For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By Yankee-K
#1414702
Shame the questions in that interview were inaudible, or was that me?
By PaulB
#1414745
Flintstone wrote:
Sharpie wrote:Why a hardback though, shirley that's just for reference books, innit?



It was cheap :D


Looking at Amazon just now, the hardback looks like an investment...
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By OCB
#1415458
I read an article about it in one of the national news websites, and was intrigued/impressed by the back-story.
I then spent all of about 10 minutes searching t'interweb for a free download.
I then finally found a use for the Kobo my wife bought for me last year (it already had 1000 books on it, only one I read was "Last Chance to See" by a Mr D.Adams, had sadly never read it before).
I then spent the next 4 days doing something I've not done in decades...reading every moment I had the chance!

Yes, the science is wrong in so many places and at so many levels. The writing is absolutely not the best ever.

However, it took me back to a time in my life where I was young, the world was a very precarious place - but we had such hope for the future. Carl Sagan was "the man" in the way that Steve Jobs was until not long ago, except the only similarity was the penchant for turtlenecks.

I laughed out loud on the bus reading it. I waited until my colleagues had gone to lunch, so I could spend time alone reading the book.
It definitely had the feel of something that had been written chapter-by-chapter. Critics hate that, but to me it gives a raw and authentic feel.

Above all, it reminded me how much I love to read a good science fiction yarn.

I know from talking to you lot over the years that many here are basically engineers at heart. Flying is the epitome of saying "f*ck you" to the laws of nature/physics/economics. The author of the Martian is a kindred spirit, pure and simple.
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By rf3flyer
#1415494
OCB wrote:...Flying is the epitome of saying "f*ck you" to the laws of nature/physics/economics.

Excepting economics, surely it's the exact opposite.
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By Genghis the Engineer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1455954
A bit of thread resurrection, but this rather fun photograph appeared on Twitter today.

Image

The gent on the left is Andy Weir, the bearded fellow is Buzz Aldrin.

G
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By joe-fbs
#1456041
from OCB "I then spent all of about 10 minutes searching t'interweb for a free download."

Do you pick-up groceries in shops without paying as well?
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By akg1486
#1456060
Imagine working your whole life and then to be world famous for what you did during one week only.
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By Flintstone
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1456100
Rob P wrote:Do you think Aldrin might just be American?

Rob P




Part house elf I'd say.
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By akg1486
#1456107
Exactly, GtE: Air Force fighter pilot, PhD in physics and a career as astronaut. Still: most people know him as the guy who took the picture of Neill Armstrong.

But what a guy and what a life, eh! I think we can forgive him for his socks, his tie and his suspenders. :-D
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By kanga
#1456109
akg1486 wrote:Imagine working your whole life and then to be world famous for what you did during one week only.


Better than being notorious for one incident in an otherwise blameless life, as has happened to some people .. ?
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