Back to the Moon: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Hickam for National Pundit
Review: For a book that I just tossed into my gym bag and read as it perched atop cardio machines, I've been thinking an awful lot about this one in the time since the shuttle Columbia was lost.

I glorify in great writing, and while I pride myself on a keen ear for poetic use of literate language, I don't insist that every great story be told by a Proust or a Hemingway. And this was indeed a terrific story, told way more competently than much of what sells big units in mass-market-paperback format. A quarter of the way in, I couldn't put it down. It's so much fun; even the parts that seem silly just add to the rush. When you can tell a story this well, ya get a bigger poetic license, I say. And lest it seems I compliment backhandedly, there were a number of passages in this book I found myself rereading aloud for their sheer lyric beauty.

Having said that, I also thought the required sex scene was a hoot, and I wonder if Mr. Hickam wasn't tittering himself when he wrote it. He is a pretty hilarious guy.

This is the third Hickam book I've read, so consider me a fan, and now I'll say this: of all the "throwaway" page-turners I've read, I've never before known one to leave me with a message that I continue to deeply ponder... Since then, I've told a number of friends about the timely and important theme in Back To The Moon. I truly hope that this book finds an audience as the US rethinks its role in space in the coming months and years. Mr. Hickam, with his view that to continually aspire to greatness is an essential portion of our humanity, deserves a very big stage these days.

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Hickam for national pundit!
Review: I am 14 years old. This novel is fun to read. I couldn't pt it down because I wanted to know what was going to happen to Jack and Penny and Paco (who is a cat). I've really enjoyed all of Mr. Hickam's books, especially his books about Coalwood and growing up there. I and my parents are going to visit Coalwood this October 4 to meet Mr. Hickam and the other rocket boys. It should be a lot of fun. But on this novel, I really think it's a great book. My mom and dad both read it before me and said so. I just like the idea of us going back to the moon but I also really got into Jack and Penny's love story. I also loved when he wrote about Paco. A cat in space is a very funny and interesting idea. I think a cat in space would be just like Paco is described. I felt really bad for Jack when he found the message on the moon. I cried over that. I am getting all my friends to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: One of the worst books I ever read
Review: I can not believe this rates and average 4 stars. While I do work in the aerospace industry, I can suspend logic and enjoy much of the SF out there. This story had not basis in the real world, I kept finding myself saying "oh come on who is going to believe that is possible" , from some of the reviews, I guess a fair number did. I may have even been able to accept some of that if I cared at all about the charaters, or at least could believe them to be real people with real lives, cardboad cutouts would be more belivable. There was only one reason that I finished the book and that was so I could discrible and laugh about the drivel in this book to my co-workers and friends. Since Mr Hickam worked at NASA as an engineer I find it very hard to believe that he thinks this story is anything but laughable.

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Hickam for national pundit!
Review: I found this a really good read, filled with interesting characters and a great plot.

It starts out with a highjacking of the space shuttle. Hickam has enough inside knowledge to make that perfectly plausible. There is a lot of work in space suits involved, something Hickam apparently was involved in a lot at NASA. Penny High Eagle, the payload specialist, is a great and sympathetic characture. Paco the cat who's aboard is a funny touch. There's a lot of fun to this novel. I think a lot of it is tongue in cheek that some reviewers can't figure out. It definitely is not boring and is a real page-turner.

It is very thought-provoking about the "Star Wars" killer satellites around the moon, plausible, too.

In a lot of ways, this novel is a love story. Jack wants most of all to go to find a message on the moon from his late wife. Yet, his wife never went to the moon so how could it be there? I teared up when I read what Jack actually finds there.

I noticed a note on a review about a pistol being fired in space. Gun powder does not require air to burn. It contains all the ingredients in it to work in a vacuum. A form of gun powder, after all, is what is used in solid fuel rockets! As for a space-suited astronaut getting his finger on the trigger, a .45 caliber pistol has plenty of room in its trigger guard. Recoil is a problem but Hickam has his astronaut well wedged in.

I enjoyed rummaging around the old Apollo 17 site with Medaris. Some really good writing here.

All in all, much recommended. Let there be no doubt that Homer Hickam knows how to write a novel. I love all his books. Remember, even his memoirs are written as novels

Keep it up, Mister Hickam! Can't wait for the Back to the Moon movie!

Rating:
Summary: A really good read!
Review: I had high expectations for this book, being written as it is by a longtime NASA engineer, but gave up after the conceits that readers are expected to believe reached critical mass.

I could accept a certain level of ineptness in the author's characterizations. Obviously, Homer Hickam is not going to write a page-turner the way Stephen King does.

But a reader can only forgive so much in the way of improbable and impossible plot points, especially when they involve the author's area of expertise.

For example, the Puckett Security thugs perform any number of illegal acts while wearing uniform patches identifying their employer.

Furthermore, Hickam has two people who have never been in space before removing all three main shuttle engines in orbit and installing a replacement engine. Hard to accept and read on, but I did.

The last straw came when the shuttle reached the moon. A man back on earth controlled a number of SDI killer satellites in orbit around the moon. The author evidently wants readers to forget that radio signals take several seconds to reach the moon. Certainly the lag would make taking direct control of a satellite in lunar orbit problematic at best, more likely impossible.

Then our protagonist gets into his spacesuit and goes outside in what seems like about a minute and a half and proceds to shoot a Colt .45 at the satellites.

That was it for me. Seeing as how space is a vacuum and the powder that propells a bullet needs air to burn, there's no way in hell a gun is going to fire there. What's more, I doubt anyone could get their finger through the trigger guard while wearing spacesuit gloves.

Homer Hickam should stick to non-fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Hickam does it again! Back to the Moon soars!
Review: I loved Rocket Boys and asked for an advance copy of Homer Hickam's novel Back to the Moon. I heard it was different from Rocket Boys. It is in every way but one - it's a page turner that's hard to put down. It's got everything - adventure, action, a great love story. I learned a lot about the space business, too, from a real insider. Cape apes, pad rats, they're all in here. Jack and Penny are a couple of great characters. Now that they've gone to the Moon, let's ask Mr. Hickam to send them to Mars! I heard he calls this a beach book. It is in the very best sense of the word. Open this book up, sit down, and you're go for launch for one fun read!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best space novels I have ever read
Review: It is remarkable to me that a space engineer/reviewer would not like this book. I am such, have worked in the industry for decades, and believe that Homer Hickam has written a delightful techno-thriller that not only is a compelling page turner but gives the reader, space insider or not, much to think about. I guess you'd have to say Hickam is nor has ever been much of a "in the box" kind of thinker. If he was, he wouldn't have written Rocket Boys/October Sky which has sold ten times more copies than any astronaut biography.

The plot of this novel is centered around the Apollo 13 type of "can do" engineering whereby what is available is modified to do the impossible. But this is more than a book of engineering. It is a deeply philosophical look at the American space program and the very real people who are in it. Hickam has created characters that I deeply cared about as I read their adventures although he, as evinced in all his books, has his tongue firmly in his cheek much of the time. Homer, by the way, no longer works for NASA and from what I can tell rarely devotes any time to it these days. Most of his writing has centered around the town of Coalwood, West Virginia and I notice that his new novel is set on the Outer Banks and is a seafaring novel. Much can be learned about Hickam the writer on his site... In any case, this is a great novel for everybody. Don't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best space novels I have ever read
Review: It is remarkable to me that a space engineer/reviewer would not like this book. I am such, have worked in the industry for decades, and believe that Homer Hickam has written a delightful techno-thriller that not only is a compelling page turner but gives the reader, space insider or not, much to think about. I guess you'd have to say Hickam is nor has ever been much of a "in the box" kind of thinker. If he was, he wouldn't have written Rocket Boys/October Sky which has sold ten times more copies than any astronaut biography.

The plot of this novel is centered around the Apollo 13 type of "can do" engineering whereby what is available is modified to do the impossible. But this is more than a book of engineering. It is a deeply philosophical look at the American space program and the very real people who are in it. Hickam has created characters that I deeply cared about as I read their adventures although he, as evinced in all his books, has his tongue firmly in his cheek much of the time. Homer, by the way, no longer works for NASA and from what I can tell rarely devotes any time to it these days. Most of his writing has centered around the town of Coalwood, West Virginia and I notice that his new novel is set on the Outer Banks and is a seafaring novel. Much can be learned about Hickam the writer on his site... In any case, this is a great novel for everybody. Don't miss it.