|  | Author: Craig Nelson
Publisher: Viking Adult
List Price: $27.95
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as of 11/22/2009 15:27 CST details
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Seller: kbrane
Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 10611
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition, First Printing
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0670021032
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.4540973
EAN: 9780670021031
ASIN: 0670021032
Publication Date: June 25, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New, Never Read Publisher Return. Remainder mark. Excellent condition. We normally ship every business day.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 36
I really wanted to like this book... August 26, 2009
L. F. Smith (E. Wenatchee, WA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I really wanted to like this book. It was, after all, released very near the anniversary of the first moon landing, and the pre-release information promised that is would be the most detailed and authoritative account of the Space Race and the Apollo program that culminated in an American victory. Unfortunately, the reality of the book just doesn't live up to the promise, in several ways.
First, the good news: The book actually does offer a good account of the complex politics, economic factors, and social issues that both enveloped and produced the manned space program. It also narrates the personal stories of the main figures quite well.
The problem for me is that the book is riddled with factual errors, some of them minor but others so jarring that I began to doubt everything the author wrote. This seems so strange to me; after all, the author is an award-winning writer and a former publishing house executive, and the book's publisher is a mainstream company. However, it seems that no one did even the most basic fact checking.
For example, the author repeatedly confuses orbital velocity and escape velocity, and he seemingly randomly switches between miles per hour, feet per second, and so on. Picky? Not really; this is supposed to be a book about one of the greatest scientific and technical achievements in human history. Readers should be able to assume that the author has a basic grasp of the science and technology involved.
There were glaring non-technical errors as well. For example, in his discussion of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the author explains the Russians were in part responding to the US deployment of Atlas ICBMs to Turkey. No, they weren't. The delicate and lengthy fueling operation the Atlas required made them completely unsuitable for remote deployment. The US missiles in Turkey were Jupiters. Picky? Again, no. The author claims that deployment was a key to the crisis, which, in turn, had much to do with JFK's need to do something to demonstrate leadership and American prowess.
This could have been a absolutely great book. It's stylishly written, the astronauts are portrayed as the humans they were, and the topic is important. But I found the factual errors to be completely unacceptable. I really wanted to like this book, but I don't like it very much at all...
 Entertaining, but full of errors August 26, 2009
Jason Godfrey
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
I saw in one of the reviews that in 40 years this book will be the book everyone turns to. I hope not, because that means there will be a lot of misinformed people in 40 years.
There are some good things about this book. It is an entertaining read. It provides context to events that is helpful. It also includes stories I hadn't heard before, which is refreshing. The problem is the book is full of errors, some showing a basic lack of understanding of the subject matter. It gets so bad I'm left wondering what in the book I can actually trust.
If you are new to the subject and want a good book to read, I recommend either Chris Kraft's or Gene Cernan's books.
I'll give it two stars since it is an enjoyable read.
Here is some errors I can think of off the top of my head. (I didn't want to put them in my main review.) It's not a complete list:
* Stating Gene Cernan was commander of Apollo 15, instead of 17
* A completely wrong description of what Max-Q is
* Confusing escape velocity and orbital speed.
* Calling the landing radar PGNS (which makes sense, since it is pronounced PINGS, but wrong)
* Stating that Armstrong used the Abort Guidance System to land, since he had to maneuver around some boulders. It wasn't.
That's just a few, and you may ask what the big deal with them is. The problem is that they are so pervasive it destroys the credibility of the author.
Entertaining, but replete with errors August 23, 2009
Lawrence R. Jordan (Astoria, OR)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I have to agree with other reviewers in two areas: (1)Having read many histories and biographies over the years of the space program, I recognize lifted passages from other texts masquerading as new interviews or research; (2)early on several small errors began to show up in an otherwise excellent narrative, which detracted from my enjoyment by casting doubt on the author's scholarship and the dependability of any new information introduced in his telling of the story.
I did not purchase the book to begin with because of some of the reviewers comments, but when it was given to me to review, I dove right into it and gradually my enthusiasm began to wane as error after error appeared. He obviously has very little understanding of the material and the history he purports to write about; e.g., he describes the X-15 as being "aero-towed," like a sailplane[actually dropped from under the wing of a B-52], and that Neil Armstrong had 4,000 hours of flight time in the X-15[clearly impossible - Armstrong flew seven flights in the X-15, each flight an average length of 12 minutes]. There are also anecdotes that are attributed to the wrong people(one was a comment made by Alan Bean about Buzz Aldrin, and Nelson credits it to Ed Mitchell).
I give this book five stars for writing quality, but take away four stars for shoddy research and the plethora of errors both large and small.
 It's hard to believe this happened 40 years ago August 17, 2009
R. Mumma (nj)
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I was surprised at how suspenseful Craig Nelson was able to make the approach to the first moon landing (even though we all know the ultimate outcome). I was also struck by the emotional depth of a number of the observations from astronauts who had made the trip to the moon (and the banality of the quotes from some of the politicians and TV commentators who tried to capitalize on the achievement, and ultimately cheapened it for a many of us who watched at the time). Forty years after the fact, it seems even more amazing that we made this leap.
I see that there are a number of reviews here at Amazon from readers disputing technical facts and numbers (some of which may be due to copyeditors and typographers as well as the author). It may have been better to take the time to get all the facts straight rather than rushing a book to meet an anniversary date, but I hope that these can be rectified in a revised edition. Speaking solely as a general reader without a technical background (and with more interest in the people involved than in their machines), all I can say is that I found the story well-paced and told more clearly, and with more emotional punch, than in other books I have encountered over the years.
 an epic achievement! August 13, 2009
book gawker (New York City)
1 out of 12 found this review helpful
"what is the purpose of going to the moon?"
"what is the purpose of a new baby?" says wernherd von braun, cited in this spectacular book. "We find out in time."
craig nelson, from the vantage point of the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, answers that question most eloquently and, along the way, evokes the historical, cultural, and scientific forces that made it possible (and even necessary). I was a teenager in 1969, and i well remember that breakthrough moment (and just as vividly, john glenn in space, which we watched on a grainy black-and-white TV in my elementary school classroom). But beyond those memories i've known almost nothing about the space program and its important place in American (and my own) history. Until now.
Coming in 1969, when our nation was painfully culturally divided, Apollo 11 was probably the one achievement that could unite Americans in pride. (Sure, there were objections: Remember the Gil Scott Heron song deploring the state of our inner cities, punctuated by the refrain, "And whitey's on the moon"?) But looking back at the past four decades, has America done anything else to warrant the same swell of love and gratification from all bands of the political spectrum? I don't think so!
Beyond reminding us of this greatness, Nelson shows us just how heroic the pioneers of space had to be. Certainly, until i read this book, i had no grasp of the tremendous human dramas that underlay these epic achievements. ROCKET MEN tells the stories of both the scientists and the astronauts of Apollo 11 in realistic (yet romantic) detail that filled me with long overdue admiration and gratitude.
this book so blew me away that i was surprised to see some negative reviews on here. weirdly they come from scientists, who i'd expect to be glad to hear their usually unsung achievements lionized. how sad that these readers missed not only the forest (the great cultural sweep of this book) and also the trees (the heroes that animate it) because of their microscopic focus on a few blotches on the leaves (details that no average reader cares about AT ALL--in fact, the eyes of most of us glaze over at the technical parts. Too bad for them--and too bad that they're upholding the the UNFAIR stereotype of scientists as data-crunching geeks, aloof from life).
I gave this book five stars because it is history that can grab you like fiction.
Showing reviews 11-15 of 36
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