Author Topic: Erik Seedhouse book "SpaceX: Making Commercial Spaceflight a Reality" (Read 9449 times)

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #20 on:** 04/29/2013 03:37 am »

Quote from: QuantumG on 04/28/2013 11:40 pm

I wonder if they're doing a Kindle version.

Not clear from the website:

Quote from: Springer

Springer eBooks are sold as PDF files without copy protection (DRM free). Instead, all eBooks include personalized watermarks. This means you can read the Springer eBooks across numerous devices such as Laptops, eReaders, and tablets. You can pay for Springer eBooks with Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Paypal. After the purchase you can directly download the eBook file or read it online in our Springer eBook Reader. Furthermore your eBook will be stored in your MySpringer account. So you can always re-download your eBooks.

Looking at Amazon some (but not all!) other books by Eric from Springer have Kindle versions. I can't work out why the difference, but his two books published in 2012 don't currently have Kindle versions.

Lar · « **Reply #21 on:** 04/29/2013 05:06 am »

Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/29/2013 03:37 am

Quote from: QuantumG on 04/28/2013 11:40 pm
I wonder if they're doing a Kindle version.

Not clear from the website:

Quote from: Springer
Springer eBooks are sold as PDF files without copy protection (DRM free). Instead, all eBooks include personalized watermarks. This means you can read the Springer eBooks across numerous devices such as Laptops, eReaders, and tablets. You can pay for Springer eBooks with Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Paypal. After the purchase you can directly download the eBook file or read it online in our Springer eBook Reader. Furthermore your eBook will be stored in your MySpringer account. So you can always re-download your eBooks.

Looking at Amazon some (but not all!) other books by Eric from Springer have Kindle versions. I can't work out why the difference, but his two books published in 2012 don't currently have Kindle versions.

I thought you could read PDFs on a Kindle?

I have an HP TouchPad and it can read PDFs and it also has a Kindle reader, but that's not quite the same.

(2 pages of space epic references... that's ... well... epic)

QuantumG · « **Reply #22 on:** 04/29/2013 06:10 am »

Quote from: Lar on 04/29/2013 05:06 am

I thought you could read PDFs on a Kindle?

You can, but it's not as good as a proper Kindle version of the book.

mlindner · « **Reply #23 on:** 04/30/2013 06:52 pm »

Quote from: QuantumG on 04/29/2013 06:10 am

Quote from: Lar on 04/29/2013 05:06 am
I thought you could read PDFs on a Kindle?

You can, but it's not as good as a proper Kindle version of the book.

You can convert it to a Kindle version. There's programs for converting between ebook formats.

QuantumG · « **Reply #24 on:** 04/30/2013 09:53 pm »

Quote from: mlindner on 04/30/2013 06:52 pm

You can convert it to a Kindle version. There's programs for converting between ebook formats.

I could also do their editing, proof reading and publishing for them.. I'm not going to

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #25 on:** 05/27/2013 03:41 pm »

Springer website is now saying publication is June 30th. Amazon has updated accordingly (and I assume other booksellers but I haven't checked).

ClaytonBirchenough · « **Reply #26 on:** 05/28/2013 11:20 am »

So what's the consensus, is it worth buying?

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #27 on:** 05/28/2013 05:15 pm »

Quote from: ClaytonBirchenough on 05/28/2013 11:20 am

So what's the consensus, is it worth buying?

We don't know until someone reads it and posts a review!

If it becomes available to search on Amazon we might be able to tell if Erik's had inside access to SpaceX but even then doesn't guarantee the book is worth buying.

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #28 on:** 06/26/2013 10:42 pm »

Amazon still says June 30th release date, but the PDF ebook appeas to be immediately available for download from Springer:

http://www.springer.com/engineering/mechanical+engineering/book/978-1-4614-5513-4

Also from that page you can download excerpts of the book, namely all the front and back matter (including all the appendices). My impression, from a quick skim through, is that there's little inside info in the book. Certainly the only acknowledgment of content relates to permission to use pictures and details in appendices, eg of Falcon Heavy, are straight off SpaceX's website.

Jason1701 · « **Reply #29 on:** 06/30/2013 06:44 am »

Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 06/26/2013 10:42 pm

Amazon still says June 30th release date, but the PDF ebook appeas to be immediately available for download from Springer:

http://www.springer.com/engineering/mechanical+engineering/book/978-1-4614-5513-4

Also from that page you can download excerpts of the book, namely all the front and back matter (including all the appendices). My impression, from a quick skim through, is that there's little inside info in the book. Certainly the only acknowledgment of content relates to permission to use pictures and details in appendices, eg of Falcon Heavy, are straight off SpaceX's website.

Thanks for the link. An entire paragraph of the preface is plagiarized from the "About SpaceX" section on most of their press releases.

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #30 on:** 06/30/2013 06:57 am »

Amazon has an excerpt of the book, the first few pages of chapter 1. When it gets to the part about Elon starting SpaceX there's no mention of Mars or the Mars greenhouse idea and just a brief note about trying to buy a rocket from Russia.

So initial indications of book content are not very encouraging.

QuantumG · « **Reply #31 on:** 06/30/2013 07:09 am »

Well, you can get that background sound bite story from any Elon interview.. I would think the added value of this book would be stories from the inside.

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #32 on:** 06/30/2013 07:24 am »

Quote from: QuantumG on 06/30/2013 07:09 am

Well, you can get that background sound bite story from any Elon interview.. I would think the added value of this book would be stories from the inside.

Agreed, if there are any ... I would expect at least an acknowledgement though in the book if people had provided such stories?

kiba · « **Reply #33 on:** 06/30/2013 04:24 pm »

Even if there is no insider information, all the information on spacex is scattered all over the place.

So there's great value for a book that compiles all available information into one book.

Jim · « **Reply #34 on:** 06/30/2013 05:21 pm »

Quote from: kiba on 06/30/2013 04:24 pm

Even if there is no insider information, all the information on spacex is scattered all over the place.

So there's great value for a book that compiles all available information into one book.

It is likely outdated

Rabidpanda · « **Reply #35 on:** 06/30/2013 06:45 pm »

I read the excerpt from amazon and the book looks terrible, poorly written and lacking any good information.

dcporter · « **Reply #36 on:** 07/04/2013 02:28 am »

I assume there are people for whom this book has value. I assume that none of them read this forum.

montyrmanley · « **Reply #37 on:** 07/08/2013 10:42 pm »

I just received this book in the mail from Amazon today. I will post a review in the next day or two (it won't take longer than that to read it; the book is only about 170 pages long).

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #38 on:** 07/23/2013 05:29 am »

From this week's The Space Show newsletter:

Quote

Sunday, July 28, 2013, 12-1:30 PM PDT (3-4:30 PM EDT, 2-3:30 PM CDT). We welcome back DR.. Erik Seedhouse to discuss his new book, "SpaceX: Making Commercial Spaceflight A Reality." To purchase this book through Amazon, please us The Space Show/OGLF portal on our website.

montyrmanley · « **Reply #39 on:** 07/23/2013 06:04 pm »

I finished the book a few days ago, and...it's about what we thought. It's basically an extended fan letter to Elon Musk, combined with some technical details you can glean off of this website and others. As far as I can tell there is no original reporting, nor did the author actually interview anyone at SpaceX as far as I can tell.

Is it a horrible book? No. But I'm left wondering who the audience is supposed to be. If it's space enthusiasts...they're going to be disappointed, because the book simply compiles information that has been posted publicly on websites for years now. Yet at the same time I can't imagine a general-interest reader would be very interested in a book like this: the subject matter is too specialized and too technical in nature.

Ultimately the book is not technical enough for technical readers, not in-depth enough for people looking for additional "insider" details on SpaceX itself, and too technical for other readers. Save your money.