqued.
Well, the book is an overview, but it barely scratches the surface of some of the great expeditions of history, leaves others out entirely, and—worst of all—wanders off on rabbit trails to "explore" topics only tangentially related to exploration. Often what Rader offers is snippets of world history. Then, in the final chapters, he turns to the exploration of space and gives free rein to speculations about life on other planets, what intelligent aliens might look like, and even how humans might someday explore the stars by transferring their consciousness to machines. Yep.
If you're a fan of brief introductions to topics or enjoy Rader's podcast (I had never heard of it), you'll probably like this book. For me, it was a disappointment.
April 24, 2020
I have mixed feelings. I was thrown off that this was essentially a global history lesson from an engineer. Which kinda annoyed me. But as the book progressed it came together better. Wasn't a huge fan of the footnotes, and at times the writing was humorously arrogant. It was written easy to understand even for non-history folks. There were interesting fun facts scattered throughout such as that Yuri Gagarin allegedly didn't even control the spacecraft he made history in. As a Russophile, I enjoyed the Russia segments. Very high three stars but not quite four.
October 29, 2022
I absolutely love this book. It’s main focus is taking the reader through the history of human exploration ending with a guesses of what the future could hold. It’s about the determination of humans to expand their knowledge of the world as they know it. This book is super interesting, but it can be difficult to read with so much information constantly being thrown at the reader. I found myself having a read the same page a few times to really understand it, but that comes with the nature of the book, I suppose.
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