Ladies and gentlemen, start your spaceships with this book that explores an exciting new era of space travel—the perfect science gift! Personal space travel is no longer the stuff of science fiction. The future is here: Civilians are launching into orbit.  How to Build Your Own Spaceship takes readers on a fun and quirky trip to the forefront of commercial space travel-the latest technology, the major business players, and the personal and financial benefits that are ripe for the picking. Science-writer Piers Bizony's breadth of knowledge, quick wit, and no-nonsense explanations of the hard science in this emerging arena will satisfy even the most dedicated space fanatics. With practical advice (from picking the best jet fuel to funding your own fleet of space crafts), unbelievable space facts, and fascinating photos, Bizony's user-friendly guide to blasting off is a must-have ticket to the final frontier. "[Bizony] writes with the easy tone you'd want to hear from your space pilot... Strap yourselves down, and boldly go on a joyride out of this world." - The Times (UK) PIERS BIZONY is an established author, documentary film maker and media producer based in the UK. From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Justin Moyer If 'N Sync singer Lance Bass almost became a space tourist, why can't you? Piers Bizony, a pop-science vet who's written about Mars and the tyrannical 1960s NASA administrator James E. Webb, draws a user-friendly map of the shifting terrain of post-Apollo, post-Challenger space travel in "How to Build Your Own Spaceship." The first chapter of private space travel is already being written, wherein entrepreneurs will launch themselves and others into space. The pioneers are mostly uber-rich, such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (who's building a reusable spaceship) and Budget America hotel magnate Robert Bigelow (who has successfully tested an unmanned, orbiting suite). Bizony believes that you, the uninitiated reader, can "come up with a business scheme that can actually make space profitable," and he takes you deep into what's needed. But his lesson plan soon collapses under the weight of discussions of SSTO spacecraft, LOX vs. hypergolic fuels and, well, rocket science. Even though the unwashed masses with bank accounts under nine figures may not become aeronautical big boys in the way Bizony envisions, they can at least read about the final frontier in a book that sparkles with unquenchable enthusiasm. Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.