Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8: The First Manned Flight to Another World by Robert Zimmerman ISBN: 1-56858-118-1 Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows Pub. Date: December, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.94 (33 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A first rate, well written, historical book.
Comment: I enjoyed Mr. Zimmerman's "Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8" very much. I feel it is a first rate historical book. It was well written, was easy to read and comprehend, and even more so, interesting to read. I learned more about this particular mission then I ever knew before, and rightly so. The vast majority of Americans, during this era, never really knew who these men were and in a way, still don't. Only through writers like Mr. Zimmerman, can readers learn more in depth details about these men, what the endured and even more so, what their wives and children endured.
This insight, the lives of these particular astronauts and their families, was especially interesting to me.
I am old enough, 46 to be exact, to barely remember the beginning of the space program. I was too young to comprehend at the time why it was happening, but I remember. I remember President Kennedy's speech about landing a man on the moon and returning said man to the earth before the decade was over. That speech was given in 1961.
For those of us who are old enough to remember this era, this book will certainly bring back memories and allow the reader to learn more than that person knew at the time it was all happening. For those readers whom were born after this period, this book should give them some historical insight to this era and especially to this particular mission.
Before I composed this review, I first read what the other reviewers had to say. I feel the person who gave Mr. Zimmerman a two star rating, was being too critical. He stated that half the book was about the flight and the other half was about the "Cold War" and religious insights of the astronauts. I'm sorry this person felt this way, because if it had not been for the "Cold War", I am not so sure that any human being from earth would have walked on the moon even as early as 1969. The "Cold War", which of course was between the soviet Union and the United States, drove the space race as Mr. Zimmerman described it. The "Cold War" issues, which really were not half of the book, had to be a part of his book. Read "Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon", co-written by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton, two of the original seven astronauts. It also has "Cold War" issues interwoven into the story.
As for the religious insights of the three astronauts, remember, this book is about these three men. However religious each man was, that aspect also needed to be a part of his book. I certainly did not feel that these religious insights dimished the story in any manner. After all, the title of the book, "Genesis", is also the first book in the bible. This mission was also a first. The first time that man had broken the grasp of earth's gravitational pull, and was to circle another heavenly body. These three men, were risking their lives to do what no man had ever done before. Therefore I feel it was appropriate that those passages read from "Genesis" by each man had significant meaning and in fact, maybe what the mission was all about.
Rating: 4
Summary: A book about the riskiest space mission ever
Comment: Just about every American alive in 1968 must remember sitting before the television set on Christmas Eve, watching an eerie wedge of the lunar surface slip past as the Apollo 8 astronauts read the first few verses of Genesis.
Apollo 8 may be the riskiest but most dramatic space flight ever undertaken. The first manned flight of a Saturn V, it would go to the moon without the backup of a lunar module and count on flight hardware tested only once before returning to earth and entering the atmosphere at an unprecedented 25,000 miles per hour.
Zimmerman expands the story of Apollo 8 to book length by providing an extensive background to the mission, focusing on the politics and current events of the time and the stories of the astronauts. He appears to have a fascination with the depredations of the Soviet Union, particularly the Berlin Wall. He also spends a surprising amount of verbage discussing the astronauts' religious beliefs and choice of churches. This perhaps provides background to the choice of reading matter on that historic Christmas Eve, which he also goes into significant detail on, explaining how the astronauts decided what to do.
There's some annoying sloppiness in the book, phrases which are more impressive than accurate: The Saturn V would in fact fit inside a football stadium since even though it's slightly taller than a regulation football field is long; most stadiums I've seen have extra space beyond the end zones. And it's an overstatement to say that "To everyone on earth, ... [the] Apollo command module had now been reduced to three trebly voices on the radio," since the spacecraft could still be tracked both visually or with a radio telescope. He also seems to claim that Apollo 8 was the climax of the space program and that interest waned thereafter, somehow forgetting the billions who watched and listened to Apollo 11.
He relates the controversy (led by Madalyn Murray O'Hare) over the reading of Genesis and comes squarely down on the side of the astronauts, to the point of expressing irritation about Aldrin's subsequent inability to mention giving himself communion after landing on the moon on Apollo 11.
He settles a few arguments, including who took the classic "Earthrise" picture. (It had to be Anders, who had the color camera. Borman took a similar one and claims he took the famous one but apparently didn't realize he had the black-and-white camera at the time.)
Overall, it's a good if not great book, best when it's expanding on the mission, less significant when it's trying to interpret history.
Rating: 5
Summary: Space history at its best!
Comment: In Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8: The First Manned Flight to Another World by Robert Zimmerman, the reader comes to understand the comprehensive and far ranging significance, importance, value, and necessity of space exploration, development, and travel. Space is many things to many people, ranging from a government program, to excitement and adventure, to scientific exploration, to business opportunities and more. In Genesis, Zimmerman shows us how Apollo 8 paved the way for all humanity to learn from its history and begin the process of moving off Earth.
The author accurately reports on the significance of the timing and the Cold War influences of Apollo 8 . While most space history books reporting on Apollo 8 do so factually and accurately, Zimmerman goes much deeper. He correctly identifies Apollo 8's broad ranging impact on our space program, society, and our nation's history. Zimmerman properly reports on the historical nature of the flight and the Christmas reading/message of the Apollo 8 crew . Zimmerman also recognizes the power represented by the actions of the Apollo crew that Christmas eve in 1968. That subtle power has contributed to our humanity, national space program, and our movement towards becoming a space-faring society. While some may be uncomfortable with Zimmerman's multi-dimensional and historical assessment of Apollo 8, I find his approach to this unique historical event in all history to be compelling! Reading Genesis has certainly enabled me to connect our place in space with our worldliness and spirituality. I see no reason to separate this historical event from these personal relationships and our future. This is an excellent book which I strongly recommend.
 |
Title: This New Ocean : The Story of the First Space Age by William E. Burrows ISBN: 0375754857 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 05 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
 |
Title: Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir by Jerry M. Linenger ISBN: 007137230X Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 12 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel by Robert Zimmerman ISBN: 0309085489 Publisher: Joseph Henry Press Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
 |
Title: Apollo 8: The NASA Mission Reports (Apogee Books Space Series) by Robert Godwin, Apogee Books ISBN: 1896522661 Publisher: Collectors Guide Publishing, Inc. Pub. Date: August, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
 |
Title: The Last Man on the Moon : Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space by Donald A Davis ISBN: 0312199066 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
