Rating: 
Summary: real story
Review: I found this book especially fascinating because it shows the race to the moon from a totally different perspective. Not the astronauts, not the people at huston mission control; the people who actually designed and developed that great engine that takes mankind to the moon. I am an engineer in space technology, and I can imagine (on a very, very limited scale, naturally !) what amount of work, dedication, and enthusiasm was necessary to do that job.
Rating:
Summary: Great story!
Review: I read this book a few years ago and was reminded of it by the Tom Hanks HBO movie "From the Earth to the Moon." In part two of that series they actually mention one of the many unsung heros of the space program, Harrison Storms. I've been talking about him ever since I read this book because his story is one of the great American stories of this century. Incredible imagination, real passion for his work, the ability to overcome enormous obstacles and the ability to sacrifice (or take the fall) for the sake of the team. Without Harrison Storms getting to the Moon would certainly have been an even more incredible task. This is a well written book that makes engineering very exciting, but most of all it reminds you that this country can do great things when it puts its mind to it. Enjoy and pass it on!
Rating:
Summary: Should be required Apollo reading...
Review: In any detailed account of the Apollo program, it's always been assumed that North American Aviation was in over it's head and used major marketing "tricks" to get the Command Module and S-II stage contracts. This account gives the "other side" perspective and what a story it is! You get NAA's perspective on their early days, the drive to get the Apollo contracts, the roadblocks encountered in trying to "spec" these never before used components all culminating in the Apollo 1 fire that, un-fortunately, sacrificed the career of Harrison Storms and others.This more than any other book (with the exception of "Apollo...the race to the Moon by Murray/Cox) gives the true meaning of the term "Space Race" and the anxiety felt by all participants. MUST be included in all essential Apollo reading...
Rating:
Summary: Should be required Apollo reading...
Review: In any detailed account of the Apollo program, it's always been assumed that North American Aviation was in over it's head and used major marketing "tricks" to get the Command Module and S-II stage contracts. This account gives the "other side" perspective and what a story it is! You get NAA's perspective on their early days, the drive to get the Apollo contracts, the roadblocks encountered in trying to "spec" these never before used components all culminating in the Apollo 1 fire that, un-fortunately, sacrificed the career of Harrison Storms and others.This more than any other book (with the exception of "Apollo...the race to the Moon by Murray/Cox) gives the true meaning of the term "Space Race" and the anxiety felt by all participants. MUST be included in all essential Apollo reading...
Rating: 
Summary: A gripping story of one man's work and sacrifice
Review: It am thankful this book is still it print and I commend the publisher for making sure that it is. Angle of Attack is a very worthy addtion to the history of Project Apollo. There have been few books from the contractor's viewpoint, and there should be many more. This fast-paced book covers the efforts of North American Aviation and Harrison "Stormy" Storms to engineer and build both the S-II second stage of the Saturn V and the Apollo command module.
However, it also delves into the intense battle by aerospace contractors to get a piece of the Apollo pie and it is fascinating; it does so at a very human interest level. Most people have no idea the staggering amount of engineering hours and the sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of people who worked, sometimes to the point of collapse, to achieve president John Kennedy's goal of landing men on the moon by the end of the decade.
Angle of Attack proves the story of engineering Apollo does not have to be dry as dust. These were real people laboring to achieve the greatest effort of exploration in the history of man. This book truly was a page-turner for me--a great real. It will certainly appeal to every Apollo enthusiast, but also to those who have wondered about the people who really made it happen. Harrison "Stormy" Storms was one of them and I for one consider him a hero of the Apollo age. Sadly, there is not a single photo in the book so we have no idea what Storms even looked like.
Thank you Mr. Storms and all those who worked with you and for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Stormy Story
Review: Makes engineering exciting.Reminds me of the "Soul of a New Machine" - the story of the engineers behind the "product" - and in this case the product is the Apollo CM, SM, second stage, and engines - an enormous undertaking. I work as an engineer for a manufacturing company with about 100 employees, building machines with maybe a thousand parts where we barely manage to get things out the door. So it is amazing a to read about the engineering behind a large scale effort that actually worked! Well written, well paced. I think a good technical level for the average reader. Several of my co-workers enjoyed it, and found it quite memorable. A lot of other books seem "pro-NASA" so it's refreshing to find a book that upsets the apple cart a little bit. This book tells what was amazing about American industry in the early 1960s. The scary thing is look at the subsequent history of Rockwell today - the aerospace parts sold to Boeing - the electronics division spun off - the remaining chunk of the company (Allen-Bradley and Reliance) is something they bought up 5 years ago. Sad. The Patriotic Line: America needs more books like this. Don't let your kids be accountants or lawyers. Comparisons:
-More "serious" than "The Right Stuff".
-Better polish and more exciting than "Failure is Not an Option".
-Better than "Earthbound Astronauts".
-Briefer, harder-hitting and tighter than "The Reckoning"
-Covers a more important project than "Soul of a New Machine"
Rating:
Summary: Stormy Story
Review: Makes engineering exciting. Reminds me of the "Soul of a New Machine" - the story of the engineers behind the "product" - and in this case the product is the Apollo CM, SM, second stage, and engines - an enormous undertaking. I work as an engineer for a manufacturing company with about 100 employees, building machines with maybe a thousand parts where we barely manage to get things out the door. So it is amazing a to read about the engineering behind a large scale effort that actually worked! Well written, well paced. I think a good technical level for the average reader. Several of my co-workers enjoyed it, and found it quite memorable. A lot of other books seem "pro-NASA" so it's refreshing to find a book that upsets the apple cart a little bit. This book tells what was amazing about American industry in the early 1960s. The scary thing is look at the subsequent history of Rockwell today - the aerospace parts sold to Boeing - the electronics division spun off - the remaining chunk of the company (Allen-Bradley and Reliance) is something they bought up 5 years ago. Sad. The Patriotic Line: America needs more books like this. Don't let your kids be accountants or lawyers. Comparisons:
-More "serious" than "The Right Stuff".
-Better polish and more exciting than "Failure is Not an Option".
-Better than "Earthbound Astronauts".
-Briefer, harder-hitting and tighter than "The Reckoning"
-Covers a more important project than "Soul of a New Machine"
Rating:
Summary: The Right Stuff with Engineers
Review: One of the most fascinating and enjoyable space program books yet written, and one that starts to suggest the unvarnished version of events, including the concept that, gosh, NASA might not be beyond reproach when it came to Apollo stumbles and friction. "Angle of Attack" is particularly fascinating for exploring the business and management aspects of bidding, designing, and actually building the Apollo spacecraft, something I have not found elsewhere in print. Other very good books, Apollo: Race to the Moon (Murray and Cox), and Man on the Moon (Chaikin) tell the NASA as hero, flight controller as hero, and astronaut as hero stories, but little is said about what it took to get from concept to built craft. Further, much of the NASA derived stories have a "contractors are just tinbenders" attitude that not only is conspicuously self-serving to NASA, but shelters a whole lot of incredible effort from view. Having worked on large complex fast-track projects, having seen the bassackwards nature of demanding clients and the politics and the skirmishes, the messy environment of the mid-60's space program sure rings truer in this book than anything else I have read on the subject. This story exactly fits how large organizations and their people behave. And if you can find a more credible description of the political/media aspects of the Apollo 1 accident investigations, I'd like to see it. Some accuse Mike Gray of bias for telling North American's oral history rather than NASA's. I say it is for precisely that reason this is a valuable book. Read it, read the others, decide where the truth lies and how good of a guy Joe Shea is and all that on your own, but if you love the Apollo story, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: superb
Review: Proof that engineering can be both interesting and exciting. Mike Gray keeps the pace moving with consummate skill. It is really hard to find fault with this book. Read it
Rating: 
Summary: Take this book with a grain of salt!
Review: The book is unjustly biased in favor of North American. Having experienced the poitical in-fighting of major projects, I believe the author was selective in his use of sources. Gray consistently upholds the North American point of view, even going so far as to attempt vindication over the Apollo 1 fire. If his sources happen to be people who worked at North American and not NASA, it is expected that they would be defensive. Don't forget that Gray is a Hollywood screenwriter. His residence is conveniently located around the old facilities of North American (currently Boeing). I don't think he went out of his way to be objective. Now that I have read this book and understand Mike Gray's susceptibility to limited sources, I question his credibility when it comes to "The China Syndrome", the movie he scripted. Please read other histories of Apollo and judge for yourself. I would not recommend this book. Steven R. Martin, Systems Engineer, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space
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