EARTH SATELLITE. By Patrick Moore. (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 15s.) AUTHOR
and publisher are to be congratulated on getting out so early this neat and complete exposition of all facets of the American pro- ject to hunch a series of satellites into orbits round the earth during the forthcoming geo- physical year. Mr. Moore's earlier books showed him an original and interesting writer on astronomy, and his present work, like his others, gives all sorts of bits of fascinating in- formation which will be new even to people who have made a general study of the field. Yet Earth Satellite is not a specialist's hand- book but a boil-down for the general reader, and one of the most successful of its type. The author describes what is known and unknown about the upper atmosphere, traces the history of rocket development since Goddard's pioneer experiments, covers virtually every aspect of the uses of the projected satellites and their larger successors, and briefly takes the story forward into the interplanetary developments which will follow. One is glad, incidentally, to see Forrestal given his fair share of credit for
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