Find a Falling Star

by H.H. Nininger

Dr. Nininger describes his lifelong experiences locating, recording and exhibiting meteorites throughout the world

254 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[ALX · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun and inspiring book about Harvey Nininger's dedication to educating and convincing the public and the scientific community of the significance of meteorites. Nininger was teaching college in Kansas in the 1920s, he read an article about meteorites, became "captivated" and when he saw a very bright meteor in 1923 he decided to hunt for the meteorites. He "conceived a plan to take the public into my confidence and form a sort of partnership with the residents of the area" where he thought the meteorites from that fall probably landed. He just went around and talked to everyone he could find that saw the meteor, he asked pointed questions, did some math with a map and a protractor and plotted some coordinates for the likeliest area of the fall, then made short presentations to the people in those towns. He went to churches, schools, and to small groups of men on the street corner, showed them what a meteorite looked like and asked them to bring him any they found (and offered to pay for them). This method worked and it continued to work for him all his life. I find this absolutely fascinating and really inspiring, the man just saw a blank space in science and set out to fill it. Because most of Nininger's work was done in Kansas in the 20s, 30s and 40s, there are a lot of incredible stories about finding meteorites in unlikely places, one had been used to hold down the lid of the "pickle jar" for 25 years. Two were covered with salt because they were used "as weights in the pork barrel". One fist-sized meteorite was used by a farmer "to take after my bull with. My bull has a pretty mean disposition but when he goes on a rampage I only need to hit him once with this, somewhere around the head, and he quiets right down". I just can't get enough of those type of stories, pure gold! In addition to brilliant touches like that, there's a lot of really interesting meteorite science and lots of detail about his struggle to make a living and support his family while on his quest, and convince other scientists that meteorites have scientific value. My only issue is that we hear almost nothing from his wife Addie about how she felt when he quit his steady job to hunt meteorites. You really have to read between the lines to get even a hint of her attitude toward the life he chose for them. She raised the children and kept the home while he went hunting and she did go on several trips with him. She drove the wagon while he operated various magnetic meteor-detecting devices, and in later years she worked in the meteorite museum alongside her husband. It would have been nice to hear more from her other than a single paragraph where he describes her as "long-suffering". Other than that quibble, this is a wonderful book about someone who worked hard and followed their dream and never let the doubters and the naysayers destroy their vision (and who was very lucky to have a solid family foundation and good friends to bolster him). This book is seems to be lost to history undeservedly.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

3 - first third (repetitious)
4 - second third
5 - last third
needed: more pictures and drawings*

* descriptions of different kinds of meteorites weren't enough for me -- I needed to see them

Much of the book is set in Denver, yet I had never heard of Nininger. I picked up this book at an ARC store; it had belonged to a prominent Denver physician.

I agree with the 5-star reviews that have been printed so far, so I'm just going to add some quotations.

p 160
Meteorites constituted the sole material evidence of the modus operandi of earth growth, yet one might earn a doctor's degree in geology without ever learning even to recognize a meteorite in the field or laboratory.

p 170
Because of their potential yield of information concerning the universe outside the earth, all meteorites should be strictly preserved for education and scientific purposes except in those rare instances where the representative samples of a single fall exceed the demand by institutions of learning.

p 181
Team work between theorists and scientific fact-gatherers is a necessary part of good research.

p 240 This is a good example of what is meant by the term 'theory:'
A revered elderly astronomer once criticized my work by saying that I had not added greatly to meteoritical theory. My reply was that I had spent my time gathering facts, and the more facts I gathered the less certain I was that we were ready for more theories.

p 243
I would not wish to trade the opportunity I had to explore a broad and relatively untouched field in years when one had time and opportunity to make his own path and to take time to look at whatever he chose along the way.

[A Mig · Rating 5 out of 5]

The autobiography of Harvey Nininger, the true founder of the field of Meteoritics. He was the first man to ever live from collecting, studying, trading, and selling meteorites. This book is a must-read to any natural history / astronomy enthusiast or meteorite collector, but it is also a great read for the general reader. It's first of all the description of a life in the United States between the 1920s and 1960s, the story of a man who was a biology teacher and decided to leave a confortable life to start a unique adventure, to chase meteorites. It's quite a drama also as Nininger's dream to see the establishment of a Meteoritics Center would fail many times. He was not taken seriously by many researchers; he and his wife had to make ends meet, having no grants, no help whatsoever to fund what they had built, the first ever museum dedicated to meteorites. It's only in his 70s (with the recognition of the importance of meteorites during the Space Race) that Nininger started to receive a flux of awards for his life-long efforts. It's not easy to be an outsider, to think outside the box, togo against the mainstream. This is the story of a man who did just that.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Too bad it is out of print and copies are in the $100 range used.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic! Bought it at Arizona's Meteor Crater when I was a kid, loved it and read it many times.