The single most important book ever written on the subject of space colonies is the landmark The High Frontier.

Interior, Island One;
view toward Axial Cylinder.

Current Edition
paperback 2000

First Edition
paperback 1978

In the mid 1970's the late physics Professor G. K. O'Neill published his book "The High Frontier". In it he laid out a possible road map for human settlement beyond the Earth. The book also provided America and the world with clear cut alternative to our current Cold War space program (which is modeled on that of W.W.II Germany). To O'Neill the future was positive and exciting, and his astronauts looked like you and me. He believed in the power of individuals carving out pockets of life in a largely dead Solar System, and he basically told us how to do it.. Although written in the 1970's and with its focus on a relatively specific path to large scale settlements in free space, his concepts and the type of thinking behind them are more relevant now than when first written.

The High Frontier won the 1977 Phi Beta Kappa Award
for best science book of the year.

The High Frontier is still seen as one of the most important books ever written on the subject of the human breakout into space. The Space Studies Institute, at Dr. O'Neill's request, intends to keep The High Frontier in print as long as the organization exists.

This latest edition features new material including new chapters and a bonus CD-ROM.

"O'Neill's message is lucid and persuasive."
-Publishers Weekly

"Not Science Fiction, but scientific probability, and it makes for engrossing reading."
--Long Beach Press Telegram