Author: Jim Banks

In Search of Falling Stars, H.H. Nininger’s Classic “Find a Falling Star” Revisited & Expanded, has been re-assembled and edited by Nininger’s grandson, Jim Banks. Another Nininger grandson, Gary Huss, well-known meteoriticist and Research Professor and Director of the W.M. Keck Cosmochemistry Laboratory at the University of Hawaii, has written the Forward. The additional seven…

Jim Banks will be at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 15 and March 16, 2025. He will be signing books at the Bookpress Publishing Booth on Friday March 15 from 10 am to Noon and on Sunday March 16 from 1 to 3 pm. Festival information can be found at tucsonfestivalofbooks.org.

In Search of Falling Stars won Best Biography in the 2025 Independent Press Awards!

Arizona State University recently published The Meteorite Effect – How ASU’s Bold Investment in a Collection of Meteorites 65 Years Ago Powers Research to This Day – both online and in the Winter 2025 issue of its alumni magazine, ASU Thrive. This wonderful article by Brett Hovell recaps H. H. Nininger’s pioneering study of meteorites,…

H.H. Nininger operated the American Meteorite Museum at two locations in Arizona: on Route 66 near the Arizona Meteorite Crater from 1946-1953; and in Sedona from 1953-1960. The museum’s primary focus was education, but it did sell books and items made from meteorites. Nininger received criticism from some for “commercializing” meteorites, but since he was…

This painting was made in 1941 by artist John Hilton, from a distance of 150 miles. “Had he been within ten miles,” writes Dr. Nininger, “the sight and sound would have been terrifying.” A survey by Nininger showed that the meteorite landed in the vicinity of the Colorado River delta with no one there. “How…

H. H. Nininger used to get a fair amount of press coverage for his meteorite searches. In fact, it was one of the keys to his success. Good press would generate interest, which in turn would generate leads, some of which would turn out to be productive. He was profiled in the September 6, 1937…

H. H. Nininger and daughter Doris Nininger Banks working on the original manuscript of Find a Falling Star in Sedona, Arizona, c. 1967. The original manuscript was cut by more than 50% prior to publication.  Now, for the first time, the book has been re-assembled and re-edited, and will be re-published under a new title:…

This was the Christmas greeting from H.H. and Addie Nininger, circa 1960. This was from the time they were operating the American Meteorite Museum in Sedona, Arizona. As Nininger explained on the back of the card, the “Stardust” attached to the card was formed by the cooling of the cloud of metallic vapor produced by…

An unusual endeavor omitted from the published version of “Find a Falling Star” was the “Natural History Trek” led by H.H. Nininger while he was teaching at McPherson College. Almost unheard of at the time, this class provided class credit for outside fieldwork. It also provided Nininger with an opportunity to “learn more about meteorites…