A Traveler's Guide to the Stars

By: Les Johnson

Narrated by: Michael Page

With known exoplanets now numbering in the thousands and initiatives like 100 Year Starship and Breakthrough Starshot advancing the idea of interstellar travel, the age-old dream of venturing forth into the cosmos and perhaps even colonizing distant worlds may one day become a reality. A Traveler's Guide to the Stars reveals how.

Les Johnson takes you on a thrilling tour of the physics and technologies that may enable us to reach the stars. He discusses the latest exoplanet discoveries, promising interstellar missions on the not-so-distant horizon, and exciting new developments in space propulsion, power, robotics, communications, and more. But interstellar travel will not be easy, and it is not for the faint of heart. Johnson describes the harsh and forbidding expanse of space that awaits us, and he addresses the daunting challenges—both human and technological—that we will need to overcome in order to realize tomorrow's possibilities.

A Traveler's Guide to the Stars is your passport to the next great frontier of human discovery, providing a rare inside look at the remarkable breakthroughs in science and technology that will help tomorrow's space travelers chart a course for the stars.

©2022 Les Johnson (P)2022 Tantor

Still A Great Primer in 2026

An excellent survey of the difficulties of that most ambitious endeavor of interstellar travel, and the various enabling technologies. The author's take is more pragmatic than most, stemming from their deep well of experience developing frontier technology over decades (including some of those discussed). The content remains a good jumping off point for the topic.

An excellent look at the realities of star travel!

Wow, this really blew me away - despite its relative brevity, this book outlines the essential details and facts of what travel to the stars might entail, from the immense distances involved to the technologies necessary to cross them. There is even a nicely detailed section on the speculative fiction which has addressed the issue of travel to other stars, including more fictional and less feasible techniques to those more grounded in scientific fact.

Furthermore, the performance is a true benefit to the work, as the narrator consistently delivers the story in clear, eloquent tone and voice, and elevates even the more mundane statistical data points to thoroughly enjoyable prose.

All in all, I very much recommend this book to anyone even tangentially interested in the concept of interstellar travel, in the technical abilities required to make it happen, or who has otherwise been fascinated by fictional accounts of star travel after the fashion of "Star Trek" and the other stories which Johnson references herein. This book truly does them all justice!

Think Very Big!

I adored "A Traveler's Guide to the Stars." I found the book interesting, funny, and accessible. I heard much that I didn't know (pretty much everything). Because I have no technical background, some went over my head. Nevertheless, Johnson wrote the book for ordinary people that enjoy reading about astronomy and science.

The book analyzes if it is possible to travel to another star. Johnson says that it is, but it will be extremely difficult. Then he assesses the different types of ships and propulsion systems. He finishes the book with a neat chapter that discusses how realistic (or not) are the various hyper-drives, warp-speeds, and whatever-type of technologies that science fiction characters use to traverse mind-boggling distances.

Johnson admonishes us to think (very, very) big and dream.

Please note, I will stipulate that I am biased to like this book. I adore the narrator, Michael Page. I would love to have him narrate my quotidian routine. "Here, Jamie enters Shop Rite and surveys the cereal . . . ." Ah, heaven. What a voice!

Warmest regards,
Jamie Pfeffer
Westfield, NJ

This is science fiction not science.

Although the historical facts are interesting, and I’m only in chapter 4, the idea that interstellar travel by humans is possible in the near future is crazy beyond belief. The author speculates freely, but there is close to no chance that humans could traverse interstellar space without a multitude of technology breakthroughs and much greater understanding how humans could survive a long term space based environment. Startrekers may rejoice at this musing diatribe, but this concept is 99% fiction.