| View Larger Image | The Seven Secrets of How to Think Like a Rocket Scientist | Hardcoverby James Longuski (Author)
| List Price: | $29.95 | | Price: | $12.34 | | You Save: | $17.61 (59%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Springer | | Edition: | 1st Edition | | Page Count: | 174 Pages | | Publication Date: | October 24, 2006 | | Sales Rank: | 115,989th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
This title explains the methods that rocket scientists use - expressed in a way that could be applied in everyday life. The book illustrates the methods (the 7 secrets) with anecdotes, quotations and biographical sketches of famous scientists, ideas from sci-fi, personal stories and insights, and occasionally a bit of space history. The author reveals that rocket science is just common sense applied to the extraordinarily uncommon environment of outer space and that rocket scientists are people, too. Praise for the book: 'It's really great' - Dr. Buzz Aldrin, Lunar Module Pilot, First Manned Landing on the Moon. "People of Earth! Attention'! Jim Longuski's book takes you on a journey of exploration to that nearly infinite space between the ears and behind the brows of that most mysterious of all creatures - the rocket scientist! Going well beyond the oft-used aphorisms, where no writer has gone before, he shows you how these gifted individuals think, feel, work, play, fantasize, rationalize, laugh and cry. From the glories of their epoch-making achievements to the tragedies of their magnificent failures, it is all here, told with insight, humor, objectivity and personal perspective. Without being preachy, lessons are offered that apply to anyone seeking to make professional or personal life just a little bit more successful and fun. I just couldn't set this book down' - Robert Cesarone, Rocket Scientist, Voyager Navigator, Space Communications Architect. 'This book is a must read for everyone - not just those who think they want to know how Rocket Scientists think. Do not be scared off by the title; it's a delightful and wonderfully useful easy read' - Dr. William J. O'Neil, Galileo Project Manager, 1990-1998, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 12 reviews)
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Doesn't really teach you how to think like a rocket scientist by Tom Carpenter (Marysville, OH)  4 Stars
February 04, 2008
...but it does remind you of excellent principles of success in any field, whether an engineer, scientist or any other profession.
Personally, I am not a rocket scientist; I am a systems engineer and study low-level communication protocols in networks as well as database design theory. At the same time, I teach success skills to technology professionals and have been recommending this book. I do not recommend it as a valuable resource for learning to think better (Gelb, Chaffe, Thorpe, Wind and Jones have done this well), but as a self-development book that provides reminders of important foundational principles like looking at the big picture, questioning your assumptions and reviewing your past successes and failures for lessons learned.
There's nothing deep or technical in this book. It is all about the basics and, sadly, we forget those quite often.
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"Zero G and I feel fine" by Earth that Was 4 Stars
November 03, 2007
There are thousands of "How to" and "improve your thinking" books out there, but only this one allows you to indulge your inner space cadet at the same time. I'm old enough to remember when us kids were as excited by actual space travel as a later generation was by "Star Wars." Jim Longuski is too and he was an actual rocket scientist, and currently teaches the rocket scientists of the future.
There are no earth shattering secrets here but lots of down-to-earth common sense delivered with charm, brevity and good humour. Longuski's writing style is light and breezy and this good reading book is one you can move through like a rocket. The illustrating cartoons are fun and relevant as are Longuski's chapter heading quotations. The book is tight and well constructed, elegant even, indeed it seems to encapsulate the very rocket science principles the author wants to see take off.
There are seven stages in Longuski's count down. These principles would seem to be relevant nearly everywhere, and especially in any activity remotely technical. There must be a "Dream". But you need to "Judge" your brainstorms toughly but carefully. You need to "Ask" the right questions, lots of them. "Check" your findings and your thinking. "Simplify" your plans, "Optimize" your solutions...and "Do."
Longuski's text is peppered with examples from the space programme of where these principles have been applied and lift off achieved. These out-of-this-world examples make the book like tang to your inner astronaut. But there is down side to the story too. Longuski is critical of NASA's well publicised recent failures and blames the failures on losing track from the seven principles expounded herein. Longuski is deeply concerned to get NASA back on track. So the ideas have organisational as well as personal relevance.
Don't expect this self help book, or any self help book, to change your life. But it will help give you a different perspective from a higher orbit. Recommended for all space cadets, earthbound or otherwise.
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Inappropriate Personal Space Shuttle Vendetta by George P. Burdell (Atlanta, GA USA)  2 Stars
June 03, 2007
As a "rocket scientist" (or rather, "rocket engineer") myself, I find Longuski's basic pointers about how to think like a rocket scientist very accurate. In fact, I'd give this book 5 stars if it was only full of these pointers.
However, I am extremely disappointed by Longuski's use of this book to embark on a personal vendetta against the Space Shuttle. While I agree with some of Longuski's points, they are frequently made with sarcastic language and by presenting incomplete information (certainly not the objectivity one would expect from a rocket scientist).
The book's subtitle should be "or How I Learned To Continue Worrying and Hate the Space Shuttle." At least if that were the subtitle, Longuski's Shuttle discussions would be a little more appropriate.
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Give yourself a Rocket Scientist makeover by The Science Nerd (Houston, Texas)  5 Stars
May 16, 2007
This book isn't about how to make a thruster fire, or how to launch a spaceship into interstellar space. It's about the process of making the orderly, logical decisions that could get you there.
Most of us don't make decisions about million-dollar rocket designs. But anybody can make a bad decision based on faulty logic, incomplete data or simple boneheadedness. Wrong thinking can cause aspects of our careers and personal lives to veer dangerously off-course, like a fueled-up rocket with its thrusters firing sideways.
Dr. Longuski's book is full of common-sense, high-functioning rationality. It gets my enthusiastic endorsement!
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Not for rocket scientists by Peter Boyce (Nantucket, MA USA)  1 Stars
April 05, 2007
If you are a rocket scientist (and I sort of am), you will find this book shallow and disappointing. In fact, if you are of a scientific turn of mind in any way, this book will contribute nothing to your approach to problems. And, even if you are not scientificaslly oriented, I fail to see how this book will help you. I know it is not expensive, which is why I was thinking of getting this book for my 16 year old grandson, but I never passed it along because he would just laugh at the trivial and banal examples. It isn't even amusing.
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