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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.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

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.


Jose Feliciano – Feliz Navidad

An evening pause: From this secular Jew to my Christian fans, please accept my sincerest wish that you have a glorious and merry Christmas.

Hat tip Tom Biggar. (I like this particular performance because it is so raw. Feliciano is blind, and the video shows it clearly. Yet he has the incredible courage to get up and perform to millions.)

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

7 comments

  • Chaim Arnstein

    Mr. Zimmerman;

    I happen to enjoy your site, and you publish all kinds of interesting articles. I first heard of your site on the John Batchelor show.

    As an Orthodox Jew, I have always felt a little bad when you don’t acknowledge the Jewish holidays. I realize that you are not observant, and that is just how it goes.

    But then to wish Christians a Merry Christmas? I don’t get it.

    We live in country whose residents are predominantly Christian, and I take no offense at public displays of Christmas, etc.

    But for a Jew to acknowledge the Christian holidays and not the Jewish ones….. that I think is just a little treif. Sorry.

  • Point taken. I have recognized Passover several times, but my aim has been to address the majority of my readers, who I think are almost all not Jewish, or not observant.

    Still, you have a point. I will consider it. At the same time, as a secular humanist, I don’t really want to spend my time noting all the different religious holidays as they go by.

  • One more thing: I wish others Merry Christmas as an expression of good will. If you have been reading my webpage for awhile, you also know that I also have enormous good will to observant Jews and Israel. Just because I fail to acknowledge all holidays, however, should not be construed as an expression of ill will. As I noted in the previous comment, it isn’t really practical to acknowledge them all.

  • Keith

    In my mixed marriage family (I’m Christian, my wife is Jewish), we modestly celebrate both sets of Holidays every year. Perhaps that is why I gain so much weight every December!

    In our experience, the music of Christmas is much more enjoyable, whether religious or not, than Hanukkah music.

    If anyone, including Chaim, can provide Robert with some Hanukkah season musical performances to post, I’d certainly listen to them – (except for Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah Song, which I’ve had enough of over the last 20 years).

  • pzatchok

    A little late but

    Chanukah Sameach

    Now that my brother is in a Jewish nursing home I am slowly learning things. Kosher is pretty good for one.

  • Chaim Arnstein

    Mr. Zimmerman;

    Thank you for taking the time to read through my comment, and for responding.

    I did notice on a number of occasions where you mentioned – in a positive way – some news item related to Jews. A recent item was the endorsement that a group of Rabbis gave to Ted Cruz, which you – and I as well – consider a positive development.

    So, if I somehow implied that I find your web site anti-Jewish, I apologize, but I meant nothing of the sort.

    And I still enjoy your web site. Thank you.

  • Do a search on Behind the Black for “Israel”. (The search box is in the right column near the bottom.) My essays during my visits I am sure you will find interesting. Be sure and read them in order.

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