5 comments about Light This Candle: The Life & Times of Alan Shepard--America's First Spaceman.

1. I missed an opportunity to go to a book-signing where Alan Shepard was signing copies of "Moon Shot". I figured I would have another chance but then before long he was gone. What a thrill it would have been to have shook the hand of the first American in space.
   
   Nostalgia aside, this book is a capsule of the life of the man. True, it is littered with inaccuracies in spots, and seems to delve far too deeply at moments on the personal life of one of the most important men in the last 50 years. But then again, how many JFK biographers have tried to delve into the hush-hush side of the man?
   
   This book will give you a clear picture of the over-achieving, success-driven, consumate test pilot who one day became an important symbol to many Americans, who were afraid their world was about to be consumed by communism. At times wistful, sometimes aggrandizing, other times pointedly candid, this biography attempt to reveal the Alan Shepard even the man himself wanted no one to see.
   
   You will be amazed at the story.



2. I had been meaning to read this long-overdue biography of Alan Shepard, and I happened to pick it up in a cruise ship library. As I read it I was surprised at the number of factual inaccuracies--there is at least one glaring non-technical error per chapter, which calls into question almost everything else between the covers. Numerous reviews here mention more problems with technical aspects of the book that I was unaware of, but which do not surprise me given the apparent lack of proofreading and fact-checking.
   
   An example: upon finding the book, I leafed through it and found the section on Apollo 14. There it mentioned that John Glenn had "almost killed himself when he lost control of the pace car at the Daytona 500 and slammed into a flatbed trailer crowded with journalists." This sentence boggled my mind, for it contained two errors: the pace car was at the Indianapolis 500, and John Glenn was a passenger while a local Dodge dealership owner was the driver. The book is just full of examples of this kind of sloppy reporting.
   
   Edit: I see that at least the paperback edition correctly says Indianapolis 500, but it still incorrectly implies that Glenn was driving the pace car.



3. I am a "space nut". I have read numerous books, seen numerous vhs and dvd stories of everything from the start of the space age to the shuttle flights. I have never had a more inspiring feeling than upon finishing "Light this candle". It started a little slow with all the early life details of Shepard but, helped later in the book with how & why he reacted to many (and I mean many) tough situations that he faced in his unbelievable life. Being a space nut, I was happy to see little details explained in the book that are lacking in other books I have read. Such things as Shepard talking about laying in the LEM following an EVA on Apollo 14. He and Mitchell were supposed to be sleeping but Shepard talked about the "eerie silence" and hearing the A/C unit click on and off. Also, feeling like they were going to tilt over and falling out of the bunk when he thought the LEM was sliding down the edge of the crater. All of these things made it a "tough to put down" book that I would HIGHLY recommend.
   I used to think of Al Shepard as an egotistical, bi-polar, spoiled fly-boy that I wanted no part in learning more about. I would have rather stuck to anyone of the other 6 Mercury astronauts. BOY WAS I WRONG! This book might have turned me to thinking that Al Shepard is the most interesting of the original 7.



4. Surprise of surprises. Amid the clutter of hastily-written self-serving memoirs from the early days of the space program, finally there appears something akin to solid history and literary proficiency. Neal Thompson was a Baltimore reporter when Alan Shepard died in 1998 of leukemia. Assigned to write an obituary, Thompson discovered that no first rate biography of the United State's first spaceman was then in print. Sensing an opportunity, Thompson, a free lance writer, began a six-year research project and produced a highly respectable treatment of a very private man. What had been known about Shepard were primarily his great successes and his notable shortcomings. Johnson tackles the great middle--and the puzzle that was Alan Shepard now begins to make sense.
   
   In truth, there is probably misunderstanding about all of the early astronaut heroes, as if each was assigned a role in a bigger cosmic drama. Scotty Carpenter will always be the house philosopher, Gordo Cooper the hotdog, Gus Grissom the curmudgeon. Shepard's role was to be first, the best, the winner of a grueling marathon to ride the Redstone rocket--tiny by today's standards--for fifteen minutes on May 5, 1961. Given the unpredictability of the rockets of that era, the greater risk to the astronaut was on the ground than in space. This fact was appreciated in 1961, and being chosen number one was a statement from his superiors about his fortitude as much as his mastery of flying and technology.
   
   Alan Shepard was born in 1923 in Derry, NH, to a somewhat removed, demanding father. Young Shepard inherited a fierce competitiveness and an independence that allowed him to pursue personal goals with little concern about his impression on others. This latter quality, to his advantage, is what set him apart from his archrival John Glenn, who did worry about public relations. Shepard was one of those rare men who had his cake and ate it, too: he achieved remarkable career goals while entertaining himself along the way with what can only be called oppositional defiance. In a strange twist of history, he actually pulled off the mischief that has always been attached to others like Gordon Cooper.
   
   In this regard Thompson studies Shepard's military misbehavior and his philandering. The author's account of the future astronaut's brushes with military authority is detailed and rather surprising. One comes away with a sense that the New Hampshire flyboy's skills as a naval test pilot must have been noteworthy, outweighing numerous dangerous incidents of "flat-hatting" or strafing civilians on the ground. His cheating on his virtuous and devoted wife Louise--a spouse of the Lady Bird Johnson mold--is a blotch that time will probably not erase. Thompson does observe that Shepard's amorous sorties off the reservation were adolescent in nature; the astronaut apparently never engaged in any sort of long term relationship in which Louise was displaced.
   
   Although there is in this work a lot about Shepard to dislike, the author clearly strove for a balanced presentation. Shepard appears to have made his peace with Glenn at the time of the Freedom Seven flight. After retirement he demonstrated a better than average interest in philanthropy and seems to have worked harder in his later years to enrich his marriage with Louise. Perhaps best known is his decade long battle with Meniere's Disease, and later with a form of leukemia. In some ways the Meniere's was more of a psychological jolt, coming as it did at the beginning of the Gemini, and ultimately, the Apollo Programs. Whatever his colleagues felt about him, Shepard was widely respected in the NASA management circle for outstanding cape com work in the troubled Carpenter and Cooper flights. With Glenn, his chief rival, out of the picture due to a head injury and political considerations, Shepard was the logical choice to command the maiden voyages of these new craft--and by implication become the first man to walk on the moon.
   
   But this was not to be. For nearly a decade Shepard lost his license to fly any type of aircraft due to balance impairment [and other less known medical problems brought to light by the author.] Did he take this forced grounding graciously? Admittedly not. But the author assesses this period of Shepard's career with more depth than other commentators. He notes, for example, that Shepard had burned his bridges with the Navy by joining NASA and could not return to what seemed to be a straight road to admiralty status. While the Navy was no longer an option, Shepard was proving himself to be a better than average business man and becoming independently wealthy. Freed of aviator-astronaut responsibilities, he could have lived a highly lucrative lifestyle.
   
   But he stayed with NASA, a nasty Don Quixote. Only a man in similar straits like Deke Slayton, himself medically grounded from space travel, could have understood and tolerated his subaltern's angry depression which alienated other astronauts in the program and at times rendered him a public relations nightmare. What sustained him through his bureaucratic Siberia was the desire to return to active status, but perhaps more strongly a desire to conquer his own medical problem. Shepard would admit that his selection for the first Mercury flight was the professional highlight of his career. Reinstatement to flight status for Apollo was for him a personal triumph of a different sort,
   
   Shepard was due for some luck. Experimental surgery put him on line for Apollo 13, but management bumped him to 14 to absorb training and thus he avoided the near catastrophic events of unlucky 13. Shepard seemed grateful to be back--choosing for his Apollo 14 crew Stu Roosa, who had defined the art of avoiding Shepard in company hallways. Apollo 14 survived at least three mission-threatening crises on its way to the world's most famous tee shot. What the author shares about the moon landing mission is one of its least known achievements: it brought its commander to tears.



5. Not much about Al Shepard that isn't already in other books
   and movies. And just plain wrong on obvious things like
   Grissom's pickup --which is on tape. How do you screw
   something like that up? Short on technical details
   and a lot of rehash on the Glen rivalry.
   
   The constant repetitive mentioning of Al's sexual business is a bit weird.
   Especially since only two real instances are mentioned in the book,
   and neither of them involved sex. The supposed suppressed T.J. scandal
   (John Glenn saves the day) is total horsecrap too, never happened.

5 comments about Sky Walking: An Astronaut's Memoir.

1. This is a highly readable and expertly written account by Tom Jones about his astronaut career.
   He writes from his heart, and has clearly thought a lot about how to effectively communicate his experiences.
   His use of imagery puts this book in the realm of literature, though it is definitely non-fiction.
   A must for your Christmas list if you are or once were an aspiring astronaut, an aspiring writer of topics related to space and technology or just interested in knowing what it is like up there. It is a great read; I laughed, I cried, learned something about space, space policy and history, and was amazed by it all!



2. Sky Walking is the best account of the experience of space that I have ever read. It takes you deep into the physical and emotional sensations of space travel where you the reader experience what astronauts experience right down to the mundane task trying to locate an item that has floated away in the cabin or trying to use an exercise bike with zero gravity. Tom Jones is an articulate writer capable of constructing wonderful imagery and some choice metaphors about every aspect of space travel from training to launch to rentry. His descriptions of his space walks and working aboard the International Space Station are particularly memorable. Jones is also not afraid to render an opinion about this America's commitment to space what can and should be done to maintain NASA as a shining symbol of American capability. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a curiosity about what space travel is really like.
   -- Jerry Burton, author of Zora Arkus-Duntov the Legend Behind Corvette and Corvette, America's Sports Car, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.



3. There are many excellent books written by and about the Right Stuff astronauts who flew during the earlier days of the space program. However, until recently, there has been a nearly total lack of books by and about the shuttle astronauts who fly now. For better or worse, today's space program is as different from the program of the early days as the shuttle is different from the Apollo capsules. And today's astronauts are different, too.
   
   Mike Mullane was the first of the shuttle astronauts to write about his experiences in his book Riding Rockets. However, Mullane was a member of the group that made the transition from the Apollo program to the shuttle program, and the tone of his book is almost wistful; he clearly wanted to be one of the Right Stuff guys-- and he means guys-- but he ended up being a shuttle technician.
   
   Sky Walking is a memoir by a very different sort of astronaut. Tom Jones was very young during the "glory days" of the space program, so he has no Right Stuff preconceptions about astronauts as death-defying heroes. Rather, he is an Air Force Academy graduate who flew B-52s, earned a PhD in planetary sciences, and became a dedicated, professional shuttle program technician. That could have made for a dull, technical book if it weren't for his intellect and, more importantly, his powers of observation and ability to reflect on what he experienced.
   
   Jones flew four shuttle missions and took three space walks on his final mission, which was dedicated to construction on the International Space Station. His accounts of what space walks are like-- and of the hundreds of hours of training that precedes each one-- are first rate. His descriptions of the ISS and of the issues surrounding its planning, funding, and construction are excellent. I don't know of any other insider's book that deals with the ISS in such detail or with such authority. This is because Jones was an administrator in the ISS program between his third and fourth shuttle flights.
   
   The subtitle says that this is "an astronaut's memoir," and that's exactly what it is. Jones takes us trough his selection as an astronaut, his general training, his years of waiting for flights, his training for those flights, and the flights themselves. There is considerable technical information in the book, but Jones does an excellent job of clarifying it for non-experts. The real focus is on Jones himself-- what he sees, thinks, and feels about what's happening to him.
   
   This is an outstanding book. It answers the two basic questions many of us have always had: "What's it REALLY like to fly in space?" and "What are those people REALLY like?" I thoroughly enjoyed Sky Walking, and I recommend it most highly.



4. Not the Right Stuff for me.
   The writing is wordy, attempts to be profound and "educated" at every turn, and fails.
   
   His single most dramatic story, the stuck hatch, is anti-climatic.
   
   His second most dramatic story: too much air getting into the food packets.
   
   There is very little "inside scoop" here, as NASA is portrayed as all glorious, and almost perfect. Yet we know, and see demonstrated on a regular basis, that the opposite is true.
   
   Find this locally if you can, and browse through it first to see if its the right stuff for you.



5. This is a beautifully written account of one astronaut's experiences going through the NASA space program. If you are curious about what it takes to become an astronaut, the inner-workers of the organization, and what its like to truly live in space, this is a terrific book. And, the writer has a wonderful way of translating complex information into easily digestible bites. Truly a wonderful read!

5 comments about Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth.

1. It's hard to review this book. Everyone agrees that it offers a fascinating insight into the astronauts who walked on the moon. This book isn't really asking "what was it like?" because that's been done too many times. Instead, it asked "what was it like for you?" to each astronaut, and got some interesting answers.
   The remainder of the book is mostly about the journey of discovery that the author takes as he realizes that it had a relatively profound effect on his own life. Some reviewers (myself included) buy into this concept and found it made the whole package very engaging. Others (including some of my friends) found it annoying and distracting.
   So, if you would rather just read biographies of astronauts, try the book about Pete Conrad. If you ever wondered, "gosh, whatever happened to those guys?" or "well, what did it mean for the US to go to the moon anyway?" I think this is an entertaining, engrossing and ultimately enlightening read.
   I only gave it four and a half stars because it's not the best book I've ever read, merely one of the most memorable.



2. This particular book does a great job of getting into the insights of the astronauts when they were front page news. Apollo was truly the pinnacle of NASA and Andrew Smith does a great job of creating the aura that still surrounds the 9 men still living, that walked on another world.
   
   I could've done without some of his personal musings, as he paints a picture that you would rather he keep to himself. I have my own personal perspectives and if you didn't grow up in U.K. or CA, you'll probably agree that Andrew should've kept some of his memories out of the pages.
   
   Even with the author's anecdotes, the book is 5 stars and worthy reading for any space history buff.



3. This book turned out to be more about the author than about the astronauts. It was disappointing. The book was also hard to finish. It was uninteresting in most parts. Not recommended if you are looking for insight on the astronauts.



4. This book was very disappointing for all the reasons already stated, factually inaccurate, rambling, author being self absorbed, etc. The title is misleading and should have been "Andrew Smith: My thoughts on the Apollo Program (With an a few astronaut interviews thrown in)".
   
   I give it two stars because some of the interviews were interesting.
   
   Thankfully I borrowed this book from the library and didn't pay for it. I suggest if you're really interested in reading this book that you do the same...



5. The NASA version of the Apollo moon landings is one thing (see the 5 DVD compilation: NASA The Story of America's Courageous Space Explorers!). 'Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth' is another. The cover says a lot. It shows Gene Cernan, Buzz Aldrin, John Young, Neil Armstrong, Charlie Duke, James Irwin, Alan Bean, and Jack Schmitt as heros worthy of being on collectible bubble gum cards. The author Andrew Smith was the perfect age when Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon. He was a kid. The moonwalkers are his heros. I was born later and equivalent heros for me are Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Yoda. The amazing thing about Andrew Smith's story is that he's able to actually meet those space-men and to come face to face with the realities of their lives after having walked on the moon. How much was an astronaught's salary? If I were standing on the face of the moon looking up at Earth, what effect would that have on my sense of God? What does a landscape devoid of atmosphere really look like? How does it feel to be alone inside the vehicle in orbit around the moon waiting for your colleagues to return from the moon surface? Especially when you're on the back side of the moon and you have no radio contact with Earth and you're more alone than any other human being in the history of our existence? What do you do with yourself after you return to Earth, after you retire from NASA, after your fame begins to fade away? Maybe you go into liquor sales, start your own religion or maybe you take up a career as a painter obsessively painting scenes from your lunar memories. Andrew Smith is a down to Earth writer who infuses wit, humor, and astute observation into this amazing book that I couldn't put down. Moondust ranks high among my favorite true account books which would also include Al Santoli's 'Everything We Had' and Joannis van Loon's 'The Life & Times of Rembrandt van Rijn'.

5 comments about Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard The Space Station MIR.

1. During the middle part of the 1990s NASA and the Russian Space Agency engaged in a set of cooperative missions that resulted in nine Space Shuttle-Mir link ups between 1995 and 1998, including rendezvous, docking, and crew transfers. Jerry Linenger was one of the NASA astronauts sent to fly on Mir, serving there between January 12 and May 15, 1997. This book recounts his experiences training for this mission, including the difficult time he spent at the Cosmonaut training facility at Star City, as well as the mission itself. As he noted about the Russians at Star City, "the goal of helping cosmonauts and astronauts better prepare for a mission was not a shared goal. Making money off the Americans seemed to be the overriding consideration" (p. 43).
   
   A centerpiece of this book is the exceptionally difficult crises on Mir while Linenger was aboard. The first took place on February 24, 1997, when Linenger and his fellow crewmembers fought a fire caused when an oxygen generator in Kvant 1 malfunctioned and ignited. While the fire burned for only about ninety seconds, the crew was exposed to heavy smoke for five to seven minutes and donned masks in response. Linenger had been in the Spektr module working on his computer when he heard Mir's master alarm go off. He shut down his computer--in case the power should go off--put on some protective gear, and rushed as best he could in his weightless condition to the scene of the accident. They all realized that the fire was serious, it could jeopardize the station and their lives, for it blocked access to one of the Soyuz spacecraft needed for return to Earth. Crewmembers extinguished the fire with foam from three fire extinguishers, each containing two liters of a water-based liquid. The fire was not small. Burning in all directions in the microgravity of the space station, the oxygen from the generator fueled hydra-like flames up to three feet long. Periodically, said Linenger, bits of molten metal from the oxygen generator went splattered the bulkhead. Once the fire had been contained they started purging the atmosphere of the smoke, and Linenger, a physician, examined the other members of the crew to ensure they had not been injured. The crew wore masks and goggles until an analysis of the Mir atmosphere ensured that they experienced no serious health risk.
   
   The fire foreshadowed a series of problems aboard Mir during the spring and summer of 1997. Oxygen generators broke down, the automatic docking system malfunctioned, various types of equipment both great and small interrupted the normally monotonous activities, the station's orientation system broke down, the power system failed when the solar arrays lost their position toward the Sun, and leaks in the Kvant-2 cooling system forced numerous repairs and seemingly endless fussing to keep it running. It appeared that the Mir crew, including Linenger, spent the majority of their days repairing the space station. They gingerly positioned Mir in relation to the Sun so that they could control temperature on various parts of the station. The environment on Mir was uncomfortable, and the crew complained about it.
   
   Linenger believed that Russian mission control failed to inform the crew about the status of their station. He expressed nothing but praise for his fellow crewmembers for their strength and perseverance throughout the mission. Even with communication difficulties, a cloud of doubt surrounding the station's systems, difficulties with mission control, and fires and toxic fumes, the crew worked relatively well under very difficult circumstances.
   
   Linenger tells his story with verve and style, and not a little humor, but that that barely hides a cynicism aboiut the whole effort. He concluded, "That the shuttle Mir program is primarily a political rather than a technical endeavor is obvious to anyone working on it or familiar with it" (p. 113). He also notes that the Shuttle/Mir program was essentially a form of foreign aid by the Clinton administration to Russia using NASA's space exploration money rather than funds appropriated through the various foreign aid programs of the United States. He concluded: "the U.S. government perceived that engaging the Russians in a cooperative space undertaking was reason enough to stick by Mir. Or perhaps having a means for our government to funnel millions of dollars in foreign aid to Russia under the guise of `rent money' so the United States can send astronauts to Mir is a valuable political stratagem" (p. 248).
   
   In many ways this is a fascinating book, pulling back the curtain on the Shuttle/Mir cooperative program between the U.S. and Russia in the mid-1990s.



2. Unexpectedly, the best book by an astronaut I have ever read. Utterly honest, detailed but not too much, Linenger certainly had "the right stuff". Brilliant, adaptable and a jock, he survived 5 months in an unreliable, uncomfortable Mir space station, and got along very well with two pairs of Russian Cosmonauts, after "learning" Russian in a 5-week crash course. He gives the lowdown on Russian competence in the space program, the political reason for funneling US funds into joint space activity, the excessive control of by Russian ground crew of their cosmonauts. Much is as expected for Russians long living in a repressive, loveless society. True, the poverty of the Russian Republic would make anyone difficult.
   
   Descriptions of ordinary lavatory functions, repair of every imaginable device on the Mir, all of which broke down, and details of docking, undocking, and returning to Earth on a Space Shuttle were more complete than any other I have read. Details of bone density loss, odd effects of Earth gravity and other bits were seen by me for the first time. For me "Off the Planet" was far superior to the classics such as First on the Moon by Armstrong, Collins & Aldrin (too sanitized), "Return to Earth"? by Aldrin (too personally focused, but good), or "Last on the Moon". Only "Apollo 13" compares, but is too sanitized.
   
   My only gripe is that the scientific experiments on which so much time and money were spent do not come in for any description at all, nor any refs. to their publication, or Principal Investigators. Minor gripes were an occasional ambiguous antecedent, pride in contributing to lowering the fat content of Navy diets (on p7; utterly discredited by "The Cholesterol Myths" by Uffe Ravnskow, 2000; "The Modern Nutritional Diseases" by Ottoboni, 2001; "The GReat Cholesterol Con" by Anthony Colpo, 2006; and many others. See http://www.health-heart.org/acceuil.htm). On p9, canned tuna is healthful, but Minute Rice is not for the carb-sensitive among us. Twice, p78 and 189, "hydrolysis" of water is used instead of the correct "electrolysis".



3. As Jerry Linenger capitvatingly and brutely describes his experience with the Russian traning center and MIR leadership, I was both shocked and amused. To the average person, it is unbelieveable that the Russian Space Program was so adhoc, unscientific and unorganized. The disorganization that is described is so prevalent that I wonder how the Russians could manage any space travel sucessfully.
   
   Before I read this book I imagined the life of astronaut was a hero's life, little did I realize the patience, team work and politics involved in Space travel.
   
   Recommended for it's great story and window into a world very few of us will ever experience.



4. I bought the book after hearing Mr. Linenger speak. It was easy to read and very interesting.



5. Jerry Linenger's account of his preparation and 5 month stay aboard the Mir space station is an interesting peak into one man's extended stay in space and the façade of the NASA/Russian space partnership. However, what was an unbelievable journey for Mr. Linenger seems mundane (and almost boring) due to the writing style and immense scope of information provided.
   
   The first half of the book sets up who Dr. Linenger is as a man (or as his name properly written is: Jerry Michael Linenger, M.D., M.S.S.M., M.P.H., and Ph.D.). It gives the reader a breakdown of his accomplishments (which are very impressive to say the least), his drive towards space, and his training in Russia with his wife and infant son. All very interesting and necessary information but the reader needs to slog through the mud of too many uninteresting antidotes and peripheral information.
   
   The second half of the book which tells the tale of his stay on Mir again starts off very slowly but really finds its footing about halfway through. Once Mr. Linenger begins to get into the meat of specific challenges and issues, he communicates these scenes effectively by painting a clear picture of this dangerous and exciting adventure.
   
   From the Fire on board Mir, to the attempted Progress re-dock, to the anti freeze leaks and eventual breakdown of trust between Mir and ground control, to a frightening space walk, to the conclusion explaining his struggles re-adapting to the earth's gravity, the book earns an A. Unfortunately the remainder of the books seems weighted down when it should have soared in weightlessness.

5 comments about The Right Stuff.

1. This book is one of the best accounts of, indeed any scene, I have ever read. Wolfe, with his half academic half layman writing style, explores the men and indeed the whole phenomenon, that was the American space program in the 50ies and 60ies. In a delightful manner he gets to the heart of what makes the people involved "tick", and does a great job in bringing their feelings and through to the reader. The reader can truly emerge him/herself in this exciting world of fast planes, fast cars, hope, fear and glory.
   
   The only thing "wrong" with this book is that it is too short. I would've loved to see 50-75 more pages telling more about the "aftermath", as it were, but that is merely because the book was such a jolly good read to begin with. And, I must add, I'm not even interested in planes, speed or space programs or indeed American history.
   
   Highest possible recommendation.



2. As a 'random' book to pick up and read, I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of information provided in this book. I also enjoyed the writing style. Excellent excellent, must-read book!



3. Bang! Zoom! Pow!
   
   If you like prose that crackles like sparklers in your eyes, and tells a good story besides, then Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff", about the Mercury 7 spaceflight program of the early 1960s, is for you.
   
   Published in 1979, back when the U.S. was the world's laughing stock and "malaise" was the operative word from the White House, "The Right Stuff" calls to mind with equal degrees of snark and awe a time when real heroes walked the earth and flew beyond and around it. Men, yes, but heroes, too. Wolfe never lets go of the human element, in fact, the best thing "The Right Stuff" has going for it.
   
   As a non-fiction novel, it has its limitations, too. Wolfe doesn't make up quotes, he hardly quotes the seven Mercury astronauts at the center of the story, except for flight transcripts and press conferences where their words are public record. But he doesn't seem to channel theirs or anyone else's voices, except Wolfe's own.
   
   Beginning with the book's title, he uses a lot of terms to capture what the early U.S. space program, and the test flights on experimental jets leading up to it, were really about. Terms like "the great ziggurat" "flying & drinking and drinking & driving", "true brother", "the mighty integral", often in caps, get a lot of use even though there's no sign anyone ever used them or even thought them up before Wolfe did.
   
   There's an overall tone of omnipotence that feels smug and gets in the way: Never mind what was going through John Glenn's mind when he was wondering if Friendship 7's heat shield had burned up on atmospheric reentry - here's what he REALLY MUST have thought!
   
   But the book is so entertaining, it really compensates for Wolfe's excesses. The astronauts were not breaking new ground; everything they did the Soviets did too, except sooner and for longer durations. But they were putting their lives on the line as investments toward a larger purpose, an achievement no other country has matched in close to 40 years, landing on the moon. And they were also disproving the notion that Americans after World War II were doomed to failure, that "our boys always botch it" mentality which hung over the country at the time (and which by 1979 was back with a vengeance).
   
   Sharp, funny, and full of graspable insights (the riders of the first Mercury capsules had as much control over their craft as does a Ferris-wheel rider), "The Right Stuff" may settle for entertainment over enlightenment, but it is very entertaining.



4. In the years following WWII and Korea as the military graduated to fighter jets a certain hierarchy of talent developed. At the top of the pyramid were those in "flight test," where pilots with a certain indefinable something went to push the limits of the newest and most advanced jets. Landing several tons of metal atop a heaving and pitching aircraft carrier in the dark of night or "hanging your hide on the outside of the envelope" in experimental jets is a dangerous profession requiring what Mr. Wolfe calls "the Right Stuff." From Chuck Yeager, the first to exceed the speed of sound (Mach 1), to John Glenn and the other Mercury astronauts, few possess this right or "righteous stuff," and many are "left behind" on the climb up that pyramid. Mr. Wolfe introduces us to those who had it and some who died lacking it, as well as the competition of the "Space Race" of the 60s, and does so with a very distinct style that conveys the attitude of those who possessed it. The missions of the Mercury astronauts are covered in particular detail and sort of form the pinnacle of this story, from the enormous egos of some to the petty jealousies and politics that played out behind the perfect facade Life Magazine presented to the nation.
   
   In fact, the most singular aspect of this book for me would be the style with which it is written, dripping with the huge egos and arrogance of the pilots. Theirs is a dangerous job with few monetary rewards, requiring them to sacrifice family life and comfort, but carrying a thrill few people will ever experience. This, Mr. Wolfe explains, results in a feeling of superiority which he portrays excellently with his writing. And he conveys this attitude with certain phrases he uses repeatedly throughout, such as the "right stuff" or "flying & drinking, and drinking & driving," or the "Friend of Widows and Orphans," etc. It becomes a kind of shorthand for the concepts within the fraternity of pilots and their families. It's very interesting to learn of the lives and successes and defeats, particularly Chuck Yeager and John Glenn. But it is also this style which began to wear on me after a while - on the one hand the story is incredibly interesting, but on the other I got really tired of reading it and couldn't wait to just be done with the book. Also, the language of the book is pretty coarse, and hardly a page goes by that doesn't have several profanities or vulgarities, so be forewarned if you're bothered by that. But a fascinating story nonetheless and I can't wait to watch the movie now.



5. The Right Stuff is essential reading for any student of post-war western popular history whether or not you are interested in aviation and the space-race. Even if you dont hold with the concept of 'top three' books and the like, once you have read this, it will always come to mind when you are put on the spot and have to name your favourites.

3 comments about Light This Candle: The Life and Times of Alan Shepard.

1. 
   The hardback version of this book was an extremely entertaining read, but was unfortunately marred by many basic factual errors. It is good to see that the author took the time to fix the major ones for this paperback edition - it is a much better read for it.



2. I found this bio to be well written, and informative on not only Shepard, but also the Mercury Seven and the beginnings of NASA. It charts the mans abilities, and also his shortcomings, and well evokes the period of the space race. I thoroughly enjoyed it, highly recommend it and recommend the From Earth to the Moon miniseries as a good companion piece.



3. If you are one of the older generation who lived through the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, this is a well written, well researched book on Alan Shephard. Shephard and Grissom are two of my all-time heroes. It was a good read, as this talented author's always are!

5 comments about The Coalwood Way (The Coalwood Series #2).

1. I'm not sure where the below reviewers are coming from. The Coalwood Way, although including the Rocket Boys, is very much different from the first memoir. And it is not a bunch of disconnected stories, not at all! The Coalwood Way opens with Sonny Hickam in a strange depression a year after the death of his grandfather who had lost his legs in the coal mine. It is a depression he struggles with throughout the book and is the core thread. How he determines what is causing that depression really fills out a part of the original memoir that was left out and provides us with insight as to how he ultimately succeeds. Hickam reveals how that last winter in Coalwood so much is happening to him and his friends. His rockets are starting to work, but nothing else does. He even lets Chipper, his mom's beloved squirrel, escape into the winter cold and snow. He also meets Dreama, a young woman also struggling, and wanting Sonny to be her friend. Dreama is considered something like white trash, and is living with one of the most detestable men in town. Sonny also falls for Ginger who dreams of being a professional singer and provides an interesting counterpoint to the coal miners' sons of Coalwood with their dreams of spaceflight. "Dad," or Homer, Sr. is also struggling, trying to open a part of the mine that has defeated previous mine superintendents but upon which the future of Coalwood depends. "Mom," or Elsie, struggles with her failure to win the annual Veteran's Day parade (Coalwood's float has always won before), as well as her continuing attempts to get Homer, Sr. to quit the mine before black lung kills him. Elsie also identifies very much with Dreama and wants to help her but is held back by the "Coalwood way". The story is told with Hickam's tradmark humor and there are as many laugh out loud moments as tears. The dramatic arc of these threads to the story all join in a night of murder and mayhem when Coalwood is also buried in a huge snowstorm and cut off from the rest of the world. This is followed by another night of hope and amazing redemption on Christmas Eve that will cause even the hardest heart to melt. In many ways, this is Hickam's Coalwood Christmas story and it's a great one. You will love it.



2. "The Coalwood Way" is the part 2 contiuation of the "Rocket Boys", AKA:"October Sky". I just really like the way Mr. Hickam tells his story in his books. I find them to be "Americana" like- a success story from a humble start. I think the series could be a must read for middle and high school students as a way to see their potential in their own future and not just the here and now. A great book (and series) to read!



3. Dr. Werner von Braun once said, "Matters of faith are not really accessible to our rational thinking. I find it best not to ask any questions, but to just believe..." These words are truly conveyed throughout the second of Homer Hickam Jr.'s memoirs, The Coalwood Way, originally published in 2000. Although following his acclaimed, Rocket Boys, this compelling story does not continue where the last left off. Portions of the memoir take place during the same time period as the last, however, this tome portrays the life of Homer "Sonny" Hickam in a different light. This particular memoir focuses on Sonny's senior year in high school and the hardships he must go through when growing up. In addition to working diligently on creating improved rockets, Sonny must focus on achieving A's in school. Most importantly, he must focus on his family. In 1959 Coalwood, West Virginia is a ticking bomb and as it becomes more and more difficult to keep the mines running, the bomb seems to always be the verge of exploding leaving the people out of jobs, homes and, even worse, their town. Sonny must now try to keep his family together while the town falls apart and yet keep alive the dream of leaving in order to join his role model, Dr. Werner von Braun, at Cape Canaveral.
   Sonny Hickam is on his way to fulfilling his dreams as the book begins. However there a few obstacles on the way. Troubles in his family prevent Sonny from leading an easy, carefree life. His mother, Elsie, is growing increasingly impatient with Sonny's father. Sonny's father, Homer, is the mine superintendent and with the opening of a dangerous new mine, 11 East; ultimately, he is home even less often than usual. The strain on the marriage becomes too much for Sonny's mother and she insists on leaving Coalwood to escape to Myrtle Beach in order to sell real estate. In addition to his domestic hardships, Sonny is having troubles with himself. Every so often, although only lasting a few minutes, Sonny will find himself engulfed in an unexplainable grief. This mystery baffles Sonny day after day. As he searches for the origin of this mystery grief, he learns more than he ever imagined. Sonny's emotions and adventures are vividly depicted through a truly sentimental story, splashed with humor in all the right places. The writing style of Homer Hickam in this memoir is once again captivating and absolutely unforgettable.
   Although one may think memoirs aren't written well due to the lack of an experienced writer, The Coalwood Way reads like an old time fable. It is written in such a way that you are taken from your own world and thrown into the small town in West Virginia. Hickam depicts Coalwood in such a way that the image of every part of the quaint town is etched into your mind. His method of writing will bring you to tears when tragedy strikes and laughter when Sonny finds himself in a humorous predicament.
   This memoir is all about finding yourself and realizing that whenever life trips you up, someone will always be there to catch you when you fall. Throughout this lucid story, Sonny tries to find himself, and while looking down on his beloved town, he finally realizes the answer to what he's being puzzling all along. He understands his feelings, thinking: "My parents, and all the people of Coalwood, had given me the only true gifts they could ever give, that of their wisdom, and of their dreams, and of their love. All fear, sadness, and anger inside me had vanished. I knew who I was and where I came from and who my people were. I was ready to leave because I could never leave." Once Sonny realizes he can let go of the past, he is able to finally leave his hometown with the closure he needs to succeed.



4. Another excellent book by Homer Hickam, If you don't read the trilogy you're missing a true West Virginia experience



5. The Coalwood Way is by far the best book I have read this year. The story and the writing style grab you back to the couch to read another chapter every time. The only bad part is that the story was not longer, but that's why this is a trilogy. I am now rushing to order Hickman's next novel in the series!

5 comments about Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut (Indiana Biography Series).

1. If you've never read much about America's space race during the 60's, this is a good read with a lot of solid history and the story of a man who gave his life for his country.
   
   If, however, you are knowledgeable about this era the book adds little insight into Gus Grissom that hasn't already been published. The best source for this insight, Betty Grissom, was interviewed for this book but it appears nothing new was brought to light. With that said, I understand and respect her right to keep certain aspects of his life private. BTW: Her book "Starfall" was outstanding - I learned much more about Gus Grissom from that than any other source. It's a shame it's out of print.
   
   Regardless, I bought it, it's now in my collection and am glad that I did.



2. Virgil "Gus" Grissom is most commonly remembered by casual "space historians", as the only Mercury Astronaut to lose his spacecraft and for his death along with Robert Chafee and Edward White in the Apollo 1 fire. Most of these same historians think of him as a bit of a screwup as well, who may have been responsible for the loss of Friendship 7, when he in a panicked state blew the hatch while most of the spacecraft was still submerged, but for the loss of Apollo 1 as well due his insistence on not using explosive hatch bolts in later NASA programs such as Gemini and Apollo. The theory being that if NASA had developed the Apollo spacecraft with the explosive hatch, Grissom, Chafee, and White would have been able to blow the hatch and escape the fire which killed them. A minority of these folks even go so far as to blame him for the fire itself, saying that it was his movements which caused wires to short and to start the fire that killed the three of them.
   
   A more dedicated researcher however finds himself quickly at odds with these assumptions. If Grissom was the screwup the majority of people seem to think he was, then why did NASA not only select him to be the second American in space, but listened to his input to the point that they incorporated so many of his design idea's and requirements into the Gemini program that other astronauts referred to the spacecraft as the "Gusmobile" and complained that the spacecraft were tailored to fit his 5'6 140 pound frame, or why was he on the fast track to become the first American to walk on the moon? The logical conclusion is that Grissom wasn't the screw up people thought him to be. The problem facing the dedicated researcher is the lack of compiled information about Virgil Grissom.
   
   Yes, the data exists in various forms, but due to his untimely death (which results in the loss of any direct autobiographical information) and the common perception that he was a screwup no one had much interest in gathering all this information and putting it in one place.
   
   For Christmas last year among the stack of books that was so tall and so heavy I nearly broke a bone when I stubbed my toe against it, was a copy of Boomhower's "Gus Grissom - The Lost Astronaut", a part of the Indiana Biography Series.
   
   First, a word about Astronaut histories, be they biographies or autobiographies.
   
   Its often said, about the Mercury 7, that they were made heros before they had ever done anything. This statement has always bothered me, because these men were heroes long before they were selected to the space program. Six of them were combat veterans, most of them were combat aces (five or more confirmed kills) and some of them were double aces, having earned five or more kills in both World War II and Korea. Each of them had also been a test pilot, where they strapped themselves into several tons of experminental steel, weapons, and jet fuel and took the skies with the intention of breaking their aircraft. Most of them served as pilot instructors at some point in their careers meaning they strapped themselves into several tons of steel, weapons, and jet fuel and took to the skies with a guy who knew next to nothing about what they were doing. Some of them took it one step further and became instructors at test pilot school.
   
   All of them, were college graduates and many of them held multiple degrees and in the course of their career published doctorate level papers about the nature of flight, weapons, carrier landings, and combat operations long before they were ever accepted into the space program.
   
   In other words, "Pretty damn big hero stuff".
   
   The problem is, these "pretty damn big heroes" came with some pretty damn big ego's. Each of them thought they were the best (or in the case of Alan Shepard, knew they were the best) and as a result biographies (and autobiographies in particular) tend to be strongly slanted in favor of the subject. This slant is compounded by the sanitized "Life" coverage of the Astronauts and their stories, with the result being anyone who spends any time reading these books will find conflicting accounts of stories and events, where each Astronaut sees himself as the hero or the center piece of the story being told.
   
   The biographer's job (or the ghost writer in the case of many of the autobiographies) is not to eliminate or even minimize this slant, but should be to remove those stories which conflict with factual, and confirmable data.
   
   For example, who came up with the idea to wire Ralph Morse's jeep with a smoke flare1? Alan Shepard or Gus Grissom? The answer is, that in the context of other events it doesn't matter. That the even occurred is far more relevant than who's idea it was.
   
   Compare that with the question of "Who was the first American in space?" John Glenn's biography ("John Glenn: A Memoir") leaves you with the impression that he was. The reality is that while Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth he was actually the third American into space, behind Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom.
   
   It is this second type of slant that should be unacceptable and is the reason why I've never managed to struggle all the way through Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" (either the book or the movie), Cooper's "Leap of Faith", and M. Scott Carpenter's "For Spacious Skies".
   
   That said, I looked forward to Boomhower's book since it came out in 2004 and was very pleased to find it under the tree this Christmas.
   
   I can't help but feeling a bit disappointed with the book. Boomhower spends most of the preface talking not about Grissom or his family but about himself, his family's distant ties to the space program and how much effort he put into writing the book. The first three chapters are devoted, or rather would be seemingly devoted to Grissom's life before joining NASA if Boomhower didn't spend so much time skipping around in the timeline. He addresses events out of order, skips back, skips forward, and often leaves you with the impression that events in Grissom's life tied in with key events in history, when in fact the events were separated by years. It makes it tough to keep everything straight.
   
   Boomhower also uses other astronaut biographies as source material, something that should be obviously dangerous given the super charged egos involved.
   
   That said, I do feel like I know more about Gus Grissom5 than I did before I started reading...I do not feel like I know Gus Grissom like I knew Shepard after reading "Light this Candle" or like I knew Pete Conrad after reading "Rocket Man". After reading those books, I felt like Shepard and Conrad were old friends, after reading "Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut" I feel Grissom is like that second cousin third removed on your step mothers side...



3. There's no doubt that Gus Grissom was an American Hero. There's no doubt that he was often maligned -- both during his life and even after his tragic death -- most notably by Tom Wolfe's depiction of Grissom in "The Right Stuff". There is also no doubt, though, that Grissom is a favorite son of Indiana (righfully so). But given that this biography is part of the "Indiana Biography Series", I believe it may go too far in attempting to vindicate Grissom and give him the credit he deserves. While the book is interesting and has some information and insight that I've not read elsewhere, I always prefer a biography to "give it to me straight", and I think this one goes a bit too far in its praise for Grissom to be considered the "straight" story. I think Ray Boomhower was well-intentioned in this effort (and as previously mentioned, I agree that Grissom deserves more than history has given him), but this probably isn't the best book for a fair and unbiased education on the life of Gus Grissom.



4. I hope all of those who saw "The Right Stuff" and based their opinions of Gus Grissom on that movie/book, read THIS one. Grissom was the best pilot (and I am a huge Chuck Yeager fan) and an all around good guy. I was so glad when the Liberty Bell was brought to the surface and people finally knew what this book tells the reader, and those of us who had faith in Gus all along already knew. He did NOTHING WRONG when his spacecraft sank. Having seen the Apollo Launch pad where Grissom, White and Chafee died, mourned along with the rest of the nation when the fire happened, and the memorial in Arlington, it was great to read this biography and bring Gus back for a little while. Certainly one of America's and Indiana's finest! A good book about a great man.



5. The Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom saga was long overdue for a retelling. For too many years the only thing resembling a biography was the dreadful "Starfall," a superficial patchwork. This work comes from the Indiana Historical Society Press, and while not exhaustive, it is a vast improvement over Grissom's first biography and puts a respectable current biography in schools and libraries.
   
   I have to remind myself over and over that it is nearly fifty years ago since Grissom and six other career military fighter pilots were selected by the fledgling NASA for Project Mercury, the United States' program to put a single astronaut in earth orbit. Many Americans have little or no idea of who this man was, let alone the success and controversy that swirled around his life and into the literature of nearly every retired astronaut's autobiography. If he is remembered by today's younger generations, it may be as a dim reference to "the fire" of 1967, in which Grissom and two other astronauts were killed during rehearsal for the maiden Project Apollo flight.
   
   Author Ray E. Boomhower presents Grissom's life in a rather factual way. The reader does not get unduly bogged down in technology, the Cold War, or in the jocular astronaut life, aside from a few Wally Schirra stories. There is insightful and tasteful observation from Grissom's family and friends in Indiana, including Mrs. Betty Grissom. By rooting this work in Grissom's native community, the author conveys a sense that the hometown boy from the Midwest went off to school, war, and outer space, bringing pride to the folks back home. Boomhower has given us the story of Grissom's life, not Grissom's programs; Neal Thompson's recent biography of Alan B. Shepard has many of the same characteristics.
   
   Grissom devoted much of his career to both flying and engineering, and Boomhower attends to both. Grissom became the second U.S. astronaut to venture into space, a fifteen-minute suborbital flight aboard the "Liberty Bell" in 1961. The flight itself is now long-forgotten, but memory of the events of splashdown may linger for more generations. On live TV the hatch of Grissom's spaceship blew open prematurely, flooding the craft and rendering it too heavy for the helicopter attempting to retrieve it. The craft sank to the bottom of the Atlantic, a major embarrassment more than a scientific loss per se. At the time there was muted criticism of Grissom's performance and a reluctance to accept the astronaut's explanation that "the hatch just blew." Boomhower records that even Mrs. Grissom gingerly asked her husband if he had erred while talking to him by phone after the flight [209] and the astronaut's two sons were harassed in school over the incident.
   
   Grissom would have other reasons for career concerns. He quickly surmised that there would be no more Mercury flights for him as it became clear Mercury would end once earth orbit had been securely achieved. NASA had brought another larger team of astronauts on board. Alan Shepard and later John Glenn would be "made men" in the NASA pecking order. After his Liberty Bell flight, Grissom would speak of himself as not having a job, but anxious to prove himself, he alone of the original astronauts went to work on the design of the next generation Gemini spacecraft. Gradually other astronauts came to deeply appreciate Grissom's efforts to make Gemini a true pilot's spacecraft, and his stock among the brethren rose considerably. He became so identified with the new craft that the interior specifications were crafted to his short stature, no favor to the gangly astronaut Tom Stafford down the road. And yet it took Alan Shepard's misfortune [Meniere's disease] and John Glenn's new horizon [the U.S. Senate] to boost Grissom to the head of the line for the maiden launch of Gemini in March 1965. Grissom and John Young navigated a perfect three orbit test run marred only by later discovery of a contraband corned beef sandwich on board.
   
   His first ride with Gemini would be his last. While colleagues like Jim Lovell, Pete Conrad, and Neil Armstrong were racking up frequent space miles, Grissom began to have doubts about the space program. He considered retirement, and even contemplated flying combat missions in Viet Nam [286] or a run for Congress from Indiana. He speculated to his wife privately that he thought his chances of accidental death in the space program were high if he remained. On the other hand, his auto buddy Jim Rathmann recalled for the author that Grissom hoped to be the first man on the moon.
   
   Boomhower believes that much of Grissom's confusion and pessimism stemmed from his engineering work on the Apollo space craft itself. Gemini had been the product of McDonnell Aircraft, a company widely respected and trusted by the astronaut community. The Apollo contract, on the other hand, was awarded to North American Aviation, perhaps as Schirra surmised, to spread jobs and political good will to California. The author agrees with other researchers that the North American operation was lacking in many respects, particularly quality control. One telling example: changes on the punch list came so frequently that simulators were never adequately programmed for astronauts in training.
   
   Despite months of investigation, no one cause was definitively isolated in the tragic fire of January 27, 1967 that killed Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee during a ground test prior to actual flight. NASA and North American came in for harsh criticism. Boomhower tends to agree with the official investigation results which attributed the fire to a zeitgeist of speed, recklessness, poor management, and general faulty design. Grissom's involvement in the design of Apollo, and his dissatisfaction with North American, probably deserved more thorough treatment, not to mention the sometimes bizarre relations between the Grissoms, NASA, and the press. Boomhower's text is probably not the last word on America's second astronaut, but it will be adequate through the foreseeable future.

5 comments about Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race.

1. I bought this book just a month ago while in a business trip and I must admit that my first impression was that the book was a sort of commercial best-seller, rather hollywood-like. So I was not expecting serious really serious content. But the more I read, the more I came to the conclussion it was a really good book.
   
   I had not the kind of tech-focused expectations of Thomas Moody (see useful review above), but I think it is serious enough for the non-tech or specialized public, whithout been arcane. It's rigorous and at the same time, very readable. A real page-turner.
   
   I think that the book is worth the money. Provides a smart picture not only of space race but also of cold war in a wider sense, from a special and interesting point of view.
   
   Overall, the point with the book is that it is based on two different careers and lives, wich brings a richer depiction of the evolution, both professional and personal of this two outstanding men, astronaut and cosmonaut, at the same time that their respective space programs in Soviet Union and USA.
   
   My congratulations to the authors, the journalist, editors and all people involved in the project. A very well balanced approach on how to present the story and how to narrate it. They've got a great result.
   
   I really enjoyed this book.



2. From all reports, the Cold War was competition between America and Russia to see who could get to the moon and win the "Space Race." Actually, it was who could design and manufacture nuclear arms to blast the other country off into space. So, this book has an odd coupling: an old Soviet astronaut, the first man to "walk in space," and a younger NASA Apollo commander who piloted Gemini 8. I watched all of those missions faithfully until the fatal explosion; after that, it was too traumatic to hear those words, "Go with throttle up."
   
   Alexei Leonov starts with "Temperatures drop to below -50 deg. C in the small village of Listvyanka, Central Sibreia, USSR, where I was born on 30 May 1934." When he was four years old, his father was declared a subversive during the Stalin purge, so they lost everything and had to live in one room with eleven occupants.
   
   David Scott came from a military family, born at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, USA. Before his father became a "fighter pilot," he had an administrative job in a Hollywood film studio in California. David followed in the footsteps of his dad, acted as a technical advisre on the film, 'Apollo 13.'
   
   These two military "commanders" from warring countries have nothing in common, except the moondance in space, as it is more an illusion. Their experiences were not even close. Granted, Leonov was the first man to "walk in space," securing a place in history. Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon in actuality; he was the commander of Apollo 11. After spending three days on the moon, David Scott became the seventh to hop around up there collecting souvenirs.
   
   The photo sections speak a lot louder than the words. I'm not sure the average American citizen is ready to be reminded of all the personal terror and pain we endured for so long by their bullying and threats. The title should be called 'Opposite Sides on Earth," opponents to the end. You would think that, by now, USA would realize that trusting one's former enemy can backfire even in defeat.



3. "Two Sides of the Moon" is a fascinating addition to the library of any space historian, whether casual or professional. The book, written by American Astronaut Dave Scott and Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, focuses on personal and professional struggles set within the political framework of the 1960s (and early 1970s) cold war.
   
   Although I would have preferred more technical detail in the book, I still enjoyed it very much though more from the human interest angle. I liked the technique of alternating narratives from the American and Soviet points of view: the book was skillfully written to reveal the emotions and perceptions of both sides of the space race during key points in the race to the moon (Sputnik, the Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 11, etc.) I found both authors to be likable and appreciated their willingness to share credit with people unknown to the general public, from important organizational keys like Bill Tindall's famous (within NASA, anyway) Data Priority Meetings (and their resultant "Tindallgrams," page 194,) to the awe with which Leonov held Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Chief Designer, whose death all but dashed Soviet attempts to land on the moon prior to the Americans.
   
   The book has an upbeat and optimistic tone, and is good-natured throughout. I enjoyed the behind the scenes trivia the pair provided. Did you know that the first animals to achieve circumlunar flight were a pair of Steppe Tortoises on the Soviet Zond-5 mission? The were recovered safe (but probably confused) in the Indian Ocean on September 17, 1968. Little known facts like this made this book a treasure for readers who traditionally focus on the more technical aspects of the missions.
   
   The book boasts an excellent Foreword by Neil Armstrong, Scott's commander from Gemini 8. Scott gives Armstrong ceaseless praise for his judgment during the emergency they shared, and it seems clear that Armstrong holds Scott in equally high esteem.
   
   The book is a great telling of a compelling tale. I particularly found the travails of Leonov's youth to be astounding, and admire him more after reading this book for overcoming them to become one of the great names in spaceflight. Likewise, Scott is a high achiever and role model for generations of spacefarers for generations to come. I recommend this book highly.



4. "Two Sides of the Moon" is a fascinating addition to the library of any space historian, whether casual or professional. The book, written by American Astronaut Dave Scott and Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, focuses on personal and professional struggles set within the political framework of the 1960s (and early 1970s) cold war.
   
   Although I would have preferred more technical detail in the book, I still enjoyed it very much though more from the human interest angle. I liked the technique of alternating narratives from the American and Soviet points of view: the book was skillfully written to reveal the emotions and perceptions of both sides of the space race during key points in the race to the moon (Sputnik, the Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 11, etc.) I found both authors to be likable and appreciated their willingness to share credit with people unknown to the general public, from important organizational keys like Bill Tindall's famous (within NASA, anyway) Data Priority Meetings (and their resultant "Tindallgrams,") to the awe with which Leonov held Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Chief Designer, whose death all but dashed Soviet attempts to land on the moon prior to the Americans.
   
   The book has an upbeat and optimistic tone, and is good-natured throughout. I enjoyed the behind the scenes trivia the pair provided. Did you know that the first animals to achieve circumlunar flight were a pair of Steppe Tortoises on the Soviet Zond-5 mission? The were recovered safe (but probably confused) in the Indian Ocean on September 17, 1968. Little known facts like this made this book a treasure for readers who traditionally focus on the more technical aspects of the missions.
   
   The book boasts an excellent Foreword by Neil Armstrong, Scott's commander from Gemini 8. Scott gives Armstrong ceaseless praise for his judgment during the emergency they shared, and it seems clear that Armstrong holds Scott in equally high esteem.
   
   The book is a great telling of a compelling tale. I particularly found the travails of Leonov's youth to be astounding, and admire him more after reading this book for overcoming them to become one of the great names in spaceflight. Likewise, Scott is a high achiever and role model for generations of spacefarers for generations to come. I recommend this book highly.



5. Very interesting concept of getting both perspectives on the space race but there are some errors in this book. One is so great I am amazed that no one else has mentioned it. On page 39, Leonov states that he met Ernest Hemingway in Cuba... in 1965... Hemingway died in 1961. Is this a simple typo? Or imperfect memory? In either case, there is only a very small window of opportunity for the two of them to meet as described in the book. Hemingway left Cuba in 1960, shortly after the revolution. Presumably, a Soviet cosmonaut would not be visiting Cuba before the revolution. If the meeting took place it could have only been sometime in 1960. This should have been caught in the editing stage.

1 comments about Black Wings: Courageous Stories of African Americans in Aviation and Space History.

1. This book looks at a little-remembered group of black men who, with their abilities and initiatives and creativity, became a valuable working unit of the military. The photographs are great. Written very well, with empathy and understanding, from the author's meetings with relatives and friends of these fliers.