"Eccentric Orbits: The Iridium Story" by John Bloom is a must-read for anyone remotely interested in satellites, communication networks, or corporate management. The project achieved several outstanding engineering feats, then fumbled into an almost unrecoverable position, then rose from the ashes into the small niche it holds today.<p>Plus, "Early calculations showed that 77 satellites would be needed, hence the name Iridium", is an eternally cool piece of trivia.