This was a very fun read. Both the first and second in the series. Here's the gist: - Where do we start if we want to build human habitats in space? - Build a ship capable fo asteroid mining - Send it to the easiest candidate you can find - Mine resources and send them back so as to put them in a lunar orbit (where those resources could then be used) That's phase one. This is all predicated on the fact that it's _very_ expensive to move mass into orbit from earth. Rockets cary more than 90% of their weight in fuel thats needed to push the actual payload out of earths gravity well. So, we **will never** become a space-faring species if we don't find another way to get stuff into space. Launches from earth won't do it. That's the premise anyway. It certainly sounds reasonable given what little i know about astrophysics and launch economics, but i'd be what in the book is wrong or a bit optimistic. --- One thing that stands out to me is that there's a chicken and egg problem: We don't build more in space because getting the resources up there is too costly. We don't pursue asteroid mining because there's no clear demand for those resources. The book somewhat glossed over the economics of the initial investment. Go mine an asteroid, get resources back around the moon, people would want to buy them. That last part was not explained much. The space-based industry they developed in the book seemed somewhat circular. Mine resources, to build a station that then mines the moon for resources, which provides a home base for more space construction and research into how humans can live well in space. The book did discuss beaming energy back to earth and becoming the primary means of energy generation. However, it was so far off even in this work of fiction that I don't think that end goal would inspire investment, unfortunately. --- Overall, a very fun read. It portrays a fantasy future worth hoping for. At least the good parts of the story. There is of course also conflict, and thankfully problems we don't currently have on earth.