First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
Book Review: Armstrong well portrayed in "First Man"
Summary: 4 Stars
Yes, other reviewers have highlighted the somewhat pedantic narration, however, this is about Neil Armstrong and not Buck Rogers. The book did an excellent job of capturing the analytical professionalism with which Armstrong approached the space program. To bystanders like us, it was a thrilling adventure. To the astronauts, it was the ultimate technical challenge to their flying careers.
The book does get bogged down with the details of Armstrong's flying career, but I can see that as the price of his cooperation with the book. The book makes clear that Armstrong did not regard his astronautical work as anything more (or less) than a natural extension of his work in aviation.
Neil Armstrong is not a naturally colorful character, but through the book his engineering competence and his pride in his professionalism come through helping us understand the man who will always be "first."
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
"First Man" is an unsatisfying, oddly disappointing effort. With such a thrilling and momentous event at the center of this biography, I was hoping for the kind of tratment Robert Massie, David McCullough, or Robert Caro would have provided. James Hansen is not up to the task. The writing is dull, often focused on unimportant events, and obsessed with insignificant details. It reads like an apologists "sanctioned" biography. Countless times we are treated to episodes in Armstrong's life where his abilities have been criticized by his contempories, with Hansen going to painful lengths to debunk these criticisms.
Why was Armstrong chosen to lead the team of astronauts who first ventured to the moon? Hansen gives us little insight. Armstrong comes across as a talented, committed technician, aloof as a leader, a very experienced test pilot with an unusual interest in the research aspects of test piloting. But why did his managers favor him over others in the NASA stable? You won't find out from reading Hansen's book.
It is a clumsy book, providing little insight into Armstrong the man. Much of the drama of the NASA moon program is omitted. The balance of Armstrong's life after the moon landing is given short shrift and what we do learn is sadly depressing.
I look forward to a better book on the subject.
Mike Miller
Book Review: The Life of Neil Armstrong, First Man
Summary: 3 Stars
James Hansen's book "First Man" does a good job of helping to shed light on the life of Neil A. Armstrong, our modern day Christopher Columbus.The insight he gives of the flights that Neil flew in his career were of great interest to this reader. What the crews went through during the training and flights is a wonderful behind the scenes views for us space enthusiasts.
Some of the shortcomings of the book are that the extreme detail in the book takes away from the reading pleasure. I had a difficult time sticking with the book in the first chapter while reading the geneology of Neil Armstrong. Another example is when Mr. Hansen goes into great detail by giving the statistics of how many rounds Neil fired in Korea or how many rockets launched or bombs dropped from his aircraft at the enemy. These journeys into detail overload slowed my reading and detracted from the enjoyment of the book. Giving Mr. Hansen due credit, there are probably many that read this book and enjoyed this kind of detail.
A major inaccuracy on page 616 does make one wonder about overall accuracy of the book. At this point in the book it is stated that during STS-107, Columbia's final flight, Columbia had been on a 16 day mission to the International Space Station. A simple bit of research would have illuminated this mistake. The Columbia had in fact been on a 16 day free flying research mission in a completely different orbital plane and was not able to even reach the space station. The orbital inclination of Columbia was 39 degrees where the station is in a much greater orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees. This would tend to make one wonder if there are similar lapses in the book.
I would still give the book an overall thumbs up with reservations.
Book Review: Okay, but not fantastic
Summary: 3 Stars
I am not entirely sure how many stars I should award this book. On one hand it falls into the typical trap of many biographies: it goes on, at length, about things that I don't really care about. For instance I am not really interested in the history of Armstrong's family. Indeed, it was an important point that he came from a small-town background, as many of the other astronauts, but I really don't think it is that interesting to read about his ancestors in Germany and Scotland, so I skipped most of this material.
In general the book is a bit verbose. The information density is not awfully high, and the text feels somewhat repetitive and dull. It is not always an exciting read. I am not sure if this is due to the author or the fact that Armstrong his a very private person who, unlike people like Feynman, doesn't like to dish up entertaining anecdotes.
Since I have read other astronaut biographies before, it was interesting to correlate Armstrong's perspective with that of other astronauts. A lot of myth surrounds the space program and people seem to remember things differently. I guess a lot of legends and myths surrounding Armstrong can now finally be put to rest :-).
What I liked about the biography as that it gave a better understanding of why being an astronaut on Apollo was so much work. It also gave some inside glimpses of how things worked back then -- whom decided what, and how.
What surprised me the most when I read this book, was the oddness of the crew of Apollo 11. Apparently these people were not close at all, and there seemed to be personality characteristics that makes you wonder why on earth they would be picked as a crew for such an important mission. But you also get the impression that Armstrong was the type of person who could make it work anyway since the book makes him come across as a very private but professional person.
Overall the book is OK. The chapters are structured in a way that makes it easy to skip the really dull parts without missing out on a lot of context that is needed later. It manages to shed some light on Armstrong as a person "warts and all" rather than some silly hero-worshipping exercise. I liked Jim Lovell's book more since it was a more entertaining read, but I think this book is perhaps more reflective.
I am giving it 3 stars because I think that's what it is worth. Now, I am aware of the fact that people tend to make more use of the extremes of the scale when they want to rate something and that 3 stars might be seen as a "thumbs down", but it isn't. I'd recommend the book, but biographies is a crowded category so unless you are interested in the space program, this won't be a very interesting read to most people. 3 stars is the most honest grade I can give it although I considered giving it 4 because of the way people tend to interpret such scores.
Book Review: About the Man
Summary: 5 Stars
This biography may not be the best choice for the people interested to learn about the technical, engineering details of the space race, but it shines in describing Neil as a man; he is more than mere symbol. It is an amazingly comprehensive account of the world most famous Apollo astronaut. Not satisfied by starting with his birth, he began with his Scottish ancestors, quite an adventure story by itself. It gave many insights on his unflappable personality, how he was chosen for that famous first step, and the tremendous controversy surrounding it. He also went into great detail about his intricate relationship with the other astronauts. This is an excellent resource to buy.