This book's about unmanned spacecraft (is there any "manned" spacecraft aside from Apollo anyway? orbiters don't count!). But in a very generic way. So much, that along the first chapters the author says a couple of times "sometimes the rovers are built this way, some other times they are built this other way", giving the impression there are a thousand rovers out there or in production. It would have been easier to exemplify with real rovers. This pattern of extreme generalization is repeated too much to my taste for a field where the number of samples (spacecraft) is very limited. Also, I was expecting to have detailed information and accountings on most spaceprobes, if not all: their scientific achievements, goals, detailed numbers. But this book is not a historical account (and I admit it's my fault to have expected that, not the author's). Rather, as the very adequate subtitle points out, it's about "how robotic spacecraft explore the solar system". And on this last statement, this book very much succeeds and it's a pleasure to follow. It begins by "dissecting" an imaginary generic space probe and explaining what each subsystem is for, and its possible variations/configurations according to mission needs (I was astonished to learn the dangers behind the radioisotope thermal generators -RTGs- and that any single technician is allowed to work on them for just 2 minutes in his entire life!).Later on the book, the author takes us on a tour following the route of a spacecraft on the ground, from building, testing, adding instruments, and all the way through launch. Finally, he chooses a couple of missions he considers adequate examples and takes us through a detailed account of them (but just on a couple, remember this is no history book!). I particularly enjoyed the account of the Huygens probe on its ride into Titan, and the very interesting details on Ulysses. No surprise the author is an ESA guy!The last chapter is a speculation on what awaits us in the future of spacecraft --but an insider's, well funded speculation.All in all, and despite not being exactly what I was originally looking for, I enjoyed the book very much, as well as the fun that the author adds here and there. Summarizing, if you're looking for the nits and bits of classic missions such as the Voyagers, Vikings, etc., look elsewhere. If you want details onto how these things work in general, then you're on target.