Apollo by Charles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox Summary and Reviews
|
Our Price: $145.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $70.64 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Apollo
Book Review: Inner workings of humankind's greatest accomplishment
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent book covering the inner workings of the Apollo program. It does not focus on the astronauts or the missions themselves, but more about the people on the ground in Mission Control, the engineering challenges of Apollo, the management of the program, and NASA / Washington politics about space exploration at that time. Some chapters are so well done, they read like a thriller and you can't stop turning the pages. It also covers well the most important personalities of Apollo.
After reading this book, I realized how much we have lost the memories of what is probably the most incredible achievement in humankind's history. Shockingly enough, most people think about Apollo about being a thing of the past, while it is in fact our future.
Reflecting back on the sad end of the Apollo program (the plug was simply pulled in the mid-70s without any kind of follow up), it is a shame that we have lost all these years. Just imagine if we would have persevered with more missions, the eventual setup of a moon base in the 80s, moon exploration of resources, etc... Who knows where we would be now in 2007 ? Perhaps on the verge of a Mars mission, or Jupiter ? We would have impressed new generations with the same sense of awe-inspiring achievements and exploration that Apollo did 40 years ago. These emotionally inspiring achievements are the ones that elevates humankind to new heights, and this is probably the strongest feeling I felt about Apollo after reading this book.
Book Review: Lots of reader raves for the original 1989 edition
Summary: 5 Stars
They're shown if you search for Apollo: The Race to the Moon. The 2004 edition has dropped the subtitle.Book Review: More than Apollo...
Summary: 5 Stars
This book immerses the reader in the humble origins of the American space program, and you cannot help but come away from it with multiplied admiration of can-do Americanism of the 1950s and '60s. Before there was the glossy version Americans are familiar with now, NASA was staffed by a few scores of the most brilliant minds in physics and engineering, making things up as they went along.
This is a long book, but it is far from boring. It covers the space program from the mid '50s through the early '70s. It is totally exciting, and you get a perfect picture of the academic setting that fostered eventually one of mankind's greatest achievements. In the several interviews that beautifully color the narrative with anecdotal stories, it's amazing how humble the old NASA hands are about their achievements. These were regular people of extraordinary intellect given essentially unlimited reign to do what was considered impossible. The scale of their designs cannot be overstated. The Apollo missions themselves could have been left out of this book, and I would have been completely satisfied.
APOLLO goes into great detail in the clash of competing egos at NASA: von Braun, Faget, Kraft, etc. Nuts and bolts debates about esoteric subjects often divided these geniuses to the point of bitterness (the one that comes to mind is the direct ascent vs. lunar orbit rendezvous). Did you know that it was once seriously considered that the Saturn V rocket would be pulled from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad on a barge? The adapter between the rocket and the spacecraft has a conical shape because the designers changed their mind twice about the diameter of the spacecraft? These and other details will blow your mind.
Book Review: Must have for any space fan
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is so rivoting, I cannot put it down. I read it at the library a year ago, and purchased it once I saw it was re-released. I can't put it down. Packed with information; it has to be read over and over again. I have read many of the astronauts and controller's biographies, and they're all great reads; but, this surpasses them all. After reading this book, you will have even greater respect for them men who pushed the edge of the envelope. You'll walk away thinking you have met the men who made it happen. From the first rockets, to designing the manned space center, solving the problems with the giant F-1 rockets, deciding how to go to the moon, and the mind boggling effort it took to actually make it happen; this book has it all. Full of tension and drama, but never too technical, this book is simply the best. I can't recommend it more. A must have for any space fan.Book Review: None Better
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read dozens of books about the US manned space program, many quite good. This one is the best, hands down. Considering my interests (life long space cadet) and the life philosophy connoted by those interests, this might be the best book I've ever read. I've read it more times than any other, anyway, so it is my favorite. (Fortunately Murray was able to get the rights to the book a few years back and reissue it. It had been out of print for years, which had driven the price of used copies into the hundreds.)
That a book is so re-readable is a key to its remarkable nature. I already know the story, of course, but I never tire of another run. The writing, structure and pacing is enthralling and exciting, always. Even the footnotes are must reading. For someone like me, who lived during the times in which Apollo and the earlier Mercury and Gemini projects took place, owning this book is something like having a time machine. For a younger person interested in the subject there is no better source from which to get a feel for those freewheeling days.
Another key is that the book is not about the astronauts, stories that had been done and done again by the time Murray and Cox began their research. It's about everyone else; it's like a book about Hollywood that focuses on screenwriters, cameramen, set designers, foley editors and gaffers instead of the big name stars.
This is well researched, well written and well edited reporting at its best. As a point of view, it is the diametric opposite of Norman Mailer's "Of a Fire on the Moon."
(Note to screenwriters and producers: This book has a twelve-part series in its pages. Take a look.)