At potential risk to my mental health, I spent a little time reading threads in the Unicorn Corral this morning, and it occurred to me to pass along a book recommendation. "Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants" by John D. Clark was published in 1972 or thereabouts and is a fascinating book. It chronicles the rapid R&D into liquid-fueled rockets from their beginning, and covers the crazy chemistry and experiments that went into advancing the state of the art for ICBMs and the space program. Really, some bonkers stuff at times, and hilariously written. I get engrossed every time I open it, and it seems like something that more than a few EcoModders might get a kick out of as well.
Unfortunately, the book is out of print, but is easily available as a pdf. Here's a current link:
http://www.sciencemadness.org/librar...s/ignition.pdf
- Scott