Greg Matloff

The Starflight Handbook is an indispensable compendium of the many and varied methods for traversing the vast interstellar gulf--don't leave the Solar System without it!
--Robert Forward

Very sensible, very complete and useful. Its good use of references and technical 'sidebars' adds to the book and allows the nontechnical text to be used by ordinary readers in an easy fashion. I certainly would recommend this book to anyone doing any thinking at all about interstellar flight or the notion of possibilities of contacts between hypothetical civilizations in different stat systems.
--Louis Friedman Executive Director, The Planetary Society

The Starflight Handbook is the first and only compendium on planet Earth of the radical new technologies now on the drawing boards of some of our smartest and most imaginative space scientists and engineers. Scientists and engineers as well as general readers will be captivated by its:
* In-depth discussions of everything from nuclear pulse propulsion engines to in-flight navigation, in flowing, non-technical language
* Sidebars and appendices cover technical and mathematical concepts in detail
* Seventy-five elegant and enlightening illustrations depicting starships and their hardware.

Chapitres :
Introduction to Starflight.
Objectives of Interstellar Missions.
Rocket Propulsion for Interstellar Flight.
Nuclear Pulse Propulsion.
Beamed Energy Propulsion.
Solar Sail Starships: Clipper Ships of the Galaxy.
Fusion Ramjets.
Interstellar Ion Scoops.
Other Novel Advanced Propulsion Concepts.
Interstellar Trajectories.
The Interstellar Medium.
Starship Navigation and Visual Effects in Relativistic Flight.
Starflight between Fact and Fancy.
Suspended Animation, Hibernation, and Hypothermia.
Scientific Payloads.
Detecting Extrasolar Planets.
Appendices: Powers of Ten;
Units, Constants, and Physical Data;
Nearby Star Systems;
Guide to Starflight Literature;
The Twin ?Paradox;? Energy, Efficiency, and Starflight Propulsion;
Realizing Starflight: A Plan for the Future.
References.
Index.