I haven't read it yet, but Jack Schmitt's new book looks interesting.

[Update a few minutes later]

Unfortunate typo of Dr./Senator Schmitt's name has been fixed...

Rand, I don't know Jack Schitt. Funny, when you click on the link it takes you to a book written by some other guy....last name Schmitt.

That book has been on my Wish list for some time now, but I've promised myself that I would finish Churchills "Second World War" before starting anything else. And I'm only mid way through volume 2 of 6.... it could be a while.

I bought my autographed copy at a booksigning from Dr. Schmitt himself. I bought it, merely, as a novelty. I went to the booksigning because I and my kids wanted to meet a real moonwalker. Also, I wanted my 8 year old son to meet him because he is torn between being a geologist or an astronaut. I wanted him to meet someone who is both. I had no intention of reading the book but after standing in line for an hour and spending $27 I thought I may as well.

It's very well written by a man who has deep experience in the NASA community, politics, academia and business. He puts together a very good business case for going back to the moon to mine HE3. He outlines different methodologies for returning from a total private sector approach to a multi-national approach, ala ISS. His conclusion is the private sector works best(Go Rand!) but he firmly believes we need a heavy lifter to do it. He calls it a super Saturn V(Ahh sh*t, Rand!).

It's a really good read, whether for the layman or the recovering aerospace worker.

(Hmmm ... trying to decide whether I would prefer to be mentioned as someone who does, or does not, know Jack Schitt.)

Whatever the case, I did get to meet Jack Schmitt a few years back -- actually a couple of times; once at a Lunar & Planetary Science Conference and again at (I think) an ISDC. His rejection of the giant impact origin of the Moon (and, IIRC, the lunar magma ocean hypothesis as well) causes a certain amount of polite smiling and nodding at such venues, and his 3He fixation may or may not be the best commercial-space idea out there, but he's a great guy to have promoting some kind of lunar economic development. Am therefore putting his new book on my list of stuff-to-get.

(Hey, superscript tags don't work.)

Oh, and Cecil -- just to speed things up, and sorry for the spoiler -- we win.

Awwww Jay.... what did you have to go and do that for!!??? ;)