Rating: 
Summary: Great, but not completely truthful
Review: Tom Wolfe did a great job of making the history of the space race come alive, but bear in mind as you read it that some of his opinions are a tad biased. He all but blames Gus Grissom for blowing the hatch of "Liberty Bell 7" prematurely, when he was never proven to have done anything wrong. To be fair, Wolfe should have included the evidence that when Wally Schirra blew the hatch on his flight, he got a bad hand bruise, something Gus never had. Still, the book is very entertaining, and very funny, and I recommend it hightly. Still, supplement your reading with "Moonshot" by Deke Slayton and Al Shepard, and "Carrying the Fire" by Mike Collins
Rating:
Summary: The Zenith of American Culture
Review: My boss lent me this book in about 1982. He also had just invited me to become a member of the Southern California Soaring Club (gliders). For me, it was the most important and inspiring book of its decade. As a kid, the astronauts were, to me, mythic figures who risked their lives to prove what we were worth as Americans. Several of them died in the process. The space race was not some society social. These guys embodied what President Kennedy said, that "...We do not do these things because they are easy. We do them because they are hard." That, to me, epitomizes the meaning of the term, The Right Stuff. Kennedy's statement resonated with me at the age of nine. Tom Wolfe's book brought me down from the clouds right to ground zero. All the faults and foibles of the astronauts, and the process of becoming one, grabbed me as incredibly real and authentic. It also convinced me that heroes often don't have names like Smith and Jones. And they all don't look like Gregory Peck. And that their wives sacrificed so much, and kept their best face forward, where others would have collapsed under the weight. It is also an incredibly funny book (the red boots, and other anecdoetes).This is inspiring nonfiction of the highest order. It was the near prospect of imminent death that brought it all together. They were modern samurai. It was a huge gamble, and we all went for it. Other reviewers have commented elequently on Tom Wofle's prodigious writing talent, so I will leave it there. Bottom line, you can count on one hand novels that captured the full depth and breadth of intense emotion that surrounded the space race of the 1960s. Particularly in the late 70s and early 80s. Jim Lovell's Lost Moon is a good example. Those were heady years, and I wish to God we could have them again, today. Compared with today, the years of the space race were the best years of our lives. And Wolfe captured all those emotions brilliantly. For me, it was America's finest hour. When we sat around the kitchen table and watched Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, it was, for me at least, the crowning achievement of the human race. I am thankful to have witnessed it, live. I will treasure that memory forever.
Rating:
Summary: The great American novel -- except that it's true
Review: For a very long time "The Right Stuff" was my favorite book (excluding the Bible, which is unique). Even after reading Dante's "Divine Comedy," I'm not sure Wolfe's book has been dislodged from its position. Wolfe begins to work his literary magic on the first page. A young, beautiful woman is worried about her husband, a Navy test pilot, having heard that there has been a plane crash. Space buffs like me reading the book are fascinated to realize that the woman is Jane Conrad, wife of Pete Conrad (which, incidentally, tells us that the bad news that day won't be about her husband). If this scene appeared in a different book about the space program, even one as superb as Andrew Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon" or Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger's "Apollo 13," the account of events, while exciting and suspenseful, would remain on a somewhat mundane plane of everyday reality. Wolfe's glittering, idiosyncratic literary style lifts events into a world of super-reality. We experience Jane Conrad's concern and dread as if we were Jane Conrad. Perhaps more than any other book I have read, "The Right Stuff" has caused me to remember the events it relates as if I lived through them rather than reading about them. One noteworthy feature of Wolfe's style in this book is his nearly Wagnerian use of verbal "leitmotiven," key phrases which pop up over and over in the book and come to convey far more than the simple content of the words. Anyone who has read the book will remember for a long time Wolfe's use of such phrases as "bad streak," "Flying and Drinking and Drinking and Driving," "the Integral," "our rockets always blow up," "the Presbyterian Pilot," "single combat warrior," "ziggurat," and, of course, "the right stuff." The book also contains the funniest set-piece in any book I have ever read, the description of the celebration when the astronauts and their families first visit Houston, including the fan dance by the ancient Sally Rand. Interestingly, in the excellent film version of the book this scene was transformed from a hilarious comedy sequence into something elegiac, intercut with the sequence of Chuck Yeager bailing out of a plane (which happened on a different day in reality and in the book) to create drama and suspense. In this radically different form the two sequences are just as effective in the movie as they are in the book. "The Right Stuff" has sometimes been criticized for being overly fictionalized, or at least speculative. These criticisms probably have a great deal of validity, but they do not alter the fact that "The Right Stuff" is the definitive evocation of that brief era around 1960 when almost anything, good or bad, seemed possible. It is an unforgettable literary achievement.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Movie, Even Better Book
Review: "The Right Stuff" by Thomas Wolfe details the manned space race between Russia and the United States. It focuses on the United States' effort to put a man into space. The story of the first seven American astronauts is told, along with a description of test pilots, scientists, and others involved with spaceflight during this time. It is an excellent read, with just the right amount of storytelling, personalization, and technical details. The people are exposed as real people, not put on a pedestal, the way many books tend to treat historic figures. The movie version is good, the book is even better. Read this book whether you're a techie or just interested in this stage of American history.
Rating:
Summary: Russia had the Right Stuff
Review: This book was well written and enjoyable, and I like Tom Wolfe, but I kind of do not really see the point. The Russians put a man not only into space a month before we did in 1961, but put him into orbit. Good old righteous stuff Alan Shepard and John Glenn went subsequently in '61 and '62, but... what exactly was the point? Russia had already defeated us in this space race, and had sent Gagarin into orbit? JFK and US were so proud that many were crying when they saw what Shepard and Glenn did, but the truth is, America was behind USSR! Furthermore, Wolfe makes clear than it did not take too much to be an astronaut, as even a chimpanzee named Ham was able to do it. True skill in flying was like being X-1 test fighters, not being astronauts just "floating" in space. So where exactly was the right stuff? Russia beat us, and to be an astronaut was to float like a chimpanzee, seems that a more appropriate right stuff subject is the 1969 Moon Landing.
Rating:
Summary: Insights into the Early History of Space Flight
Review: For those familiar with the history of manned space flight, most of the information in this book is familiar. But there are also some "what if" alternatives mentioned. For instance, Shepard wanted a 3-day Mercury flight in 1963 following the flight of Cooper's Faith 7. This never came to pass. Considering how far the US was behind the USSR in man hours of space flight, this would have been a good idea.
Rating:
Summary: Prime Wolfe
Review: This book is a great way to aquaint yourself with one of the best--certainly the most exciting--contemporary American writer. The wealth of detail and penetrating insight into the origins of the space program, the men who rode the rockets, and their subsequent lionization make this book highly enjoyable.
My only complaint--and it's a small one--is that toward the end it gets a little bit repetitive. Wolfe has a couple of metaphors that he extends through the entire book (the "pyramid" of status among test pilots, the astronaut as modern "single-combat warrior"). In fact, these are the heart of the book and give some of the deepest insight into the space race, but after 300 pages you might be like, ok--I get it.
I think Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was a better book, but if you think that the 60's counterculture was a big waste of time and youth (and you've never partaken of its elements), you'll like this one better.
Rating:
Summary: Are You Kidding? It Is "The Right Stuff!"
Review: Author Tom Wolfe has given the public the consumate view of America's early Astronaut and NASA programs. Although twenty-five years old at the time of this writing "The Right Stuff" is a book unparalleled! I read the book after I saw the movie of the same name and believe that it was an accurate rendition of the story that Wolfe has portrayed.
At 436 pages, the book will not be a completely detailed driven historical narrative on the subject, but Wolfe provides crucial insight into the backgrounds, lives, and personalities of the candidates, Astronauts, and key NASA personnel. Nothing else needs to be said. A great read! I rate this book at five stars. I also recommend Alan Shepard's book "Moon Shot" as a follow-up to this text.
Rating:
Summary: The Zenith of American Culture
Review: My boss lent me this book in about 1982. He also had just invited me to become a member of the Southern California Soaring Club (gliders). For me, it was the most important and inspiring book of its decade. As a kid, the astronauts were, to me, mythic figures who risked their lives to prove what we were worth as Americans. Several of them died in the process. The space race was not some society social. These guys embodied what President Kennedy said, that "...We do not do these things because they are easy. We do them because they are hard." That, to me, epitomizes the meaning of the term, The Right Stuff. Kennedy's statement resonated with me at the age of nine. Tom Wolfe's book brought me down from the clouds right to ground zero. All the faults and foibles of the astronauts, and the process of becoming one, grabbed me as incredibly real and authentic. It also convinced me that heroes often don't have names like Smith and Jones. And they all don't look like Gregory Peck. And that their wives sacrificed so much, and kept their best face forward, where others would have collapsed under the weight. It is also an incredibly funny book (the red boots, and other anecdoetes). This is inspiring nonfiction of the highest order. It was the near prospect of imminent death that brought it all together. They were modern samurai. It was a huge gamble, and we all went for it. Other reviewers have commented elequently on Tom Wofle's prodigious writing talent, so I will leave it there. Bottom line, you can count on one hand novels that captured the full depth and breadth of intense emotion that surrounded the space race of the 1960s. Particularly in the late 70s and early 80s. Jim Lovell's Lost Moon is a good example. Those were heady years, and I wish to God we could have them again, today. Compared with today, the years of the space race were the best years of our lives. And Wolfe captured all those emotions brilliantly. For me, it was America's finest hour. When we sat around the kitchen table and watched Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, it was, for me at least, the crowning achievement of the human race. I am thankful to have witnessed it, live. I will treasure that memory forever.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all time favorite books...
Review: This book is just a thoroughly enjoyable read. Funny, exciting, charming, moving; what more could you want? It does certainly personalize the astronauts, but I do not agree that it cuts these heroes down to size, as some other reviewers have suggested. On the contrary, Mr. Wolfe's theme is that these men really are heroes, albeit thoroughly human ones. He does, however, let us know that there are a lot of other men out there who are just as heroic, without the acclaim. Don't miss this one!
|
