It&#x27;s fantastic, an alternating mix of dry chemistry and hair-raising lab anecdotes.<p>For those who haven&#x27;t read it: in the post-war early rocket period, government chemists could tell from basic stochiochemistry what mixtures might make good rocket fuels. But their <i>other</i> properties had to be tested experimentally. Especially hypergolicity and detonation resistance. There&#x27;s a long subthread about red fuming nitric acid, which would make a great oxidiser once people could find a way of stopping it eating through stainless steel tanks.