Ignition! is part memoir and part history book from the 70’s, written by John D. Clark who was an American rocket fuel chemist.

It doesn’t go too deep into the chemistry side of things, so even if you’re like me and don’t understand that side at all you might enjoy reading it if you’re into space history nerdery. Clark had a pretty hilarious writing style, so it’s a surprisingly entertaining book considering the subject matter. As an example, here’s what he had to say about chlorine trifluoride:

All this sounds fairly academic and innocuous, but when it is translated into the problem of handling the stuff, the results are horrendous. It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water — with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals — steel, copper, aluminum, etc. — because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.