The way some speak of traveling to Mars has always been rather ignorant of the facts and difficulties of space travel. The book does a really good job of laying that out for you.

Solid Look At Complexities Both Scientific And Ethical Regarding Interstellar Travel. This is exactly what the title says - a solid look at pretty well all aspects of the complexities of interstellar travel from both scientific and ethical directions, with discussions of the sheer distances involved, the various proposed types of habitation possibilities, propulsion technology, and seemingly every other conceivable facet of the topic at hand.

At 300 ish pages with just 11% or so of that being bibliography, the actual discussion is somewhat brief while still being comprehensive. Technical enough in both science and philosophy to underscore the key issues, yet informal enough to be easily followed along with by most readers. Indeed, the only real problem I had with the text was that 11% bibliography - it needed to be 50% ish larger, from what I've seen across my several years of reviewing advance review copies of nonfiction books, as I've done here.

Overall truly a fascinating book and a great primer for anyone even remotely interested in the complexities of actually achieving interstellar travel.

Very much recommended.

I loved this book. I enjoyed Ed Regis’s writing style: clear, conversational and blunt. Regis does not hide his feelings when he discusses what are to him, ill-considered ideas. I found the writing clever and honest, with all the science (or lack thereof) well-explained. And exceptionally for me, I loved the excellent, balanced discussion of ethics and the philosophical aspects of interstellar travel. In addition, I am a big fan of science fiction, and as I read the book, I kept in mind all the genre shows and books I watched and read, making the book more personal to me. Thank you to Netgalley and Cambridge University Press for the advance reader copy.