|  | Author: Craig Nelson
Publisher: Viking Adult
List Price: $27.95
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Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 12038
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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Showing reviews 31-35 of 36
 Description of People? OK; Apollo? Poor July 19, 2009
B Ralph
15 out of 20 found this review helpful
An interesting read about the people involved, but filled with errors in fact and typos. The product seems to reflect a rush to publish with poor editing, fact checking and reviews by the author and publisher. Does not accurately reflect the technology, activities and advances of the space program at the time, but offers more insights into the three who went to the moon and some of those who supported them.
A riveting read marred by bizarre misinformation July 18, 2009
Otto Wood (Central Massachusetts)
51 out of 57 found this review helpful
This book is entertaining, imaginatively structured, and packed with information. Unfortunately, it's also riddled with errors. Some are just bizarre. On page 194, author Craig Nelson describes the first flight of the Saturn 5 in 1967, and he seems to have fallen into a parallel universe where the mission was a near disaster, instead of the "success on all accounts" described in Roger Bilstein's "Stages of Saturn" (accessible online). Here is what Nelson has to say: "On November 9 at 0700 EST, Apollo 4 launched. Two F-1 rockets abruptly quit during liftoff, at which the stack pulled a U-turn and headed screaming back at the ground. But the guidance system righted the vehicle, and the CM dummy capsule was successfully put into orbit." There are so many things wrong with that passage that it's hard to know where to begin. Suffice it to say that everything about the performance of the rocket is incorrect and could not possibly have happened as described. It shows a basic misunderstanding of the fundamentals of the subject, which Nelson displays over and over. Take his "essential formula for rocketry" on page 96: "combine liquid fuel, oxygen (for added power and to operate in a vacuum), and a flame to trigger an explosion of gases...." There are four errors: the fuel can be, and often is, solid; the oxidizer is not for "added power," it's indispensible for a reaction to occur at all (leaving aside the special case of a monopropellant); some propellants ignite without a flame (for example, in the CM and LM); finally, it's not an explosion. This is not nitpicking; it's rocketry 101. Later in this passage, Nelson calls liquid hydrogen an oxidizer (it's a fuel). Such sloppy writing occurs throughout the book, which obviously was not checked by relevant experts. Still, I think it deserves more than one star. I give it three because Nelson has told a familiar story in a fresh way, and he's assembled a kind of "greatest hits" from Apollo memoirs and oral histories. It's a good read, but let the reader beware!
 A great read if you enjoy space exploration and especially the moon. July 14, 2009
Deborah Verlen (Park Ridge, IL USA)
6 out of 20 found this review helpful
If you were fascinated by the movie Apollo 13, this tale of Apollo 11 and the events that led up to the first moon walk will be just as dramatic especially since we are nearing the 40th anniversary of that feat!
The first few chapters were a bit slow, but the book picks up speed and suddenly you are transported to a time in history and science where faith, fate, luck, science, and hard work all came together for the historic landing on the moon.
The book contains a combination of meticulously researched history along with excerpts from written words of those that worked the mission whether they were astronauts, engineers, or staff. It is a fascinating glimpse into an era spearheaded by the vision of a young president, John F. Kennedy. Nelson also covers some of the history of how the United States program got to this point. This is blending of science and history that has you reliving the wonderment of those that saw that first step on the moon's surface.
Having spent a weekend at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama it was a thrill to read about some of the science experienced in the program as well as the history and science behind many of development of the rocket ships that litter the museum/academy grounds.
The book reminded me once again of how absolutely incredible this achievement was for us as a country and for us as humans.
 Bungled the core of the story June 30, 2009
James E. Oberg (Houston, Texas)
25 out of 107 found this review helpful
In the middle of all the verbal context in the book, the author -- like so many other careless historians and reporters -- crashes and burns over the 'small step' that Armstrong so eloquently describes. He totally misunderstands -- and misrepresents -- it.
"The step was really not so small, by the way. From the last rung of the ladder to the surface of the moon, it was a three-and-a-half foot drop."
Wrong.
The step, taken once Armstrong was already off the ladder and standing on the trashcan-sized footpad of the landing leg the ladder was attached to, was of his left foot moving sideways a few inches and then a few inches down to the lunar surface. That was the 'small step'. This book is clueless.
A must-read classic history June 28, 2009
Fred Bortz "Dr. Fred" (Pennsylvania)
16 out of 35 found this review helpful
This is a shortened version of a detailed review posted at my Science Shelf book review archive. (Guess the URL--all lower-case--and you'll be right.)
It was a time not unlike our own. A newly elected young president with a flair for inspirational rhetoric and ambitious goals challenged the United States to re-establish its world leadership.
Addressing Congress on May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy declared, "I believe that this nation, should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth."
Eight years later, on July 20, 1969, a rapt world watched grainy black-and-white analog broadcast television images as Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon.
Today we watch elaborately produced retrospectives of the Apollo 11 moon landing in crisp, full-color, high-definition, digital format. But as Craig Nelson notes in his new book Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, the mythology surrounding the accomplishment is the same as it was when Armstrong took that "one small step" four decades ago.
The feat was technological, but its goal was clearly political and rooted in the Cold War....
The book is filled with in-their-own-words descriptions drawn from NASA's transcripts and oral history archive. These place readers on the scene with the astronauts, their families, and the launch and mission control teams.
Its centerpiece, of course, is the Apollo 11 mission, [but its historical insights go far beyond that one flight]....
"The standard version of the history of NASA has always been that, alarmed and deflated by Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin, the United States created a wholly civilian agency that, through the vital legacy of its youngest president, won the Space Race 'in peace for all mankind.' Besides the fact that almost all these assertions are either misleading or expressly false,... [t]he actual story is much richer and the achievements more profound."
[For example:] in the final days of World War II ... Operation Paper Clip ... brought Wernher von Braun and his brilliant team of ex-Nazi rocket scientists to the United States rather than Russia. Their moral ambiguity and engineering excellence are on display side-by-side. Nelson never falls into the trap of either lionizing or demonizing these problematic but important figures--including one who was eventually revealed to be a war criminal, stripped of U.S. citizenship, and deported, but not before he made important contributions to NASA rocketry....
In many ways, Nelson's task in presenting this history is as daunting as NASA's original challenge. But he rises to the occasion with meticulous research, skillful storytelling rich in detail, and a narrative arc as stimulating and disciplined as Apollo 11's own trajectory through space and history....
The book closes with a poignant and thought-provoking discussion of the biggest question faced by the astronauts and agency alike: What do you do after you've been to the moon?
Most dramatic story is Buzz Aldrin's....
Today, the future of manned spaceflight is in doubt. In the 21st century, NASA is much less willing to take risks than it was in the Apollo years.
Will the agency ever be willing to chance a human mission to Mars? ...Nelson thinks it might....
Rocket Men could have been written simply to exploit the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 11 for commercial success, but Craig Nelson has produced something far better. It is that rare combination of a definitive history and a "great read." When the centennial of mankind's giant leap is celebrated, readers will be hard pressed to find anything better.
Physicist and author of science books for young readers Fred Bortz dedicated his most recent title, Astrobiology (Cool Science), to "the first Earthlings on Mars, who may be reading this book."
Showing reviews 31-35 of 36
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