Ignition!

JOHN DRURY CLARK (1907 - 1988) was an American rocket fuel developer, chemist, and science fiction writer. In addition to his work as a scientist, he was instrumental in the broad revival of interest in Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories and an influence on the writing of Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt, and other sci-fi authors.ISAAC ASIMOV (1920 - 1992) was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. A prolific writer, he published more than 500 books, most notably the science fiction novels I, Robot and Foundation, and the popular science works, Guide to Science and Understanding Physics.

• ContentsIn Re John D. Clark - foreword by Issac AsimovPreface1    How It Started2    Peenemunde and JPL3    The Hunting of the Hypergol . . .4    . . . and Its Mate5    Peroxide – Always a Bridesmaid6    Halogens and Politics and Deep Space7    Performance8    Lox and Flox and Cryogenics in General9    What Ivan Was Doing10    “Exotics”11    The Hopeful Monoprops12    High Density and the Higher Foolishness13    What Happens NextGlossaryIndex

"Read this book. You’ll find plenty about John and all the other sky-high crackpots who were in the field with him and you may even get (as I did) a glimpse of the heroic excitement that seemed to make it reasonable to cuddle with death every waking moment-to say nothing of learning a heck of a lot about the way in which the business of science is really conducted."   - Issac Asimov (from the foreword) "The funniest, most accessible book on rocket science. . . . Often hilarious, always informative, this history of rocket science is a must-read. It's rare that a book about as high-minded and serious a topic as rocket science manages to be both highly informative and laugh-out-loud funny. But if there's a better way to describe John Clark's Ignition!, I've yet to discover it. A cult classic among chemists." (Ars Technica) "Ignition! is a hard-to-get-your-hands-on account of early rocket science...Clark was an American chemist active in the development of rocket fuels back in the 1960s and 1970s, and the book is both an account of the growth of the field and an explainer of how the science works."(Business Insider) "This insider's account of the early years of rocketry captures the excitement of researching and developing technologies that lie outside the realm of computer science." (Inc.) "Ignition!, originally written in 1972, is back in print after a long hiatus. A classic book, it tells a rollicking story of an era when space was the frontier. An informative history, it reads like an adventure story." (Galveston County Daily News)