Book reviews
I like to read and I like to share my thoughts on books. Take a look through here, you might find something really good.
Handprints on Hubble
By Kathryn D. Sullivan
8/10
Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan was the first American woman to walk in space and one of the thousands of minds behind the design, launch and repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. In this book, she shares the story of creating a telescope designed to be maintainable while in orbit as well as stories from her own life and journies to space
I really enjoyed this book, although I had a hard time getting into it at the start. I had just finished a couple of nonfiction books that had a very light, conversational tone, and the more formal and technical start to the book threw me off in the beginning. As the book went on, though, I found that the writing felt more and more natural, and the story being told is amazing. The sheer number of people involved and the politics of the NASA offices were especially intresting.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning about the history of space travel and advancements in science.
How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming
By Mike Brown
10/10
"How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming" is the story of how an astronomer's discoveries threw Pluto's status as a planet into debate. It's told without remorse and is hands down the funniest nonfiction book I've read in my life.
Mike Brown is an astronomer who has dreamed of discovering a new planet in our solar system for many years, and would have had he kept his damn mouth shut about Pluto. When he discovered a couple of celestial bodies slightly smaller than Pluto and published his findings, he threw gasoline on the fire of astronomers arguing over whether or not Pluto's (former) status as a planet was valid and sided with Team Boot Pluto. The book is part memoir, part recount of scientific history and part laughing about crushing the dreams of small children.
I don't care who you are or what you like. You need to read this book. It's so insanely good.
The Murderbot Diaries: Volume One
By Martha Wells
8/10
"The Murderbot Diaries" is about a security robot who really hates its job and thinks humans are gross and annoying. Murderbot (the name it gave itself) would much rather watch its favorite soap operas and try to figure out who exactly it is, but it always has to rescue pesky humans for some stupid reason.
It's kind of a space opera, but also a survival story and mystery and sometimes robots trying to pass as human for job interviews. All you really need to know is that Murderbot thinks that gender is a stupid human thing and therefore has resolved not to have one. It's also friends with the Space Magic School Bus (the Space Magic School Bus has several guns)
I can't really think of anyone who wouldn't like these stories. If you don't have a lot of patience for mysteries, it might not be for you, but I found that the action scenes balanced it out pretty well.
Cool stuff
Just a bunch of cool stuff I saw online
Setting toasters on fire with strawberry Pop-Tarts
Exactly what it sounds like. Also a very well documented science experiment. Legally, I should tell you not to try this at home.
Original website here
Free color palettes
This website has a ton of free color palettes you can use for your projects. I used one for this website!
Visit the website here
How many people are in space right now?
This website tells you how many people are currently in space. It also tells you who they are, what they do and how long they've been in space.
Visit the website here
Full body render of the monster from the Iron Lung movie
I watched the Iron Lung movie with my friends a few months ago but I couldn't really see anything because my copy was really pixelated. I'm glad I saw the full design for the Eel, though, because it's super cool.
Reddit post with images of model
Make and edit GIFs online
Tons of tools to edit GIFs. You can remove the backgrounds, flip or rotate them, add text, resize and more. You can also create GIFs from videos and still images. I used it a lot while making this site
Visit the website here
