Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating book!
Review: After Schirra's return from Apollo 7 Deke Slayton met him on the recovery ship for a private talk. Since Wally planed to retire Slayton saw nothing wrong with him trashing his own reputation with Mission Control. But how, Deke asked, could Wally have done that to his crewmates? Deke would have liked to have assigned Walt Cunningham and Donn Eisele to future missions but felt he could not do so because he felt Chris Kraft's people would have been unwilling to work with them.We don't get the answer to this question. We do however read about condoms the size of trash bags, a urine sample so large it requires a five gallon jug and drag racing on public streets in full view of police officers. You or I would have been busted but the cops just laugh and let Wally get away with it because hay he's Wally Schirra. I'm reminded of Bart Simpson's statement about Krusty the Clown's autobiography, "Self serving with many glaring omissions". And yet Bart continues to love Krusty just as I continue to love Schirra. I guess we all need our heroes and a watered down autobiography is better than none at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Zero gravity reading
Review: I didn't think this was a bad book. It just wasn't very in depth. Captain Schirra lightly hits on the areas that most readers would be most interested in . I would reccommend this book to those interested in the early space programs but only after you read such books as "Moonshot" by Alan Sheppard and Deke Slayton, et al. I know that test pilots, fighter pilots, and astronauts have to have a big enough ego to handle all the challenges they face, but sometimes Capt Schirra's ego gets in the way while reading "Schirra's Space".
Rating:
Summary: Zero gravity reading
Review: I didn't think this was a bad book. It just wasn't very in depth. Captain Schirra lightly hits on the areas that most readers would be most interested in . I would reccommend this book to those interested in the early space programs but only after you read such books as "Moonshot" by Alan Sheppard and Deke Slayton, et al. I know that test pilots, fighter pilots, and astronauts have to have a big enough ego to handle all the challenges they face, but sometimes Capt Schirra's ego gets in the way while reading "Schirra's Space".
Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointing Version of the Moon Landing Story
Review: I learned from this book how the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo astronauts saw themselves not only as the guys who flew the spacecraft, but as the ones who built them. They were involved in design decisions. That's why Grissom hung a lemon on the command module simulator -- he knew the problems with it. That's why Schirra almost delayed the launch due to wind -- he knew the couches weren't designed for an emergency land landing. This leads Schirra to the conclusion that, were the shuttle astronauts as involved as this, the Challenger disaster wouldn't have happened. The shuttle astronauts would have known about the o-ring problem and would have had the authority to say, let's wait until it warms up.
Rating:
Summary: Schirra's Space Revisited
Review: I long have been a huge fan of Wally Schirra. I have always adored his keen sense of humor and wit. Furthermore, his impeccable aviator and astronaut careers always made me feel awe struck. Therefore, I greatly looked forward to reading Mr. Schirra's account of his career. My main interest was to get a real insiders look into the space program - which I believe the book did successfully on some major points. Mr. Schirra's wit pleasantly shined throughout the book - this made the reading more pallatable. Regretfully, the reason for my three star rating is the fact that the book would ramble. Without a moments notice, it would jump ahead in time and backward in time. I found this fact to be very irritating as I tried to stay focused and gain as much information as I could from my reading. I thought that maybe I was being too critical, but this sore spot was evident throughout the book. By the time that I had finished the book, I felt exaspirated from the time warps. Do not get me wrong, Mr. Wally Schirra is still a brilliant man in my eyes - I just found that the book was not a good representation of the the true great man that he is. All in all, for the average reader, I feel that this book has many good bits of information - as long as you are willing to sift through the minutia of time jumps.
Rating:
Summary: Schirra's Space Revisited
Review: I long have been a huge fan of Wally Schirra. I have always adored his keen sense of humor and wit. Furthermore, his impeccable aviator and astronaut careers always made me feel awe struck. Therefore, I greatly looked forward to reading Mr. Schirra's account of his career. My main interest was to get a real insiders look into the space program - which I believe the book did successfully on some major points. Mr. Schirra's wit pleasantly shined throughout the book - this made the reading more pallatable. Regretfully, the reason for my three star rating is the fact that the book would ramble. Without a moments notice, it would jump ahead in time and backward in time. I found this fact to be very irritating as I tried to stay focused and gain as much information as I could from my reading. I thought that maybe I was being too critical, but this sore spot was evident throughout the book. By the time that I had finished the book, I felt exaspirated from the time warps. Do not get me wrong, Mr. Wally Schirra is still a brilliant man in my eyes - I just found that the book was not a good representation of the the true great man that he is. All in all, for the average reader, I feel that this book has many good bits of information - as long as you are willing to sift through the minutia of time jumps.
Rating:
Summary: A PILOT & A PIRATE
Review: It seems bewildering to me that so few books written by or about the great space pioneers display anything resembling spirit. Wally Schirra's, on the contrary, is a triumph. For starters, he delivers (with the help of Richard Billings) the pace and flair of a thriller, and tops it off with a humanness you can touch. Above all there is brilliant wit and the blend of admirable self-possession and panache that got those heroes out beyond the frontiers in the first place. Schirra is solid role model stuff. He did it (Mercury's Sigma 7, then Gemini and Apollo) - inspired by the daring individualists like Lindbergh who went before him - and implores all independent-thinking readers to take the torch. Our future hopes, the hopes for humanity, he contends, rest not with politicans but with the drive of free spirits. A pilot and a pirate, God bless his socks!
Rating:
Summary: Schirra's Space
Review: One of America's first astronauts and the only one of the original seven to fly in all three pioneering space programs - Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo - Wally Schirra inherited a love of flying and spirit of adventure from his World War I-ace father and barnstorming, wing-walking mother. In this revealing autobiography, Schirra takes an inside look at the early days of spaceflight and the men who captured the heart of the nation."--
Rating: 
Summary: Superb!
Review: Schirra, goes from being the son of two pilot parents in Oradell, New Jersey, to being a test flight in the Navy, to being a weapons designer, to being an Astronaut and beyond. Intermingled in the story of his life are dozens of funny and mostly interesting anecdotes of everything from the original Navy designations of McDonnald Douglass aircraft, to leaving a giant urine sample for the head NASA nurse. If you enjoy a great biography, told by a very colorful person, Schirra's Space is a great book to buy.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent biography from one of space's true pioneers
Review: Wally Schirra does an excellent job in giving his first hand account of the NASA program, missions, and astronauts. His opinions really open you up to some insightful thoughts about the space program and those who were involved in it. The book is a quick read and feels as if Wally is talking right to you as he bounces forward and backward in history through his numerous stories. And a plus, the book came autographed from Wally himself!
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