Critique of Rationality postulates aesthetic-consciousness as the site of socialisation in communities of meaning, as a frame for judgment and creativity, arguing that struggling to awaken that consciousness is essential to an open society. In making this argument, O'Brien moves through phenomenology, epistemology, Romanticism, aesthetics, and psycho-analytics, drawing on many of the key thinkers of western philosophy on the way.

Using the historical-materialist method to unravel the promise and limits of critical practice since the Revolutionary Age, John E. O'Brien investigates the problems and prospects of cultural criticism for the 21st century through absorbing studies of the contested perspectives of Voltaire, Friedrich Schiller, Jean Baudrillard, Michel Foucault, Terry Eagleton and Hayden White. O'Brien's investigation of resistance in America and Europe challenges the bourgeois philosophy of history, pointing to the urgency of critique as mode of analysis and intervention.

In 1988, the Education Division produced an inventory of NASA-supported education programs. Since then, mathematics, science, and technology education has taken on a more visible role, not only as part of NASA's mission, but as part of the National Education Goals and other Federal initiatives. Therefore, it became important to update the 1988 inventory in order to achieve a more accurate and comprehensive look at NASA's educational programs. The data collected is summarized and descriptions of each program are provided.