Moon Shot

Rating:
Summary: Needs a Broader Scope
Review: Deke Slayton and Al Shepard's book is a fine, well-written overview of the American space program. It unfortunately misses in several ways.

First, the book can't decide if it's an autobiography or not. It's "the inside story," but it concentrates on Shepard's two flights and Slayton's overrated Apollo-Soyuz mission. The plot is skewed towards the authors, which doesn't make sense considering it's written in the third person.

I found this third-person narrative approach irritating. I almost felt as if the ghostwriters chose to describe the events in this manner so they could feed the astronauts' egos further. Apollo books often come face-to-face with the astronauts' infamous cockiness, but this book makes no attempt to hide it. Shepard described himself as a "leading test pilot, astronaut, explorer, adventurer, master of wings and rocket fire, and hero to millions." All this may be true but you're not supposed to say it about yourself.

It also needs more character development. It doesn't go beyond saying that Slayton and Shepard were friends. I got tired of being told outright of the friendship. I wanted to be told about it, not of it. I felt like I wanted to know the authors better, especially since they were the focus. On top of that, several crucial people such as Ed Mitchell (Shepard's lunar module pilot) are just names here- they are not given any substance.

It also concocts stupid commentary for narrative purposes. For example, to get across a point the book may recount a "conversation" between Slayton and Shepard that is so corny as to be all but useless. This is a subtle, but unfortunate problem with this book.

The final downfall of this book is its unwillingness to discuss the other Apollo missions. Apollos 15 and 16 are passed over in a paragraph-- and Apollo 17 got a whole page because the future of the program needed to be stressed to segway into Slayton's Apollo-Soyuz mission.

Most importantly, this book fails to convey the magic and wonder of spaceflight. It fell victim to poor writing-- the descriptions of being on the moon were too often reduced to cliche.

Here's what's good about this book. It does tell the "inside story" of the Apollo missions-- and does faithfully describe the missions. It serves as a decent, quick-read overview of Apollo.

For the complete, longer story read Andrew Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon." For a more specific, personal, and readable story of a specific mission, read Gene Cernan's "Last Man on the Moon." But don't read "Moon Shot."

Rating:
Summary: Good but far from being the best
Review: I enjoyed this book for many reasons: good covering of the Mercury Program, interesting description of the Russian Star City, Slayton on the Apollo-Soyuz mission , etc. In general, it brings excitement and wondering about the whole US space history.

However, I have read dozens of books on this subject and I must say that it's far from being the best of the bunch. I was more than annoyed that the authors describe themselves in the third person. It just a bit childish. After reading this book, we might have the impression that Shepard and Slayton were the big heroes in the space program. Well, if you read more about space exploration history, it might be true for Slayton but Shepard has been extremely critized in the past for, among other things, his attitude toward scientists during the moon exploration.

So, if you want a good overview of the space program in general, this book is probably ok. However, like some others, I would rather recommend "A man on the moon" or Aldrin's "Men from Earth" for a more extensive and accurate coverage.

Rating:
Summary: Have a blast with this fantastic book!
Review: I'm a typical space nut, and to me, any space book is a good space book. I read this book all in one day and I was not disappointed. It gave me a lot of information about the Russian's race to the moon, and I learned stuff that I never knew before.
The part about Slayton in Russia is particularly funny. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read this book for yourself. You won't be sorry!
The only disadvantage is that there are a lot of cuss words in it, which should have been censored out before the book was published. Oh well!

Rating:
Summary: They Don't Make Astronauts Like These Guys Anymore!
Review: There was a time when astronauts didn't have to be pointy headed scientists or politically correct public relations diplomats. Moonshot captures the rough and tumble, fiercely competitive early days of the Cold War space program better than most.

The real space business was much more rugged and and cruel than the public relations machine of NASA told us. The "perfect specimens" selected for the Original Seven astronaut corps were far more human than they would have wanted to admit. This account of the struggles and accomplishments of America's early astronauts tells us as much about how we have changed as a people, as it does about orbital rendezvous, astronaut training, and landing on the moon.

The technical aspects of spaceflight are in the book, but so is human drama and intrigue. The story of the dramatic comebacks of Alan Sheperd and Deke Slayton offers the kind of inspiration so many people are looking for today

Rating:
Summary: Wowie Kazowie!
Review: This book is really great. Read it!