#1: Robin George Andrews, How to Kill an Asteroid: The Real Science of Planetary Defense

[kareila]

This was a very interesting book that I nonetheless felt would have been more effective as a podcast. Its main focus is the DART spacecraft, a test mission which changed the trajectory of an asteroid in late 2022. But it also engages in several sidetracks and diversions along the way, including complete spoilers for the 2021 movie "Don’t Look Up”, which I hadn't yet seen. And the author interviews a wide range of scientists and engineers, whose voices could have easily lent themselves to an episodic audio presentation. Still, it is almost certainly the definitive source for understanding the current state of the art with regards to the prospect of saving our planet from an asteroid impact, as opposed to the ridiculous antics featured in popular movies.