Books by Ron Miller
The Grand Tour: A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System
by William K. Hartmann, Ron Miller
Hurricanes so enormous that the earth itself could be lost in one; a volcano larger than the state of Missouri and higher than Everest; a planet with a billion moons; a planet that rotates on its side; worlds made of solid ice; a world where it rains gasoline. These are not inventions of fantasy or science fiction, but are places that really exist-in our own solar system.
Now with 190,000 copies in print, here is a spectacular Grand Tour of the solar system featuring a unique blend of science and art-photographs along with dazzling full-color paintings, drawings, and maps based on years of astronomer William Hartmann's research, personal observation, and interviews with colleagues.
In text and diagrams, too, The Grand Tour explains how the strange and uncanny worlds on the journeys came to be, and what it would be like to actually set foot upon them today. The book includes an atlas of the planets and their satellites, and of the Earth's moon.
Complete with a selection of previously unpublished photographs taken by the Apollo astronauts, and by the Mariner, Viking, and Pioneer planetary probes, The Grand Tour is unique and breathtaking, majestic and eerie, and wonderful, taking the reader to more, and to the beyond. Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, Quality Paperback Book Club, and Newbridge Book Club.
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Spaceships: An Illustrated History of the Real and the Imagined
by Ron Miller
How have actual spaceships influenced the design of fictional ones like the Millenium Falcon and the Starship Enterprise? Did a fiction series in Collier's magazine really inspire us to create real-life space stations like Mir and the ISS? How have our depictions of space travel developed as the reality of space travel changed? In his new book Spaceships: An Illustrated History of the Real and the Imagined, Ron Miller shows that when it comes to manned spacecraft, art actually does imitate life and, even more bizarrely, life imitates art. In fact, astronautics owes its origins to art. Long before engineers and scientists took the possibility of spaceflight seriously, virtually all of its aspects had been explored in art and literature. Miller takes readers on a visual journey through the history of the spaceship both in our collective imagination and in reality. The vivid illustrations trace the spaceship through its conception, engineering, and building, from the practical origins of spaceflight in the wartime V-2 rocket to future Mars programs. They also chart, in exquisite detail, the ubiquity of spaceships in the golden age of space travel (1950s and '60s) plus their broad influence in popular art, television, film, and literature. Spaceships reminds us of the romance of manned space travel as it has been, as we imagined it could be, and as it may be in the future.
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Spaceships 2nd Edition An Illustrated History of the Real and the Imagined
by Ron Miller, Matthew Shindell, Margaret A. Weitekamp
This revised and expanded second edition of Spaceships includes sixty-four pages worth of the newest developments in space technology
Spaceships: An Illustrated History of the Real and the Imagined explores how art and science have merged in the creation of real and fictional spaceships, from Mercury and Apollo spacecraft to Millennium Falcon and Starship Enterprise. This second edition is thoroughly updated to offer a complete history of spaceships. It builds off the original book with new information and developments in topics that include:
Award-winning author Ron Miller and new Smithsonian coauthors Matthew Shindell and Margaret Weitekamp take readers on a visual journey through the history of the spaceship, both in our collective imagination and in reality. Vivid illustrations trace spaceships through their conception, engineering, and building. The exquisitely detailed book charts the ubiquity of spaceships in the golden age of space travel (1950s and '60s) and their broad influence in popular art, television, film, and literature. Spaceships is a vibrant and visual book on the history of spaceships, past, present, and future.
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They Made the Movies Conversations with Great Filmmakers
For decades, James Bawden and Ron Miller have established themselves as maestros of provocative interviews, giving fans unmatched insights into the lives of Hollywood A-listers. In their fourth collection, the authors pay tribute to film pioneers who lit up Tinseltown from the 1930s through the 1960s.
They Made the Movies features conversations with legendary directors who created many of film's all-time classics, including Frank Capra (It's A Wonderful Life, 1946), Richard Fleischer (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1954), Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, 1960), Ralph Nelson (Lilies of the Field, 1963), Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, 1965), and Chuck Jones (How the Grinch Stole Christmas! 1966). Tantalizing firsthand details about many acclaimed films are revealed, such as the revelation of Mervyn LeRoy's first-choice of lead actress for The Wizard of Oz ("Shirley Temple... but Shirley couldn't sing like Judy [Garland]"), Billy Wilder's insights on directing ("You have to be a sycophant, a sadist, a nurse, a philosopher"), and how megaproducer Hal B. Wallis purchased an unproduced play titled Everybody Comes to Rick's and transformed it into Casablanca ("The part [of Sam] almost went to Lena Horne, but I thought she was too beautiful"). The authors also celebrate the contributions of marginalized filmmakers such as Ida Lupino, James Wong Howe, Oscar Micheaux, and Luis Valdez, who prevailed in Hollywood despite the discrimination they faced throughout their careers. They Made the Movies appeals to film and television enthusiasts of all ages.
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