One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong uttered those words when he became the first man to walk on the surface of the moon. Today you can read plenty of articles about that historic moment and also about moving past it and focusing our scientific research on saving planet Earth first.

For a deeper look at the politics behind NASA and the space missions, take check out Defining NASA: The Historical Debate over the Agency's Mission. Author W. D. Kay posits that, while most observers point to the 1969 Apollo moon landing as the single greatest accomplishment of NASA, prominent scientists, engineers, and public officials have been questioning the purpose of the U.S. space program, even at the height of its national popularity.

“Defining NASA is a valuable and interesting contribution to NASA history that deserves serious consideration by the agency’s current policymakers.” — Isis

Order a copy today.

Judging a book by its cover

One of our favorite things about reading other people's blogs is finding out about the blogs they're reading—and then reading them regularly ourselves. That's how we found the Book Cover Archive and it's blogging cousin, the Book Cover Archive Blog. The archives are loaded with gorgeous graphic design for those looking to get lost in cover art nirvana. The blog ruminates on all things book covers—including creating cover art for an e-book that would fit the proportions of the iPhone. Very interesting, especially the parts about using RGB vs. CMYK color and making black the dominant color so the cover could actually become a part of the iPhone front...if you're into that sort of stuff. Which we are.



So poke around both of their sites and you'll learn plenty, including who designed the cover for The Yiddish Policemen's Union and where to hit the motherload of NASA images for your next book on the space agency. Enjoy.