| This was published in 1970, and consists largely of information obtained via the lucrative 'Life' magazine contract that began with the Mercury 7 astronauts. The book is mostly long passages of quotes from Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin, as well as others peripherally related to the mission (families, other astronauts, NASA officials, etc.) sequenced to fit into the defined chapters of the book. Ostensibly Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin are the 'authors' which is true to the extent that they provided the quotes that make up much of the book during interviews by 'Life', but the book was actually written by 'Life' employees. Having said that, it is not a bad book, it is just very commercial and polished, with mostly a sanitized up close and personal view of the mission through the astronaut's eyes. In that regard, it is quite good: it does shed light on the lives of the three astronauts pre Apollo 11, and is particularly good in discussing background information on childhood, early flying careers, etc. It is particularly useful in relating information on Neil Armstrong, perhaps the most enigmatic of all the Apollo astronauts. That is the main strength of the book: it is a human interest story right out of 'Life' lengthened to 400 plus pages. On the downside, the book tends to idealize the astronauts and NASA into supermen, and acts as if they have no faults. For this reason I recommend "Carrying the Fire", the superb book by Michael Collins for a true, unvarnished, insider's look at the astronauts and NASA. This book was obviously written immediately after Apollo 11 splashed down in July, 1969. For this reason, it is unable to really place Apollo in historical perspective as well as some of the more recent books have been able to. As for technical information, there really isn't a lot. Of course, that's not the focus of the book, either. The technical information that is presented is generally accurate and well explained, however. Three stars overall. A good human interest story, but many subsequent books have done a better overall job of appraising Apollo 11 and it's impact. |
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First On Moon--by far is best non-fiction space book