Books like The right kind of crazy by Adam Steltzner


The Right Kind of Crazy is the true story of Adam Steltzner’s rise from academic underachiever to phase lead and development manager for the Curiosity rover’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As the team’s leader, Steltzner guided engineers through numerous impossible challenges, culminating in the creation of the sky‑crane system that safely lowered the heaviest rover ever sent to another planet. The book blends Steltzner’s personal journey—with its unconventional beginnings and unconventional path to a PhD— with an inside view of the teamwork, leadership techniques, and problem‑solving strategies that made the Mars landing possible. It offers insights into building effective teams, maintaining focus over long, high‑stakes projects, and fostering innovation in complex engineering environments.
First publish date: 2016
Genre: Business & Economics/Business Management
Authors: Adam Steltzner
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 0.0 (0 community ratings)

The right kind of crazy by Adam Steltzner

How are these books recommended?

The books recommended for The right kind of crazy by Adam Steltzner are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.


Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.

Books similar to The right kind of crazy (12 similar books)

The Martian by 11626393|Andy Weir book cover

📘 The Martian
 by Andy Weir

Andy Weir’s debut science‑fiction bestseller follows astronaut Mark Watney, stranded on Mars in 2035, as he uses ingenuity to survive.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 (297 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
A Brief History of Time by 6965847|Stephen Hawking book cover

📘 A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking explains the fundamental physics of the universe—space, time, cosmology, black holes, and the Big Bang—in clear, accessible language.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 (203 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Thinking, fast and slow by 6390436|Daniel Kahneman book cover

📘 Thinking, fast and slow

Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" explains how two distinct mental systems shape our judgments and decisions, offering insights into the biases that influence everyday choices.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 (189 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Power of Habit by 11345987|Charles Duhigg book cover

📘 The Power of Habit

The Power of Habit shows how tiny habits shape our lives and how they can be transformed to achieve personal and organizational success.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 (105 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by 11086925|Rebecca Skloot book cover

📘 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks follows the story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer whose cancer cells were taken in 1951 without her consent and later became the first immortal human cell line, HeLa, driving major scientific breakthroughs while raising questions of ethics, race, and medical exploitation.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 (41 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Innovators by 12661862|Walter Isaacson book cover

📘 The Innovators

Walter Isaacson chronicles the minds that forged the digital age, from Ada Lovelace to Larry Page, showing how vision, collaboration, and engineering transformed abstract ideas into the computers, Internet, and technology we use today.

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.9 (21 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Cosmos by 8799977|Carl Sagan book cover

📘 Cosmos
 by Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan’s Cosmos traces the history of science and the universe’s evolution, from ancient philosophers to modern discoveries, and explores the quest to understand life beyond Earth.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 (12 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Hidden Figures by 11833643|Margot Lee Shetterly book cover

📘 Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures tells the true story of four African‑American mathematicians—Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Christine Darden—who broke barriers at NASA’s Langley Research Center, proving that talent, not race or gender, powers scientific progress.

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.9 (12 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Deep space propulsion by 11493006|K. F. Long book cover

📘 Deep space propulsion
 by K. F. Long


★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Wright Brothers by 6944018|David McCullough book cover

📘 The Wright Brothers

David McCullough chronicles the daring brothers who, in 1903, achieved the first human‑powered flight on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, revealing their ingenuity, determination, and the family support that drove their success.

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Curiosity by 11885439|Markus Motum book cover

📘 Curiosity

Explore Mars through the eyes of NASA’s rover Curiosity, from its launch and landing to its ongoing search for life on the red planet.

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Mars rover Curiosity by 7392935|Rob Manning book cover

📘 Mars rover Curiosity

In Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer, Rob Manning, the project's chief engineer, tells of bringing the groundbreaking spacecraft to life. Manning and his team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tasked with designing a lander many times larger and more complex than any before, faced technical setbacks, fights over inadequate resources, and the challenges of leading an army of brilliant, passionate, and often frustrated experts.

★★★★★★★★★★ 0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0

Some Other Similar Books

Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe
Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery by Carolyn Porco
Hinge Point: Why Institute of International Education by William P. Alford
Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Robert Kurson
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman
Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Deep Space by Janna Levin

Have a similar book in mind? Let others know!

Please login to submit books!