Book Review: Mining the Sky

During a trip to New York last year, I decided to visit the city's Museum of Natural History. Of course, it was no match for the Natural History Museum in London (a.k.a. my second home during my childhood), but it was definitely a worthwhile visit, not least due to an interesting exhibit on space travel which exposed me to this book:

After finally finding the time to do so, I turned its last page a few days ago. I will say that, in some respects, it wasn't quite my cup of tea. To summarize, the author, John S. Lewis, discusses the economic possibilities offered to us by outer space for increasing humankind's material and energy resources. Throughout the book, he argues that the mining of various celestial bodies (such as planets and asteroids) could provide us with the ingredients needed to fuel human civilization for decades, if not centuries, to come.

The planetary scientist himself

Despite my growing interest in the topic, several chapters of the book were lost on me due to their highly technical approach. Lewis spends a great deal of time referring to the geological and chemical nature of celestial bodies and the processes required to effective exploit them, which isn't surprising given his position as a professor of planetary science. Although the book was published in 1996 and could be seen as a bit dated, I'm sure its meticulous approach means the chemical and geological analysis is relevant even today. Unfortunately however, while his writing was usually clear enough to allow a layman such as myself to keep up with his arguments, a good understanding of Lewis' field of study would have been necessary to perform the sort of active, critical reading which the book clearly deserves. Moreover, when Lewis moves into discussing the social and political aspects of 'mining the sky', the resulting chapters seem tangential to the rest of the book. The sheer number of pages he dedicates to the scientific component of the topic makes his discussion of the human element seem shallow and lacking by comparison... and then you have some some parts where you can't help but think he really should've saved them for another book (see pages 249-250 for a brief discussion of the philosophical issues surrounding robotics and AI).

I don't want to come across as too harsh towards Mining the Sky though. The book is, after all, a piece of scientific literature at heart, and it would be unfair to judge it as anything else. Furthermore, I'm sure Lewis develops his discussion of the human side of the topic elsewhere (such as his own blog, see link below). The book's geological, chemical and economic analyses are broad and all-encompassing. It provides the reader with a serious introduction to the topic, but preserves the element of the fantastic which makes space exploration so fascinating.

The book's greatest accomplishment, I feel, lies in its capacity to stimulate interest. Granted, I'm biased with a preexisting disposition towards this stuff, but the predictions which Lewis makes in his work inevitably invite questioning and critical thought. For instance, one of the book's central arguments states that the incentive to mine celestial bodies for alternative sources of energy will increase as fossil fuel reserves on earth begin to dwindle. However, I find that this argument does not sufficiently consider current research into renewable energy sources; research which already benefits from growing political support and could certainly offset our desire to grab a shovel and fly off towards the nearest asteroid. Mining the Sky might not be for everyone, but the topic it discusses can certainly spark anyone's interest.

Click here to go to John S. Lewis' Blog