The Right Stuff
by Tom Wolfe
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tom WolfeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-04
ISBN: 0312427565
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Picador
Book Reviews of The Right Stuff
Book Review: A must-read for flying and space buffs
Summary: 4 Stars
This tells the true story of how and why the Americans first broke the sound barrier and then launched men into space. It is at its most entertaining when describing the whole test pilot scene at the time, with the day-to-day dangers and appalling fatalities, the financial and other hardships that the families had to put up with, and the hard-living, hard-drinking competitive attitudes that made such a life possible. Added to this is a surreal, tongue-in-cheek description of the overly analytical scientists running the programme, providing an interesting comment on society's unquestioning faith in science and technology in the optimistic 50s. My only hesitancy in fully recommending the book is that it is just too hard to tell exactly how much is true and how much is Wolfe's dramatic interpretation. I can't help feeling that poor old Gus Grissom was a bit of an easy target, and comes out of it with little glory, and I would love to know what John Glenn makes of it. I suppose this is always a problem with "historical" fiction, but this is maybe a bit too recent to take such major liberties.
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