…and the middle one (after surveying all the beautiful Italian people) says “Know any good books about missiles?”

And the last one says “Why, yes! I like the books from the ‘50s and ‘60s.”

And the first one in says “And then the frog said, ‘I feel all white and fluffy!” But that’s another story.

So James has asked me what books I can recommend for learning about missiles and he also suggested that it would make a good easy blog. Here is my short list:

1) Handbook of Astronautical Engineering by Heinz Hermann (ed.) Koelle. Hands down the best book for actually learning about missiles. When ever I have mistakenly first tried a different book, I always come back to this one.

2) Aerospace Vehicle Design: Spacecraft Design (vol. 2) by K. D. Wood. If you want to calculate something quickly, this is the book to go to. Its just full of interesting and important empirical relations.

3) Rocket Propulsion Elements by George Sutton and Oscar Biblarz. Ok, they are always coming out with an new edition so perhaps its not really from the 60s any more, but people expect to see it in such a list. But seriously, If you have Koelle, you really don’t need anything else.

I like books written in the ‘50s and ‘60s because they weren’t pure mathematics and actually explained things. That, of course, is an interesting sociological “observation.” You might disagree and I’d like to hear your thoughts. Also, if you know of any other great books on missiles, let’s start a list! Of course, we all run the risk of starting a run on these books, so make sure you have your copy before posting it! Books from the ‘50s and ‘60s are starting to be worth their weight in gold.