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The Survival Imperative: Using Space to Protect Earth, by William E. Burrows
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Using Space to Save Earth
Veteran science journalist William E Burrows offers a bold new mission for the U.S. space program: to protect the Earth from the ever-growing number of perils that threaten our way of life - and even our very survival.
We are living through one of the most dangerous times in human history. Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons technology are proliferating, and missile technology is falling into more and more hands. Extreme natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes, are becoming increasingly costly - not only in dollars, but in lives - as population expands. Environmental crises threaten to provoke massive famines and widespread social collapse. Asteroids the size of battleships streak within striking distance of the earth every year.
One strategy offers the best hope of protecting us from all of these dangers - a revitalized national space program that coordinates efforts in global defense, in environmental protection, in communications, and in military security. The Survival Imperative offers an impassioned argument for this bold initiative.
To demonstrate the urgency of his cause, Burrows presents a vivid scenario: an impact by a moderately large asteroid that triggers a series of nuclear exchanges, environmental devastation, and the slow disintegration of civilization. And he examines the existing space program from the heady days of the Moon landing through the political compromises that have characterized the history of NASA in the 35 years following our retreat from the Moon.
Most of all, Burrows warns that the primary obstacle to achieving a true planetary defense program is not financial or scientific, but social-an unwillingness to acknowledge the urgency of the crisis, and to take the political risks needed to address it. The question, says Burrows, is not whether we can do it, but whether we will act before it's too late.
- Sales Rank: #4036880 in Books
- Published on: 2006-08-22
- Released on: 2006-08-22
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.49" h x 1.13" w x 6.25" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 320 pages
- Black hardback with orange and black jacket with scene of space
From Publishers Weekly
Burrows (Deep Black) provides a catalogue of catastrophes that might destroy civilization as we know it. His list is long and includes the usual suspects; a devastating impact by an asteroid or comet, nuclear holocaust, famine, earthquakes, hurricanes. The impact of all of these potential catastrophes might be mitigated, he argues, if we intelligently develop a program for humans to colonize space. This should become the prime goal of NASA, which, he says in an insightful analysis, has lacked a well-defined mission since the goal of landing on the moon was reached. If we remain localized on a single planet, we are susceptible to extinction. While his writing is lively, Burrows, director of the graduate Science and Environmental Reporting Program at NYU, is not fully successful because the book is fragmented, jumping from an analysis of the risks of nuclear attack during the Cold War to the probabilities of a massive asteroid hitting the Earth and then shifting to a discussion of the need for a human presence on the moon, with asides on the nature of modern terrorism. Although there's much of interest, it doesn't come together into a coherent package. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"Burrows's richly documented book tells the story of how simple earthlings--fallible creatures living under imperfect political systems--transcended foibles, corruption, depravity and flawed machines to discover other worlds and, what is more important, their own. For the space enthusiast, Burrows offers a complete, authoritative history of the technology that allowed us to explore space and the people who created and managed that technology."
--Publishers Weekly on This New Ocean
"'When the history of this century is written,' Burrows says, 'the story of mankind's first breaking gravity's relentless hold and touching places beyond Earth will be one of its most exciting and important chapters.' Burrows tells the story engagingly.... all the milestones of the first space age appear in the rich tapestry Burrows has woven."
--Scientific American on This New Ocean
"The most successful general survey of space history yet to appear."
--The New York Times on This New Ocean
"William Burrows has written the missing book on space-based intelligence systems."
--McGeorge Bundy on Deep Black
"Deep Black is not only first-rate science writing, but a fine exposition of the links between the advanced technology and politics of arms control that may ultimately save us from Armageddon."
--San Francisco Chronicle
From the Back Cover
A daring new vision of our future in space from an internationally renowned science journalist.
"The U.S. space program, which hasn't had a coherent goal since the Apollo missions to the Moon, is in shambles. I believe its overarching goal in the future ought to be the protection of Earth from the many dangers that threaten it -killer asteroid impact, nuclear war or terrorism, famine or pestilence, natural disasters. The obstacle to this goal is not technological. The tools necessary to reach space and stay there are well understood and at hand. What is needed is the will…."
--William E Burrows, The Survival Imperative
Praise for William E. Burrows
"Burrows's richly documented book tells the story of how simple earthlings--fallible creatures living under imperfect political systems--transcended foibles, corruption, depravity and flawed machines to discover other worlds and, what is more important, their own. For the space enthusiast, Burrows offers a complete, authoritative history of the technology that allowed us to explore space and the people who created and managed that technology."
--Publishers Weekly on This New Ocean
"'When the history of this century is written,' Burrows says, 'the story of mankind's first breaking gravity's relentless hold and touching places beyond Earth will be one of its most exciting and important chapters.' Burrows tells the story engagingly.... all the milestones of the first space age appear in the rich tapestry Burrows has woven."
--Scientific American on This New Ocean
"The most successful general survey of space history yet to appear."
--The New York Times on This New Ocean
"William Burrows has written the missing book on space-based intelligence systems."
--McGeorge Bundy on Deep Black
"Deep Black is not only first-rate science writing, but a fine exposition of the links between the advanced technology and politics of arms control that may ultimately save us from Armageddon."
--San Francisco Chronicle
Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Should be required reading for everyone!
By Sylvia Engdahl
I can't believe I'm the first person to review this book here, since it has been out for several months. It is an important book that should be read by everybody with an interest in the future of humankind -- though unfortunately, it probably won't be. It's likely to be ignored by people who think books about space aren't relevant to their own concerns. But the protection of civilization from potential disasters (either natural, such as an asteroid strike, or the result of human action, such as a widespread terrorist attack) is of concern to everyone, as is the need for coordinated efforts in global defense, communications, and environmental protection. The space program, which has drifted without a goal for much too long, can and should be restructured to provide that protection. As Burrows says, "The most important fact of this century is not that Earth is threatened in many ways. It is that for the first time in all of its history a decisive means of protecting the home planet exists. It is by using space."
The most ambitious and most crucial of the book's proposals is that an archive containing a comprehensive, continuously-updated record of our civilization, and the information required to restore it after a disaster, be kept in a colony on the moon. There is no more compelling reason to return to the moon than to save civilization, Burrows points out, and yet supporters of a lunar colony are now fragmented, absorbed in the pursuit of competing goals for building one. If they were united with the aim of establishing and maintaining an archive, the other benefits of utilizing the moon would ultimately be obtained. Will space advocates take up this challenge? I would like to think so, but in the past most of them have argued for the space effort on grounds of far lower priority and of lesser significance to the general public. There is urgent need for that to change.
The book's main problem is that it may not get into the hands of its intended audience. It contains a detailed history of space programs and proposals that readers knowledgeable about the subject may find superfluous, yet will appeal to only a minority of those who think they're not interested in space; and this may limit its readership. Yet it is worth everyone's time to read and ponder. If you are a space enthusiast, read it even if you believe you already know why space is important -- and then urge friends who don't care about space to read it, too.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
The Moon as insurance policy
By James A. Vedda
Burrows is an engaging writer and demonstrates that he is an astute observer of post-Apollo U.S. space efforts. He recognizes that despite the space exploration plan NASA has been pursuing since early 2004, the space agency still lacks clear and compelling goals because it has failed to articulate why we should go back to the Moon and what we'll do (other than basic scientific research) when we get there. Burrows suggests that the overarching goal of the space program should be nothing less than using the Moon and advanced space capabilities to save humanity.
At first, this may sound like yet another story arc from Stargate or Dr. Who. But Burrows describes a wide range of real global threats of varying probability, including considerable discussion of asteroid impacts. The most important point he makes is that for the first time in history, humans have the ability to prevent or mitigate very large-scale disasters, and preserve the vast collection of human knowledge, if we apply ourselves to such a goal in a sustained manner - and space provides the means. The last part of that statement presents the author with a great challenge. He doesn't have to do much to convince readers that there are some really horrific potential threats out there. The test of his persuasive powers is to sell the notion that space can be the essential element in the solution set.
Those who lived through the Apollo era, have studied spaceflight history, have participated in space advocacy, read space blogs, or work in a space-related job (all of which describe me) will have no trouble accepting his logic, even if some specific prescriptions may seem questionable. However, those who have not experienced such immersion in the study of space will be far more skeptical. Knowing this, Burrows interrupts his main theme by devoting the middle third of his 250-page book to a two-chapter tutorial on how we got where we are in space (warts and all) and what space technology has done and continues to do for us, often in ways that are invisible to most people. Avid space followers will find this to be a rehash of familiar stories, but those unfamiliar with space activities will benefit from a very good Reader's Digest account that will enlighten and possibly amaze.
This is not a book to start reading when you're depressed. The first three chapters paint a hellish picture of the nastiest natural and man-made disasters the world could face - everything short of the Sun going nova. But the last three chapters provide important food for thought for anyone who wants to take a long-term macro view of humanity's future. This will be valuable even if you question some proposals that Burrows makes. Personally, I would balance our space investment differently than the author's suggestion that "the space program should, almost in its entirety, be focused on one overarching goal: defending Earth." Also, while I agree that U.S. government space efforts should engage in more interagency (and international) collaboration, I don't agree that NASA, NOAA (the weather satellite agency), and NRO (the spy satellite agency) should merge.
Several factual errors are scattered throughout the book. Fortunately, they're generally minor data points and don't detract from the message, but they should have been spotted by a space-savvy reviewer. Despite this, the book is a good read, a good education for the uninitiated, and a good treatment of a deadly serious subject.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Survival Demands a Return to the Moon
By Nick Howes
There's no constituancy for space and damn little interest. We've scrapped the Space Shuttle with no replacement and getting another grandiose plan to go to Mars from an administration that doesn't seem to really feel under any compulsion to deliver. (Look how long George Bush's return to the moon proposal lasted before it was scrapped by his successor.) The last man on the moon, Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan, told me how encouraged he was by Bush's proposal. I wonder if he feels the same way about how far it got and how quickly it was thrown in the hopper afterwards.
William E. Burrows offers a motive for man in space. He says we need to assure the survival of the human race by spreading out in the Solar System, starting especially with the moon.
The evidence is clear from every planet we've examined: they are regularly pulverized by asteroids of varying sizes, some of them massive. A dinosaur-killer may be a once in a hundred millenia event, but as former Apollo astronaut Russell "Rusty" Schweikart, whom I once interviewed for my radio show on this topic, says, that could be tomorrow.
Burrows lays out the case by the numbers, examining the threats to our civilization and the history of our man-in-space effort. Then he makes the case for the return to the moon.
Despite the enthusiasm of a Mars first approach, with which I fully sympathize, Mars is just immensely farther from us than the moon and it's not just a case of been there, done that.
A permanent lunar base will be of great value. Burrows notes that it would be a perfect place to build the new Library of Alexandria, holding a record copy of all the knowledge of mankind. It would assure the continuation of the human race, come what may on Earth. It could provide Helium 3 for use in fusion power production once that becomes available.
Great book. Burrows makes a solid case. Hopefully, someone is listening.
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