Hi All

dtb's point about plagiarism applies to "Titan" in as much as the itinerary of the "Endeavour" was a simple copy of Cassini's mission milestones to the day. AFAIK impossible in the time-frame he gives. He bungled the SOI sequence however, quoting an acceleration that is too high by x10.

His description of the surface is pretty original but he commits a few furphys - it's too dark/dismal in his telling. Titan will be fairly bright - brighter than a night lit by a full Moon.

The best bit - which you missed Buck - is the final "Titan Summer" sequence at the end. It's the only thing I can be bothered re-reading in the whole book. The rest is too depressing. It's also the only non-plagarised bit of speculation in the book, which prefigured a geophysical study along the same lines by about a year. The one thing he got very right.

Adam