Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: A revealing story of the least known of the original mercury astronauts, this book gives great details of Deke's life from the beginning of his childhood to his tragic death. Deke, himself knew of the brain tumor which eventually ended his life. He was worried that it would affect his memory, so we are able to benefit from his detailed recollections. Lucky for us that he was able to complete the book. This is a rare insight into a hero, written at a time in his life were he was very reflective. He obviously wanted to leave an accurate picture of his life (maybe his perceived misjudgment of Gus Grissom in "The Right Stuff" was a motivation). In any event, thanks Deke! I hope to meet you one day!
Rating:
Summary: Great book by a great man
Review: As a person born in the late 60's, I was facinated with the space program and astronauts while growing-up. I've read virtually every autobiography written by an astronaut from that era from the good (Michael Collins) to the terrible (Gordon Cooper) and rate this one #2, only sitting behind Collins' Carrying the Fire. Slayton was a matter-of-fact, pull-no-punches man who wrote what he felt. I especially enjoyed reading his insights on why he gave certain astronauts certain missions and was amazed when he stated that if Gus Grisson would have lived, he would have been the first man to walk on the moon (instead of Armstrong.)If you are interested in the space program, read this book (instead of "Moonshot", for example)--you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Great book by a great man
Review: As a person born in the late 60's, I was facinated with the space program and astronauts while growing-up. I've read virtually every autobiography written by an astronaut from that era from the good (Michael Collins) to the terrible (Gordon Cooper) and rate this one #2, only sitting behind Collins' Carrying the Fire. Slayton was a matter-of-fact, pull-no-punches man who wrote what he felt. I especially enjoyed reading his insights on why he gave certain astronauts certain missions and was amazed when he stated that if Gus Grisson would have lived, he would have been the first man to walk on the moon (instead of Armstrong.) If you are interested in the space program, read this book (instead of "Moonshot", for example)--you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Different and interesting perspective from a no-nonsense guy
Review: As an avid reader of the manned space program, I tend to enjoy books that don't just re-hash the history of the program and space race with the Soviets... and I got it here. Slayton gives us his no-nonsense explanation and perspective of the program while not over-burdening us with details that are found numerous times over in other accounts (like his co-authorship with Alan Shepard for "Moonshot") ... what this leaves you with is a picture of how (I'm sure) Slayton went about his business with NASA and how others at NASA perceived him. I enjoyed his "get on with it" attitude as well as his explanation of some of the lesser known items from the early days (i.e. his Mercury mission would have been called Delta-7 had he had a chance to fly it...). Don't get this book expecting just a chronology of the space race, but get it if you want an account that assumes that you know a little of the program and want a different perspective of it
Rating:
Summary: A True Hero.. Mercury to Flight Operations to Apollo-Soyuz
Review: As one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Deke Slayton was grounded before his Delta 7 seven flight (the one scheduled after Glenn's first orbital flight). Although disappointed, he overcame this set-back and became Director of Flight Operations which means he was responsible for the astronauts and flight selections. He had the respect of the group and treated them fairly. DEKE is honest, objective, and written in a matter-of-fact manner. The most interesting part of the book is the "behind the scenes" information on crew selection and rotation. A very interesting fact is that Deke, Kraft, and Gilruth agreed that a Mercury astronaut would make the first landing on the moon if possible. Gus Grissom was unofficially tapped to take the first step on the moon prior to his tragic death on the pad for an Apollo 1 test. Ten years after being grounded in Mercury, Deke gets clearance to fly in the joint US-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz mission. This was long overdue and add poetic justice for someone responsible, in large part, for NASA's success. I recommend reading Chris Kraft's Flight book first. It gives a detailed historical perspective while DEKE fills the gaps. My respect for Deke Slayton is even greater than ever after reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: A memoir without pretentiousness
Review: Deke Slayton's memoir of his life is one of the best around. His folksy language and humble "aw shucks" attitude make this book an account of spaceflight from a regular joe. Deke tells us the striaght story no embellishments and gives us honest opinions. He worked around some famous people and some legends of our time, and it's fascinating to read his opinions of them. Deke also takes us deep into the brotherhood of the astronauts. It's a culture that few ever experience, and Deke gives an outsider enough information to understand it, but not to violate the privacy of the members of it. Truly this is a great book. What is most tragic is that Deke never lived to see it published. He truly was an American Hero and his book does him credit. It's an intelligent, humble and very readable account of one man's life as an astronaut.
Rating:
Summary: A superb autobiography from a NASA pioneer
Review: Having read several NASA histories and astronaut biographies, for years I had been curious about the Apollo program's chief astronaut, Deke Slayton. Thankfully the autobiography "Deke" delivers his story and delivers it very well. Unlike in "Moonshot" (the other purported co-autobiography of Deke Slayton along with fellow astronaut Alan Shepard), "Deke" comes across as you would have imagined the man - direct, somewhat gruff, but fair and honest. One of the Original Seven astronauts, Slayton candidly writes how the men, the machines, and the space missions combined into stepping stones to the moon. What really stands out, however, are his observations of the astronauts. He knew them all and to him crew assignments, which he picked, weren't slots to be filled. Instead they were unique individuals, each of whom was ideally suited and prepared for a space mission. So "Deke" ends up providing the most comprehensive view of the astronaut corps in the 1960s. "Deke" is also one of the few NASA autobiographies written with professional humility. Slayton's confidence comes across without him touting his accomplishments, yet this book cemented my idea of Slayton as one of the most underrated participants in NASA's history. From the astronauts' perspective, his contributions were as important as the German rocket makers who took us to the moon. That makes "Deke" absolutely necessary for anyone with even a passing curiosity in NASA, astronauts, and space travel.
Rating: 
Summary: Waking up the 'fly boy' gene
Review: Here's a test pilot, who buys into the Race for Space against the Russians, and then gets grounded for a unpredictable heart defibrilation and is no longer eligible to be in the flight rotation. He can still fly planes. T-34's and 38's all he wants but nothing that goes straight up. So he steps up and builds the Astronaut Liason office, basically making sure that the astronauts become part of mission objective developement teams, making sure that the astronauts get all of the training they can stand, and he's also the one assigning men to teams and teams to flights. It's his job to get to know each of the astronauts well enough to (with the help of others, granted) decide who goes where and in what capacity. To make sure there aren't personality conflits with the boys on the same flights, to make sure that there is always someone else trained so that when something goes wrong, someone else can step in. What an amazing amount of pressure. And he did write about the things that go wrong. He wrote about the airplane accidents that took the lives of several astronauts and how as a close group of workmates they had to cope and keep going. He wrote about Apollo I. He hand picked the men who would be in that tin can the day of the plugs out test. One of them Virgil (Gus) Grissom, who was a member of the "Original 7" with Deke and a good friend. This book wasn't just about the manned space program, though that was certainly the focus, it was a autobiography written by a man who knows that he has cancer and is taking advantage of the time left to him to tell his story in his own words (though it is co-written). It is a well told story and a very interesting perspective to have. This book was middling technical, not a whole lot but some stuff, while probably dumbed down specifically for people like me who aren't pilots or engineers, was still kind of tough to slog through. Thankfully having been around airplanes most of my life, at least that part I got the jist of. It's like there's a fly boy gene (though my grandma's got it too) that Deke had, that my Grandparents and my Dad have; that I might have a bit of. Flying is like setting things up and knocking them down. It was really cool to have this love of airplanes almost given back to me. Deke writes with such love and joy of his time flying planes that I think if you have a bit of the fly boy gene it's going to waken that up for you too.
Rating:
Summary: Slayton Does Not Miss a Thing-Even the MOL Guys
Review: I grew up on the back gate of NASA-JSC, and have met several people involved in the space program, including a few astronauts. I am also an engineer. This book goes into great detail from a man who was there all the time from the beginning in 1959 until he retired in 1982. Slayton wrote this as he was dying, and I learned quite a bit about World War II and being a test pilot. For example, I did not know that exceptional high school grads could fly during WWII, and they had to apply for commissions after the war was over. Slayton went to college on the GI Bill, and served in the Minnesota National Guard. He was called back into the National Guard in 1951 during the Korean War. Slayton was a man who enjoyed flying. Slayton also goes into details about Delta Seven, which was supposed to be his Mercury mission,which he lost due to a heart ailment. Later, he flew on Apollo-Soyuz. Slayton also covers how mission crews were chosen, and who was even on the backup crews. This way, I found out who the crews were for flights that never took place (Apollo 18 and 19, plus probable choices for Apollo 20). Slayton also covers his days at Space Services, Inc. (I wish someone would try to do something like Space Services, Inc.) What I really liked was I got some inspiration to write a book about the astronauts from the Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program. Slayton mentions 3-4 pages about this group of "forgotten astronauts." Many of these astronauts showed a lot of perseverance and waited up to 14 years to fly for the first time on the Space Shuttle.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book For Anyone!
Review: If you have even the slighest bit of interest in the history of space navigation or in NASA itself then this is a great book. I have read a lot of books on this subject and found that I got lost in the techincal jargon but not so in this book. Deke Slayton has written a great book that is flies by as you read it.
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