A Tribble鈥檚 Guide to Space by Alan Tribble, Princeton University Press, 拢15.95, ISBN 0691050597
WHAT did the Romans ever do for us? Well, they determined the size of the space shuttle-or so says Alan Tribble in A Tribble鈥檚 Guide to Space. Roman wagons set the standard for British road widths. This measure was then recycled for railway widths, which now limit the size of the shuttle鈥檚 train-transported solid rocket boosters . . . you get the picture.
Tribble has had a serious career, working on space programmes inside and outside NASA for most of his life. But as fans of the series will remember, a tribble, in the original Star Trek series, was one of a horde of cloyingly sweet puppet-like little creatures that bred like rabbits. Tribble has used this (no doubt infuriating) coincidence as a hook on which to hang his engaging beginner鈥檚 guide to modern space travel. Though the book is short, Tribble has tried to make it comprehensive, covering space history, orbital mechanics, the practicalities of spacecraft design and the goals of space exploration.
Advertisement
But that鈥檚 the problem. There is simply too much material here for any beginner. The chapter on orbital mechanics, for example, covers everything from Newton to general relativity, all without the help of subheadings or summaries.
Where Tribble does score is with his insider-engineer鈥檚 point of view. The material on modern spacecraft design could form the basis of a term鈥檚 design project for first-year engineering undergraduates. And there is plenty of engaging detail, if sometimes historically dubious, such as that anecdote about the Romans.
The Star Trek hooks, presumably inspired by the popularity of books such as Lawrence Krauss鈥檚 The Physics of Star Trek, are clumsy, though-Tribble doesn鈥檛 really need them.
I suspect this book would baffle the true beginner, but if you do know the subject already it would be a enjoyable addition to your shelves. And, speaking as an ex-teacher, I would recommend a copy for every sixth-form or first-year undergraduate staffroom library, as a mine of material for exercises and projects.
If you鈥檙e not an American, brace yourself for lots of analogies about quarterbacks, Imperial units (which does provide the flavour of an engineering manual), and a rather touching Boy鈥檚 Own view of the space programme. Did you know, for example, that two-thirds of all NASA astronauts were Boy Scouts? Somehow it isn鈥檛 surprising.