* Ain't Rocket Science

Newer isn't necessarily better. Werner Von Braun, the German scientist who developed the U.S. space program, used to tell a story about Colonel John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. "Seconds before lift-off, with Glenn strapped into the rocket we built for him and man's best efforts all focused on that moment, you know what he said to himself? 'Oh, my god! I'm sitting on a pile of low bids ! ' "
(p. 17)


The World Without Us
Alan Weisman