By Leonard David

Book Review: The Complete Space Buff’s Bucket List, by Loretta Hall; Rio Grande Books; 2016; Cost: $15.95.

Maybe it’s my old age setting in. But a new book just showed up in my mail box that is so timely.

Loretta Hall has authored The Complete Space Buff’s Bucket List – 100 Space Things to Do Before You Die.

What a romp! And as she notes herself – it’s all “tourific.”

Hall is a New Mexico-based freelance writer and nonfiction author. The book is the fourth in the Rio Grande Books “Bucket List” series – so why not space!

Hall took on the challenge and has written an absolutely delightful volume for confirmed space aficionados and others that are on the cusp of being space adventurers.

Range of intellectual and physical activities

“I have discovered many new things to do and see,” Hall writes in the opening pages of the book. Adds David Livingston, host of The Space Show: It’s an “excellent list of exciting and worthwhile things to do in your lifetime, either alone or with your family and friends.”

Points out former shuttle astronaut, Mike Mullane: “I now have a new resource to map my way back into space.”

Most items on this Bucket List include URLs for websites associated with listed items.

“I wanted to give you an idea of the order of magnitude for planning and comparison,” Hall writes. “Together, the 100 items on this list encompass a broad range of intellectual and physical activities that involve all five senses.”

Author Loretta Hall gets into the swing of things in her latest book. Credit: Jerry Hall

Author Loretta Hall gets into the swing of things in her latest book. Credit: Jerry Hall

This is an easy read with 100 bucket list suggestions, including stops at a planetarium, a visit to a meteor crater, indoor skydiving, and a way to experience human factors training for commercial spaceflight.

Before heavenly ascension

The countdown for fun starts at #100 in the book. Subsequent pages lead to Hall’s number one slot. I won’t tell you what that is, but you’ll likely agree.

Hall also recently wrote Space Pioneers: In their Own Words, also published by Rio Grande Books.

This is a welcomed, creative, and pleasurable book for all ages – or those of us trying to quickly assemble our personal bucket list of to-do items before heavenly ascension. No worries. The book incorporates a blank list in the back of the book to write down your favorites too!

For your copy, go to:

http://nmsantos.com/Bookstore/BucketListBooks/BucketListBooks.html

By Leonard David