Agent Palmer

In a nutshell, Dr. Space Junk vs The Universe by Alice Gorman tells the very non-linear origin story of Dr. Space Junk herself. Don’t let that narrative twist turn you away. It’s a tale filled not with missteps and mistakes but with the understanding that what you want now may not be what you want later. It’s also quite a philosophy and history book, too.

Let’s start with author Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist who is writing a book with the subtitle “Archaeology and the Future.”

What we know of as rock n roll, is not only the story of music but the history of instruments as well. The Birth of Loud chronicles a rivalry that was at the center of more than one musical movement and it is superbly written by Ian S. Port who not only describes the people and their instruments, the trials and innovation, but the feelings of change and moments of inspiration.

Author Ian S. Port writes this book not only with great prose, but there’s some poetry in there too. His description of Hendrix at Woodstock performing the Star-Spangled Banner is the best I have ever read…

Donald K. “Deke” Slayton may not be the household name he should be, but he has had a hand in shaping history as we have come to know it. He was one of the original Mercury Seven, unfortunately, he was the one who didn’t get a flight, but he did eventually make it into space, and in the meantime, he ran the Astronaut Office, and the story for how he got there, his impressions, his knowledge, perspective, and his stories, are second to none.

All of this is what makes Deke! worth your time.

Amy Shira Teitel’s Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight features two characters who, while separated by 25 years in age, both lead the way for Sally Ride, but it wasn’t a smooth flight.

It’s compelling in the most dramatic of ways, and not just because the space program NASA had at the start consisted of “a bunch of rockets with a tendency to explode.” And despite a rallying cry of wanting the first woman in space to be American, it was Valentina Tereshkova from the Soviet Union who got there first.

Val Kilmer is one of those actors. How you know him is most often related to either the first movie you saw him in or your favorite film of his. Is he your top secret agent? Your Real Genius? Your Iceman? Your Madmartigan? Your Batman? Your Lizard King? Your Bank Robber? Your Saint? Or your Huckleberry?

Well, no matter what he is to you, he’s an artist and his memoir is a thing of poetry written in prose. There is much more to Val Kilmer than the roles he has played, but the stories that he writes about…