Reddit reviews The High Frontier: Human Colonies In Space

Take a look at Gerard O'Neill's books The High Frontier and 2081. I think you might be pleasantly surprised about what space can mean to our civilization.

The High Frontier, written by O'neill himself
https://www.amazon.com/High-Frontier-Human-Colonies-Space-ebook/dp/B00CB3SIAI

That was O'Neill's original plan. I just picked up a new edition of his book, and in the forward he said it turned out not to have much advantage over other high circular orbits.

What type of Space Station O'Neill Cylinder (i.e. Babylon 5), or a ring station, or a 0g space station? O'Neill Cylinders could handle just about anything, a Island 3 Type O'Neill Cylinder is as wide as B5 was supposed to be long 20 Miles by 5 Miles. 0g limits the types of foods you can grow but it is still possible. If you can't guess I recommend O'Neill Cylinders.

The Round Table - Gerard K. O'Neill, Issac Asimov.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM88sUBTTRM

The High Frontier: Human Colonies In Space by Gerard O'Neill
https://www.amazon.com/High-Frontier-Human-Colonies-Space-ebook/dp/B00CB3SIAI

Old but good: The High Frontier, with the studies for orbital colonies from the 70s.

There's also the recent "update" The High Frontier: An Easier Way.

So for Space colonization you really cannot go wrong with:

• 'Mining the sky' - By John S. Lewis
  
  
• 'The High Frontier' - By Gerard K. O'Neill
  
  There are a lot of other books on colonising space, but these are the pair I have read and they are still entirely valid pieces of work (imo). An other you might want to check out is ['The Starflight Handbook' - By Eugene F. Mallove] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Starflight-Handbook-Pioneers-Interstellar-Editions/dp/0471619124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465674138&sr=8-1&keywords=starflight+handbook) which covers the maths behind conceivable interstellar propulsion methods. All very cool stuff.