Michael’s Comments (group member since Apr 06, 2012)

Michael’s comments from the Space Elevator – Help LiftPort build the Lunar Space Elevator Infrastructure group.

Michelle, Cool! Please ask Mark to 'friend' me here, and then let me know when the book comes out - we'd be happy to add it to the list.

Thanks Michelle for creating this. It doesn't have the tethers book, (which I just bought on Amazon) but it does have the Mining one. We'll need to keep this updated.

Frank. Cool! Please repost that link in the folder for "Crater", as that is the main theme of our next book.

KS Robinson is great. He wrote a full chapter in our book: "LiftPort: Opening Space to Everyone". It was because of his Mar trilogy that we were scaring people with our Earth Elevator. People thought that ours would fall, and create a 'molten canyon' around the Earth. So KSR wrote about how his and ours were different, that they were designed 30 years apart, and that tech was better now.

Ya, I like the FEEL of a book in my hand. Until the digital books allow me to scribble in the margins, I'm gonna keep using paperbooks.

You should see my copy of Abundance - LOTS of underlines, LOTS of stars. I treated it like a textbook. I'll go back through it again and highlight details for our talk next week.

Frank, you're right, Diamandis has several TED talks. He uses the 'aluminum' story to set the stage for this book as well. Glad you like this selection. I'm looking forward to your reactions to the book.

Tracy wrote: "http://youtu.be/AmFMJC45f1Q

an example of exponential growth....really cool"

Terrific. I'll use that vid in the Google Hangout next week when we talk about the book.

Did ya notice the #1 comment? "Now how to attach an Elevator to that paper....." (And I know what you're thinking; no, I didn't plant that comment.)

I bought both book club books from Amazon. I'm thinking we should set up an Amazon account. I was talking to the Executive Director of the "Space Literacy Foundation" (I'm on the Board) and we talked about creating a "buy one, give one" program like Tom's Shoes does. For each book that gets bought, we give a copy to a local school library... What do you think?

Today, someone suggested I read "Firestar" by Michael Flynn; and the new Neil Degrasse Tyson book.

Tracy wrote: "I was intrigued with his delve into evolutionary psychology to show why we would have a bias against the concept of abundance."

I agree. I've talked to several people about that. I had heard a little about that idea, but had never seen it laid out in that way. I underlined several sentences in that section. And I'll be talking about it in the Google Hangout.

Cool! Ya, I knew about "The Great Glass Elevator". That's not quite what we're working on. ;-)

I worked my way through ~100 pages of Abundance. I like it. I'm gonna post some notes in that folder this morning.

Tracy wrote: "Hi, I'm Tracy. This sounds like such a cool project! Like Michelle, I'm a non fiction kind of girl for the most part. Love all science and history! Can't wait to start reading."

Tracy, I'm glad you've joined us. I think it will be fun. The books will -mostly- be non-fiction.

The second book we are reading is a brand-new Young Adult fiction; kind of like the old, classic Heinlein "Have Spacesuit, Will travel" style. Candidly, that's not really my kind of book, either. The only reason it's bumped to the top of the pile was the simple fact that as far as I know of, it is the ONLY story with a Lunar Elevator!

On that note, I have had an email conversation, and the Author, Homer Hickam (http://www.homerhickam.com/books/crat...) will be joining us on our discussion of his book "Crater".

Most of the other books will be relatively technical. If you have ideas, please post your suggestions in the discussion forum. You mentioned you like 'history'. Great! I want to read something good on any of the following: Golden Gate Bridge, Transcontinental Railroad, Transatlantic Cable, or Panama Canal.

Thanks for your participation - Looking forward to it!

Take care,
mjl

I'm dividing these folders into 2 sections - relevance to the main project of an Elevator on the Moon, and relevance to daily life. I know these lines will sometimes blur.

The point and goal of this book club is to organize thoughts about how to better build an Elevator on the Moon.

What can we pull out of "Abundance" to help us do that?

Welcome Michelle! I'm looking forward to your insight on these books. ;-)

One of our fans let me know that there is a new book by Homer Hickam (the guy wrote the books that October Sky is based on). His new book "Crater" bumps to the top of the list. Why? Because it's a fiction story about folks living on the Moon, mining HE3, and using a LUNAR ELEVATOR as transport!

As far as I know, this is the first book - ever - to use the concept of a Lunar Elevator. I'm excited to read it.

Here's his bio: http://www.homerhickam.com/about/bio....

And the Book: "Crater"
http://www.homerhickam.com/books/crat...

So this will be the next book after we finish "Abundance" by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler.

Please introduce yourself in the “Welcome” thread!

When creating a new discussion, please ensure you put it in the correct folder. Folders are created based on the Challenges posted above, on the specific book selection, as “Book Suggestions” or “Schedule of Books”.

I want to stress the importance of the book club. Your ideas matter – to me and to our extended team. We might not always agree as to the best method of moving forward. At this stage in the project, dissention and discussion is vitally important. The proof of that can be found in the history of LiftPort – we’ve gotten some terrific ideas because our community of fans (you!) helped us. You have helped create a new Carbon NanoTube alloy, and redesign the LiftPort anchor station/ship that the Ribbon is attached to (and how the Ribbon is attached). You’ve provided revenues (in the form of products you wanted to buy) so that we could continue our mission. And you’ve helped us modify our robots. Your ideas matter. I’d like you to extend that same philosophy of open dialog, communication, and idea iteration, to these books we are communally reading.

Express your opinions, ideas. Express your concerns and questions. Assert yourself; but support your facts with references. Even when you disagree, respect others in the community. If you disagree, state – as objectively as possible – why you disagree AND give a counter argument. If you agree, chime in with additional supporting documentation! This book club is part of an active research, development and construction effort. Your participation means that this (first) Elevator on the Moon is more likely to happen, sooner.

If you like what we are doing, please tell others – about the club and our project. If you don’t like it, please tell us why.

I am happy to take “Book Suggestions” (post these in the thread) about what books to read. Collectively, you know more about ‘stuff’ than I possibly can. So, please, give me ideas about what I should be reading – stuff that is relevant to building the biggest project in human history. The final book choices will come down to what I think I need “now”. I’m the President of LiftPort Group, and I (usually) know what skills/insights I’m missing… So I want your suggestions, but I’ll be the one to choose the books. I’ll post the “Schedule of Books” about 2-4 weeks ahead, so that everyone (me included) has time to order them. I will start the club with four books I’ve already selected. By the time we are done with those, you folks will have provided additional options.

Thanks for your interest and participation.
Michael Laine www.twitter.com/mlaine
President, LiftPort Group www.liftport.com

Learn more at www.liftport.com!

To build “the biggest thing, ever!” – LiftPort’s Space Elevator – requires an enormous breadth and depth of knowledge. Naturally, there are technical challenges. These problems of physics, chemistry and orbital dynamics are the ‘sexy’ issues that get all the media attention. But there are additional questions – law, international policy, military implications, theology, finance, operational management, education, human resources, risk mitigation/insurance and more… These concerns cannot be solved with a calculator or a spreadsheet. These are problems which involve people; which mean they are problems not of facts, but of emotions. There are plenty of technical questions that our specialists are working on, but we’ve created this book club to prioritize on the ‘human’ aspect of building the Lunar Space Elevator Infrastructure.

This book club is developed as a way of organizing topics to focus on.

I have segmented the problems into “Challenges”, below. (This organizational structure is part of a management tool I created call the “Noumenia Process” (NP!) to help me wrap my brain around this super-project. I use the NP! in all aspects of my planning and operations. You will be subjected to it here in this forum.) This book club will tackle books in all of these topics (posted in a Folder). The goal is to both educate myself / my team and of vital importance – to educate our fans / general population. We will read a variety of books (two per month) that will impact the development of Elevators on the Moon, and eventually on Mars and the Terrestrial Space Elevator here on the Earth!

I invite you to join and participate in our discussions. Your intelligence, input, advice and wisdom are valued!

Thanks for your interest and participation.
Michael Laine www.twitter.com/mlaine
President, LiftPort Group www.liftport.com
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