>>>>>>Update to "The Sands of Mars"
>>>>>>
>>>>>>They have to make a course direction so as to land on Deimos rather than Phobos. They're annoyed because this will take the astrogator "hours of computing" to work out the new course. Note that the existence of an on-board computer hasn't even been mentioned yet so I assume he means with a slide rule and graph paper.
>>>>>Are you reading that now. I remember reading it for the first time (years ago)and really liking it. I just remembered why they have to change course but no plot spoilers.
>>>>
>>>>Yeah, just reading it now. Can't understand why I never heard of it before back in the day when I read loads of SF. Just bought it at a charity shop for something to read in the bone orchard during lunch.
>>>Whats a bone orchard?
>>
>>A grave yard
>I realised just after I asked that was what you meant. Reading a book like that for the fist time is a real treat bit like seeing a great film for the first time.

Aye, like when I discovered "Rendezvous with Rama" - and later found there were sequels (mind you, can't say that of the "X001 series").