Author: Jim Banks

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…

“Find a Falling Star” contained a photo titled “Nininger Runabout,” but there was no related text or description in the book. In a rush to get the book to print, the publisher deleted the chapter describing the vehicle and the associated adventures, but the photo remained. The Niningers constructed a home-made house-car and H.H. took…

Find a Falling Star, as published in 1972, had a cover which featured the book’s title and author on a blue background, superimposed over a black and white illustration of an exploding fireball. The book itself contained no information about the illustration, but in case you were wondering, it is a depiction of a meteorite…

At 8:57 p.m. on November 9, 1923, a fireball passed over McPherson, Kansas that changed the life of H.H. Nininger and in many respects, the entire science of meteoritics. As Nininger wrote in an unpublished letter, “On the night of November 9, 1923, at 8:57 p.m., a fireball crossed the horizon in a sweep of…