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Title: The Race : The Complete True Story of How America Beat Russia to the Moon by James Schefter ISBN: 0-385-49254-5 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 05 July, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (20 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Promising start that only fills in the odd crack!
Comment: The Race is written by James Schefter who (after reading the introduction) was one of the frontline reporters of NASA's manned spaceflight program from the mid 1960's. Given that information I assumed that I would learn a lot about what happened behind the scenes in Gemini-Apollo era, rather than the history text book story. And it certainly starts off that way. A great deal of detail goes into the pre-NASA days, the rise of Werner Von Braun, Bob Gilruth and the soviet Chief Designer. A few interesting stories such as the time Neil Armstrong slept in for the first X-15 flight and the tension between Chris Kraft and Scott Carpenter fill in some of the gaps, but I'm left feeling that given the author, a lot more could have been said. This book isn't in the same league as Andrew Chaikin's 'A Man on the Moon'. Only for the dedicated space cadet!
Rating: 4
Summary: An interesting chronology of an incredible era
Comment: As someone who has been enthralled by the history of manned spaceflight for nearly four decades, "The Race" was one of my best book buys in many a year. With an easy-to-read style, Jim Schefter brought back to me those glory days of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, and astonished me with stories that were not only new to me, but helped round out the total story of those pioneering days. It is easy to see how totally involved he was with the ongoing dramas and personalities back then; his passion for the subject shines through like a beacon. I'm not sure how anyone can say it's "more of the same", as this book brings forth entirely new revelations about such people as Bob Gilruth, Chris Kraft, Scott Carpenter, Neil Armstrong and Sergei Korolev, and even lends a highly-amusing sidebar to the story of Enos the Chimp which had me in stitches. There is a lot of fresh information in here on the highly-secret Soviet space program, which brought back a lot of the excitement and true mystique of the 1960s - when one would wake up to banner headlines about the latest Soviet manned feat. Events tumbled over each other at an incredible pace, and heroes on both sides were created from one nation's commitment to beating another to the moon. You really had to be there to know just how good this book is. I was pleased that Schefter's book was not mired down with too much technical jargon, but instead spun out a delightful, personal chronology of the space era.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Good, Easy Read
Comment: Simply put, the book is a good, easy read about the history of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo program. However, Schefter speaks more in detail about the rocket program (with von Braun), the Mercury and Gemini flights than he does about the Apollo program. The book is approximately 300 pages and only around page 210 does he start to discuss the Apollo tests and flights. In that respect, I'm disappointed that there wasn't more in-depth information about Apollo. I felt that he quickly skimmed over Apollo 8 - 10 and quickly concluded with Apollo 11. Nevertheless, the book is full of good information and is definitely worth a read. The book is as good as the other books on space that I've read (For All Mankind; Flight; Andrew Chaikin's book). Recommended.
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Title: The Soviet Space Race With Apollo by Asif A. Siddiqi ISBN: 0813026288 Publisher: University Press of Florida Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz ISBN: 0425179877 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 08 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Russia in Space: The Failed Frontier? by Brian Harvey ISBN: 1852332034 Publisher: Springer Verlag Pub. Date: 15 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $34.50 |
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Title: Sputnik: The Shock of the Century by Paul Dickson ISBN: 0425188434 Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc. Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew L. Chaikin, Tom Hanks ISBN: 0140272011 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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