I should keep track of my favorite authors better. Henry SF Cooper, author of Apollo on the Moon, Thirteen: The Flight that Failed and the majestic The Evening Star (which is about how the Magellan probe team debugged OS race conditions from 20 million miles away) died in January.
I can’t say enough good things about The Evening Star. If you’re into computers or into space exploration, it’ll be a great read. If you’re into both, it’s incomparable.
I highly recommend all of his books.
Wow. Thanks for sharing this. I’ve just ordered a second-hand copy via AbeBooks.
Don’t forget “Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight”. Really good analysis of the human factor in space flight.
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Apollo-Human-Machine-Spaceflight/dp/0262516101
Speaking of going digital. This account of the digital revolution at Lucasfilm is excellent. Very technical and informative.
https://www.amazon.com/Droidmaker-George-Lucas-Digital-Revolution/dp/0937404675/
Couldn’t find The Evening Star in either of my local library systems, or my university library. Oh well. Forced to get it from Amazon.
These sound like my kind of books. Starting with Evening Star and Imaging Saturn from AbeBooks. Sorry for our loss, but I am glad you brought him to my attention.
Same as just order a copy from Amazon myself, there are a few on ebay too if anyone else has been looking.