Two Sides of the Moon : Our Story of the Cold War Space Race

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, if somewhat flawed
Review: Sampson's review is perhaps a bit too harsh, but it is rather accurate with regard to the glaring factual slips that should have been caught by the most elementary proofreading and fact-checking, the most glaring of which is multiple references in the "Scott" scenes of the first chapter, to a "deHavilland Jenny" biplane: the JN-4 "Jenny" biplane was a Curtiss aircraft. Yet minor factual slips of this type are hardly rare in astronaut biographies and memoirs; indeed, they're quite common, and those here are no worse than those in any number of similar books.

I found the repeated references to Scott being barefoot by choice for much of his youth, while Leonov was barefoot by poverty for much of his, to be rather tiresome.

But for all its flaws, it is proving (in part, because of its constant juxtaposition of Scott's and Leonov's life events, to be a fascinating and compelling book, which I am looking forward to finishing within the next few days.

Rating:
Summary: Two Sides of the Moon
Review: This is actually two books in one,the biographies of astronaut David Scott (Gemini 8, Apollo 9 & 15) and cosomonaut Alexi Leonov (Voskhod 2, Apollo-Soyuz). In my opinion, Leonov's story is the more interesting and well-told of the two because it describes events in the Soviet space program of the 1960s and 70s I've never read before and the language of the ghost writer doesn't detract from the story. Scott's story is rather bland when compared with the excellent Gemini-Apollo astro-biographies of Gene Cernan and Mike Collins. What I did not like about the book was the ghost writer's (Christine Toomey) propencity to write in such strong Britsh language you'd swear Dave Scott was a bloke in an English pub instead of American fighter pilot/astronaut. Additionally, the ghost writer's total unfamiliarity with aviation came through in her writing, making some of tales told in the book rather silly and disappointing (I've been in the Air Force 19 years, four years at the holy of holies, Edwards AFB). Despite these clangers, the book kept my attention and I enjoyed it. It's not the best book on the space race, but neither is it the worst.

Rating:
Summary: A Must-Have Book for Understanding the Space Race
Review: What if Grant and Lee had written a combined autobiography thirty years after the Civil War? This book has the same effect on telling the story of the competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in space. Each man is frank, easy to understand and allows his personality to show through his story. The concept of a dual autobiography is unique enough, but using this method to describe a key "battle" in the Cold War is pulled off with astounding clarity and smooth transitions between Scott's and Leonov's stories.