Reading List

Author Talk

We sat down with San Francisco’s Julian Guthrie to discuss her new book, How to Make a Spaceship.

MM: What made you want to further explore/share Peter Diamandis’ true story?

JG: First, I loved Peter as a character, starting with him as a boy who stayed up late to watch Apollo 11 land on the Moon and stashed explosives in his closets so he could make his own rocket engines. Later, he found inspiration for something thoroughly modern: a $10 million prize (known as the XPRIZE) for private spaceflight. In launching his space prize, Peter attracted ragtag teams from across the globe who wanted to do what only the world’s largest governments had done before — build and fly a manned rocket to the start of space.

MM: You’re a journalist first — did this start as a long-form piece or did you always know it would be a book? What was your process?

JG: This started out as a front-page profile I did for the San Francisco Chronicle. It was a story about Peter and the XPRIZE Foundation, which uses incentive competitions to try to solve big problems. The more I talked to Peter, the more interested I was in the very first ever XPRIZE, the space prize. Peter entrusted me with 20 years’ worth of his personal journals, which were both heart-wrenching and wonderful. I interviewed more than 100 people, from Elon Musk and video game legend John Carmack (he’s now CTO of Oculus Rift) to Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. I went flying with one of the real heroes of the book, Mike Melvill, the world’s first commercial astronaut. I read a ton of books, enlisted technical advisers, and lived and breathed this material.

MM: What is it about innovators like Peter Diamandis and Larry Ellison (who starred in Guthrie’s The Billionaire and the Mechanic) that you believe captivate both you and your readers?

JG: I just look for a great narrative and gravitate to David-versusGoliath struggles. Peter Diamandis and Larry Ellison are just uniquely interesting human beings, and they happen to share a healthy disdain for the status quo. CALIN VAN PARIS

Local Page Turners

How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth

of Private Spaceflight, by Julian Guthrie

(San Francisco), Penguin Press, $28. In the 1990s, the idea of private spaceflight was still the stuff of science fiction. Inspired by the prize that got Charles Lindbergh to make the first transatlantic solo flight, Peter Diamandis established the $10 million XPRIZE, which would ultimately be won by SpaceShipOne. Armed with Diamandis’ full and enthusiastic cooperation, Julian Guthrie was given complete access to all the major principals and has melded their stories into a spellbinding narrative. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera on October 1, 7 p.m.

Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier

of a New America by T.J. Stiles (Berkeley), Vintage, $19.95. In this magisterial biography — winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for history — T. J. Stiles paints a portrait of George Armstrong Custer both deeply personal and sweeping in scope, proving how much of the cavalry commander’s legacy has been ignored. Stiles argues that although Custer was justly noted for his exploits on the western frontier, he also played a central role as both a wide-ranging participant and a polarizing public figure in an extraordinary, transformational time. Appearing in conversation with Janis Cooke Newman at Book Passage Corte Madera on November 12, 4 p.m.

The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith (Mill Valley), Simon & Schuster, $27. The highly anticipated new stand-alone novel from Martin Cruz Smith, whom The Washington Post has declared “that uncommon phenomenon: a popular and well-regarded crime novelist who is also a writer of real distinction,” The Girl from Venice is a suspenseful World War II love story set amid the beauty, mystery and danger of occupied Venice. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera on October 18, 7 p.m.

Shop Around: Growing Up With Motown

in a Sinatra Household by Bruce Jenkins

(San Mateo), Wellstone Books, $12.99. Bruce Jenkins was 12 years old when he heard the original “Shop Around” by The Miracles featuring Bill “Smokey” Robinson. In Shop Around, he brings to life the first thrill of having the music claim him and provides the backstory of the recording — and rerecording — of the hit single. Appearing at Book Passage San Francisco on November 10, 6 p.m.

Book picks by Book Passage Marketing Director Zack Ruskin.