Reviews and Comments

An excellent book about the mission to explore Pluto. Starting with the initial desire of Alan Stern to explore Pluto, the book then looks at the bureaucratic, political and technological hurdles the New Horizons mission had to overcome before being built and launched, followed by the mission itself and finally the fly-by of Pluto and the amazing discoveries New Horizons made about the world and beyond.

Chapter 1 looks at the early life of Alan Stern, who was fascinated with space from an early age and wanted to get involved in the space effort. This he does with an education in orbital mechanics and space engineering. But his fascination with Pluto would start when his advisor gives him a problem on Pluto to work on. A brief history on the discovery of Pluto itself is covered, as well as the space probes Voyager 1 and 2 and the decision that would lead to Pluto being the only object not visited by the Voyager probes.

Chapter 2 covers the early discoveries about Pluto, from its moon, Charon, to its chemistry. These discoveries would reveal what a strange world Pluto was. This would galvanize Stern to organize a group of mainly young scientists into advocating for a mission to Pluto at NASA.

Chapter 3 looks at the early period of Stern and colleagues' numerous proposals and studies for proposed missions to Pluto. This was a period of ups and downs when they put in a lot of work, pull strings and generally navigate the various political and bureaucratic hurdles to keep the plan for a mission to Pluto alive. But it would appear to come to nothing when NASA's then administrator says enough is enough and halts all plans for a Pluto mission.

Chapter 4 looks at the aftermath of that decision. A public campaign to restart a Pluto mission gets under way. NASA finally relents and agrees to a Pluto mission. That decision starts a challenge as various teams, including one led by Stern, must now submit detailed proposals for the mission and do it within months (instead of the usual years). The pressure to perform is incredible, and it would all come down to a final phone call from NASA when Stern finally learns that his proposal has won the day. It was during this proposal period that Stern comes up with the name for the mission: New Horizons.

Chapter 5 sees several more political and bureaucratic obstacles blocking the New Horizons project. Its budget is cancelled, then restored, on condition that it got top priority for a top NASA review. This, it does, only for other obstacles to appear until, finally, the go ahead is given to actually start putting the mission together.

Chapter 6 looks the building of the New Horizons probe. The logistics of preparing for the mission is covered, followed by an overview of the instruments New Horizons would carry to Pluto. But logistical and technological problems would appear, and the mission was in danger of coming in over budget and delayed, killing the mission. It would need a project manager to see the danger the mission was in and convince NASA to provide help to overcome the issues.

Chapter 7 looks at the nuclear power supply used by New Horizons and the challenges it brings to the project; in getting the needed plutonium for the power supply and in answering the necessary environmental impact studies required for any nuclear-powered mission in an extremely short time. But in the end, it all comes together, and the mission is now ready to be launched.

Chapter 8 covers the decision to launch New Horizons. Just when New Horizons was to be certified ready to fly, an external event occurs that would throw the launch in doubt: a test of a rocket fuel tank by the manufacturer of the rocket used to launch New Horizons fails. That starts to create doubts about the rocket used for New Horizons. The final meeting held to decided whether to launch New Horizons or not would come done to whether the head of NASA would agree to the launch or not. In the end, it was decided to go ahead with the launch.

Chapter 9 covers the preparation for the actual launch itself. It is not without drama: two aborted attempts were made before New Horizons is finally launched on its way to Pluto. Before that, the book describes the various decisions taken by mission control, the deep space tracking network, etc. before it could be launched. The launch itself was a success.

Chapter 10 describes the shake-down and testing done on New Horizons during the first phase of its journey to Jupiter before going on to Pluto. Huge emphasis is placed on making sure there are no mistakes in the code sent to New Horizons because any mistake, as shown by the list of previous missions that had failed, would be fatal. Some problems would be encountered, but on the whole, they are able to overcome them.

Chapter 11 looks at the planning done for the Pluto flyby itself. This planning was intensive and involved juggling many conflicting factors, as demands are made on flyby timing, instruments used, the power involved, etc. Each change in one factor would cause cascading changes in others. But in the end, a flyby plan was decided upon. Now, to execute it.

Chapter 12 looks at concerns over the safety of the New Horizons probe as it approaches Pluto over as yet unknown hazards (like extra moons or rings). Fail-safe options were developed that would return some data before New Horizons' closest approach so that some information would be obtained in the event the probe is destroyed during the encounter. Other options to shield the craft from potential debris (and still give some science observations) were also developed.

Chapter 13 looks at the plans for New Horizons to observe and fly-by other objects after Pluto. Now, as New Horizons approaches Pluto and is woken from hibernation, the excitement over the fly-by begins to build. New observations using New Horizons' instruments determine that there were no known hazards in its path, and it is go for approach with full science observations.

Chapter 14 looks at the events leading up to the encounter, when the loading of the observation program to New Horizons causes an error and loss of communication. It is only when the backup system re-establishes contact that the cause of the error is known for certain. Now, with time to fly-by ticking away, the team has to reboot the main computer, and reload the program without causing any other problems and all in a matter of days. In the end, it was done with hours to spare, and New Horizons is ready for its flyby.

Chapter 15 looks at the initial images and data returned by New Horizons prior to fly-by, and they caused a sensation. The 'heart' of Pluto and other geological features are revealed, showing Pluto to be an amazing world. All of it heightens the excitement as New Horizons breaks contact with Earth to perform its fly-by observations, and the Earth holds it breath.

Chapter 16 covers the events when New Horizons contacts Earth again, to the delight of observers, with a full suite of data. As the data is downloaded and revealed, they show Pluto to be a world unlike any other, with features and properties unlike any other world in the Solar System. New Horizons would prove to be a sensational success.

Chapter 17 looks at New Horizons after the Pluto fly-by. Its primary mission accomplished, New Horizons is now prepared for its next encounter with another object on New Year's Day, 2019, and afterwards, performing observations on interstellar space, joining the Voyager probes.

A fascinating book about fungi: how they live, their relationship with other organisms (including ourselves) and how, despite being small individually, collectively they have a major influence on the ecosystems of the world. You'll get to appreciate fungi and what researchers have been discovering about their lives. But much still remains unknown about fungi.

Chapter one looks at how fungi senses and affects it surrounds via chemical signals, or smells. Using truffles as the main example, fungi are shown to be able to trigger an animal's sense of smell when the truffle wants to be eaten, so it can reproduce. Fungi also use chemical signals to hunt for prey (nematode worms for example), to detect other fungi in the area to determine if they are friend or foe, and to reproduce by finding another compatible fungus. Chemical signals are also used by fungi and plants to sense each other and to determine whether they should enter into a mutual living relationship.

Chapter two takes a closer look at how fungi makes sense of its world. Through observations and experiments, fungi are found to be able to solve networking problems (like navigating a maze) just like slime moulds (which are not fungi). By various unknown means, fungi can sense the direction of food (or other sensations) and modify their network organization based on some way to make a collective decision. The way this is done may be chemical signals, hydraulic pressure or even electrical impulses, but much research remains to be done to learn just how fungi make 'decision' or have the equivalent of a 'brain' to process environmental signals.

Chapter three looks at enigmatic lichen, which are organisms that are a combination of fungi and photosynthesizing organism. Originally thought to be fungi that had 'enslaved' algae, they are now recognized to be an organism that is made of mutually dependent parts (symbiosis). Lichens are found in all kinds of environments and even survive exposed to outer space by producing protective tissue and chemicals (some of which are used by humans). Research has now shown that lichens can form from many kinds of fungi and organisms, and consists of more than one fungus and other organisms. Much remains unknown about lichens, which are the first living things to colonize new environments and, possibly, other worlds.

Chapter four looks at the mind-altering and animal controlling abilities of fungus. Much remains unknown about how certain fungus can control the body of animals (like ants and other insects) to make them behave in ways to help spread the spore of fungus. On humans, 'magic mushrooms' (which produce psilocybin and other psychedelics) have long fascinated people with their ability to alter the mental states of people. One puzzle is why fungi produce such psychedelics and why they affect people.

Chapter five looks at the relationship between fungi and plants. When plants move on to land (as algae), it was fungi that served the purpose of roots to extract nutrients from the ground. Even today, this relationship between fungi and trees (which now have roots) still holds, with fungi extracting ground nutrients for trees, while trees provide energy (from photosynthesis) to fungi. This relationship still holds many puzzles that researchers are struggling to understand, like the ability of different fungi to affect plant growth depending on their relationships.

Chapter six expands on the previous chapter to look at the relationships between fungi and groups of trees, under the name of Wood Wide Web (based on the World Wide Web that rose out of the internet). The author points out that the name, Wood Wide Web, itself misunderstands the network relationship between fungi and trees, as trees are not the 'masters' of this network, as trees and fungi allow the exchange of nutrients and 'messages' among themselves, affecting the growth of the entire network as well as its behaviour as the environment changes.

Chapter seven looks at the way fungus is changing the world. Fungi are able to digest and break down numerous substances from wood to synthetic materials (like plastic, nappies and cigarette butts), leading to possible new ways to recycle and decompose human wastes. But fungi can also be used as substitutes for other materials (like leather and foam) as well as help to repair ecosystems by removing toxic substances and possibly help bees by helping to eliminate the mites that are causing commercial bee colonies to collapse.

Chapter eight looks at our relationship with fungus, a relationship that goes back in time to when humans first began to be able to consume alcohol from fermented fruit (generated by yeasts). Yeast would be cultivated and domesticated to produce other foods (like bread), although the author makes a case for humanity being domesticated by yeasts (to help spread its spores).

An interesting graphic novel about the life and art of fictional cartoonist Charlie Chan Hock Chye as told by Sonny Liew. The book is both the story of Charlie Chan and the art and comics he produces over the years. The comics featured in the book are also the story of Singapore as seen by Charlie Chan, covering the period of pre-independence to just before the present day.

The comics featured in the book, as produced by Charlie Chan, are a statement on how Charlie sees the society, culture and politics of Singapore at the time. The comics cannot help but feature the prominent political figures of the times like Lee Kuan Yew and Lim Chin Siong from Singapore, and Tunku Abdul Rahman from Malaya / Malaysia during the period of time when Singapore merged and then separated from Malaysia. Other comics tell the story of other events that affected Singapore, from the Japanese invasion, the period of Emergency (from Communist insurgents), to the development and modernisation of Singapore.

The last part of the book is a sudden change in tone, when Sonny suddenly pulls out an 'alternative history' version of Singapore (similar in style to Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle"), where it is Lim Chin Siong instead of Lee Kuan Yew who goes on to become leader of Singapore, and Charlie Chan becomes a prominent cartoonist instead of a mostly forgotten person in the main story. Whether this version of Singapore is better than the capitalist version that is current day Singapore is left as an exercise to the reader.

A lower than average issue with stories that didn't really attract my attention, apart from stories by Cécile Cristofari and David Maskill. The tale by Maskill is the 2019 James White Award Winning story.

• "Cryptozoology" by Tim Lees: a tale of a couple who join a trip to track down a 'cryptid' or legendary creature. As the story goes, it turns out that the girl is fascinated by them while her boyfriend goes along, but is sceptical. As their journey looking for cryptids continue, tensions boil over, and they separate. At the end, he sees something that makes him rethink their relationship, but by then it may be too late.

• "The Ephemeral Quality of Mersay" by John Possident: on a space station, a reporter reports on a possible crisis that affects the entire station. But it later turns out to be a manufactured crisis to cover a criminal operation.

• "The Way of His Kind" by James Sallis: a story about the arrival of new people to a town, leading to changes to its way of life. Whether it is for the better or worse is left up to the reader.

• "Smoke Bomb" by Matt Thompson: a story of a future where people can be altered to become biological reactors to produce liquids of exquisite quality. The story is of one such person and her guardian who gets a well known artist as a client, but who may have other plans for the person that may not involve the guardian.

• "There's a Gift Shop Now" by Françoise Harvey: on walking through a place once used to do experiments on children, to horrible effect.

• "The Third Time I Saw a Fox" by Cécile Cristofari: a night watchman with the ability to talk and interact with the exhibits suddenly struggles to recall his encounters with foxes while telling his stories to the exhibits.

• "Limitations" by David Maskill: two researchers struggle to interact with a possible alien being who lives in a toxic atmosphere in their lab. Their attempts usually end in failure. But with each failure, the attempts repeat with changes and slowly the researchers realize what's going on and maybe what must be done to end the repeating cycle.

A fascinating tale set in a world where people are physically separated into six factions. To one faction, members of other factions are physically invisible, except at intervals when interactions between factions grow stronger, and they can start to see and interact with one another, only to fade away again. Non-living material can be made of up parts of all factions, so houses, etc. can be seen, felt and used by all. Ditto for writing implements (chalk) and there are scenes in this book where factions communicate with one another via ghostly hovering pieces of chalk that write.

In this world, people of each faction live in separate villages that trade with one another. As the tale begins, we learn of a town that has isolated itself from other factions because of a disease called the Dispersion. The disease causes parts of the body of a person to become disassociated with itself and become part of another faction, which is deadly. A girl from another village secretly visits it in order to get one of its scientific leaders to join efforts from other villages to study the Dispersion and figure out what is causing it and how to stop it.

As the group get together to study the Dispersion, with the help of volunteers who painfully contribute their own flesh for examination, radicals from the first town decide to take matters into their own hands over the Dispersion by attempting to get rid of the other towns by violent acts.

As matters come to a head, the girl, with the help of other versed in mathematics, make discoveries about how the factions interact with one another and how the Dispersion may fit into it and how it can be stopped. In a desperate attempt to prove her hypothesis, the girl deliberately infects herself with the Dispersion to try to cure herself.

While the beginning of the story may sound like some kind of strange, ghostly tale where invisible beings interact with one another, the story is grounded in the mathematics of multi-dimensional geometry (an area of interest to the author) and the characters start to make sense of how the interactions can occur geometrically and figure out how the Dispersion is another geometrical aspect of their world. The descriptions of various events (like invisible fires, floods and assassination attempts) also fit the world view where people can only see one-sixth of what is actually happening around them.

A fascinating tale of a world that is different from ours, yet feature the same kind of fractured politics, radical views and attempts to understand the world as it is.