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Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

 

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

 

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

 

 

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

 

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. Takes about a 10% cut.
 

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4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it to
 
Behind The Black
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.


Heading to the Grand Canyon

Diane and I are about to leave for our annual trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. This trip will be short, down on Saturday and up on Sunday. As usual, the trip will be grand (pun intended). I should be able to post tonight and on Sunday and Monday, but I will be traveling and will have other priorities (like enjoying myself). Even so, I might post something on our trip, especially considering that this will be second trip in a row to Phantom Ranch where the water system is broken and, though there is drinking water, there will be no showers. More details to follow.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • Keith

    I also am headed to the Grand Canyon with my 2 kids. I’ll arrive Sunday evening, leave Tuesday. No roughing it for us, though. Staying in a hotel.

  • Edward

    It’s been a few decades since I hiked down to Phantom Ranch. My father made us start back up early, early in the morning, as he advised that it gets hot coming up. He was right! The stop to rest at Indian Gardens was much needed, and the water-houses along the trail were precious.

    Have a good trip.

  • Kirk

    Enjoy yourselves! Too bad you don’t have an extra day to take a hike up the North Kaibab to Ribbon Falls for a shower there.

    http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/39447399.jpg

    That’s a pretty spot, though I’ve done my Grand Canyon hiking in February or March when showers like that aren’t quite as comfortable. I’ve found that up until Spring Break starts in earnest, walk-up back country permits are readily available. (Advanced planning isn’t my strong suit.) It can be chilly on the rim that time of year, but hiking conditions down below are wonderful.

    Back in 2005 or 2006, we tried a five day rim to rim to rim, but started down only hours before a blizzard which closed the South Rim for three days. There was no snow down at the river, but our tents got a fair covering of snow up at Cottonwood Campground on the second night. We then started up well before dawn, and hoped to make it to the North Rim and back down to Cottonwood the same day, but were pushing through thigh-deep snow drifts on the trail by the time we made it to the Supai Tunnel (with 1400 vertical feet still to go to the North Rim). By then it was noon, and since we had left the tents pitched at Cottonwood and were packing light, we had to turn back around.

    I’d love to reattempt that hike someday, blizzard and all, but packing snowshoes and tent and allowing two days for Cottonwood to the North Rim and back.

  • Kirk: Sounds like you’ ve had a lot of fun in the Canyon. I also suspect that you are relatively new to Behind the Black and don’t realize that Diane and I do this every year. Been to the bottom more times now than I can count, and loved every trip. The Grand Canyon always makes me happy.

    Do a search on Behind the Black for the Grand Canyon. You’ll find some posts by me that I am sure you will find interesting.

  • wayne

    Kirk– interesting Adventures!

    Mr Z.–
    We need some weather (temperature) reports from the Canyon! (does it actually get “cold” at night, in the desert?) (I’ve never been West of the Mississippi.)
    –past week in Michigan, it’s been a literal sauna; temperatures in the mid 90’s and with 90%+ humidity.

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