Ariosto has certainly interviewed many people for this book and visited some interesting places ... But it’s easy to see why so many people agreed to speak with him. He asks questions and dutifully reports the replies, adding only the most cursory analysis of his own ... By failing to cast a skeptical eye on the space industry, he becomes a cheerleader for it ... With minimal skepticism, he platforms schemes that range from the contested and implausible...to the wholly impossible ... If the lack of critical assessment were its only problem, Open Space might still be worthwhile for a behind-the-scenes look at the space industry. Unfortunately, the book’s credibility is fatally undermined by a cavalcade of errors.
Ariosto convincingly argues that we are still in the early days of the revolution that Mr. Musk set in motion by developing the ability to reuse rockets. But Open Space is a flawed guide to this vital territory. The book’s 47 staccato chapters jump from one subject to another without much of a discernible pattern. Before Mr. Ariosto is able to sufficiently explore some important topic, he switches to a completely different subject ... The book’s lack of discipline is unfortunate because Mr. Ariosto’s enthusiasm for space is evident ... A step in the right direction but a smaller one than it could have been.
The tale of Intuitive Machines' sleep-deprived engineers facing down one crisis after another is gripping. In his new book, Open Space, journalist David Ariosto tells it well. Lamentably, the rest of the book is less moon shot, more train wreck ... Feels like two books clumsily stitched together ... The book's flaws get in the way. The prose is clunky. The chronology is bewildering.
Ariosto’s account of these intersections of space science, business, and global politics is deeply reported and well written. It also reads like a techno-optimist’s fever dream ... A doggedly reported, starry-eyed take on the CEOs who gaze upon the cosmos and see dollar signs twinkling in the dark.
Informative if uneven ... While the book’s first half captivates with suspenseful storytelling, particularly Ariosto’s detailed descriptions of moon landing attempts, the second half lacks a propulsive through line, jumping from the dangers of space debris to the prospect of colonizing mars to technical discussions of the theoretical possibility of warp-speed travel. Still, space aficionados will find much of interest.
