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Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History by Ben Mezrich
wonderwoman619's review
4.0
Found this book on the "new non-fiction" list at the library. I have to say the title intrigued me :)
The author of Sex on the Moon is also the author of the books that inspired the movies "The Social Network" and "21". It appears that Sex on the Moon will also become a movie in 2013.
Sex on the Moon is a captivating story of Thad Robinson and his experience working for Nasa. Half way through his 3rd years as a co-op at Nasa he decides to steal some moon rock to make some money. The story is fast-paced and very interesting!
The author of Sex on the Moon is also the author of the books that inspired the movies "The Social Network" and "21". It appears that Sex on the Moon will also become a movie in 2013.
Sex on the Moon is a captivating story of Thad Robinson and his experience working for Nasa. Half way through his 3rd years as a co-op at Nasa he decides to steal some moon rock to make some money. The story is fast-paced and very interesting!
amn028's review
3.0
A very interesting story that I somehow missed completely during the media storm. the author does a good job of setting the story and making the characters three-dimensional. the only downfall was the audiobook was read by Casey Affleck, who apparently is unsure of what punctuation does and would just steamroll through the words/sentences until he ran breath. at first it bothered me that he was so monotone but then he attempted to speak as a hyperactive 19 year old girl and put on a Belgium accent, and I wished he stuck with speed reading monotone man. I think you'd be further off reading the book rather than listening to the audiobook
nssutton's review
Only a view pages in and I can’t even with this guy’s writing style.
chrissyetc's review
1.0
Some authors paint a vivid, detailed picture for the audience. Ben Mezrich draws his scenes in thick, waxy crayon. The dialogue and descriptions read like teen lit. Everyone was attractive, with quirks and neat rapports. Very little about this book rang true. Mezrich took care to add detail and dialogue at every opportunity, but the characters and story were so poorly drawn that it fell flat. This lacks the depth to even be enjoyed as fiction. I couldn't even finish this book. Who knows? Perhaps Thad becomes a fully-formed character by the end, but I didn't care enough to find out.
sueellen61's review
5.0
I didn't remember this story while it was happening but wow what a story. This is a crazy true story about love, obsession and the moon. I found myself not being able to put this book down; definitely a five star read to me.
anotherjennib's review
5.0
I loved this book! From the moment I started, I couldn't put it down. It was the most suspenseful, romantic, fascinating books I've ever read, including both fiction and non-fiction. Brilliant storytelling.
jackgoss's review against another edition
1.0
Thad Roberts is clearly a sociopath. Ben Mezrich seems to be a sociopath too, the way he fawns over Thad and takes his silly excuses. And I'm highly suspect of anyone who likes this book or identifies with Thad.
lyds_33's review
I don’t find the character or story to be particularly compelling. It has some similarities in theme and style to The Feather Thief, but it’s nowhere near as good.
sharppointysticks's review
4.0
This was a hard book to rate. I really liked the story, I found the whole thing quite fascinating. However, I didn't think it was quite as well written as it could have been. Maybe the author is hoping for another movie? Felt a little script-y, but whatever I would go see it so it gets 4 stars from me.
"Thad has his own word for it: serenity. The moment when the act of science organically shifted into the art of science; when even the most mundane, choreographed procedures achieves such a rhythm that they became invisible cords of a single violin lost in the complexity of a perfect symphony. Minutes shifting into a state of timelessness, where the world seemed frozen but Thad was somehow moving forward: content, fulfilled, free."
"Science is a group effort here at NASA. A lot of brilliant people put in a lot of time to make discoveries like this, as I'm sure you'll learn. Nothing happen here overnight. And it's more important to be part of a brilliant constellation than to try and go at it alone."
"He wanted to be the brightest star-- the one everyone saw when he or she looked at the sky. And the scary thing was, it didn't really matter if that star was bright because it was the biggest-- or because it was about to go supernova."
"Fantasy was his true talent. Fantasy has always been his true talent, the cloak he'd wrapped himself in to protect him from the things he couldn't control."
"Sometimes, Thad knew, as a scientist, it was the molecules that only briefly touched that caused the biggest reactions."
"Thad has his own word for it: serenity. The moment when the act of science organically shifted into the art of science; when even the most mundane, choreographed procedures achieves such a rhythm that they became invisible cords of a single violin lost in the complexity of a perfect symphony. Minutes shifting into a state of timelessness, where the world seemed frozen but Thad was somehow moving forward: content, fulfilled, free."
"Science is a group effort here at NASA. A lot of brilliant people put in a lot of time to make discoveries like this, as I'm sure you'll learn. Nothing happen here overnight. And it's more important to be part of a brilliant constellation than to try and go at it alone."
"He wanted to be the brightest star-- the one everyone saw when he or she looked at the sky. And the scary thing was, it didn't really matter if that star was bright because it was the biggest-- or because it was about to go supernova."
"Fantasy was his true talent. Fantasy has always been his true talent, the cloak he'd wrapped himself in to protect him from the things he couldn't control."
"Sometimes, Thad knew, as a scientist, it was the molecules that only briefly touched that caused the biggest reactions."
karieh13's review
3.0
Reading about larger than life characters and larger than life undertakings is fascinating to me. However, while certainly interesting, I didn’t find the story of Thad Roberts fascinating. I suppose it might be because although novel, the story of this part of his life and the story of this crime didn’t ask or answer any big questions for me. I ended up being disappointed not so much in the book, but in the person described in the book.
In many stories about true crime, there is a desire to understand “Why?” Why people do such horrific things, what happened in their lives to drive them to commit such crimes? We want to understand “Why?” so that we can identify what it is about these people that makes them not like us, and want to identify ourselves as very much not like them.
In “Sex on the Moon”, however, the crime is neither horrific nor particularly clever. It is unique in that moon rocks had never been stolen before…. (I did learn that it was illegal to own moon rocks, which certainly make sense, but was a new fact for me.) One of the major reasons for this, a reason that keeps Thad from committing the crime for a while, is that those people who have access to the rocks, wouldn’t consider doing something that would remove their chance to be a part of one of the greatest undertakings of humankind.
Instead, the crime is one committed for most of the usual reasons. Love, money and much too large an ego. This young man sees himself as more important than the program – a star more important than the universe itself. Thad compares himself several times to James Bond and the reader is made very aware that he thinks of himself as practically a hero.
“Steeling himself – without the help of a really good theme song – Thad skirted past the low hedge and across the crowded parking lot.”
It’s a shame that a great mind, so in love with learning, goes so wrong. That instead of focusing on the ways that he could move exploration and knowledge forward, that he is deterred by more profitable motives.
“Thad has his own word for it: serenity. The moment when the act of science organically shifted into the art of science; when even the most mundane, choreographed procedures achieved such a rhythm that they became invisible chords of a single violin lost in the complexity of a perfect symphony. Minutes shifting into a state of timelessness, where the world seemed frozen but Thad was somehow moving forward: content, fulfilled, free.”
For those of us who will only experience the science of space travel through films and television and books – it is very disappointing to read this story of someone who had a chance to get closer to the dream – and who threw it away.
At the end of the book, there is a hint that the ego that drove Thad to plan and commit this crime may have been humbled a bit. “Thad had always been a quick study. At NASA, being quick to pick up how things worked had been important because it had caught the attention of the people Thad had needed to impress, and it had given him that extra edge so that he could construct the person he wanted to be, right from day one. In county jail, being quick to pick up how things worked as important because it kept Thad alive.”
One can only hope that after having been confined to a jail cell, the art of the science can fulfill Roberts mind so that he can indeed, be free.
In many stories about true crime, there is a desire to understand “Why?” Why people do such horrific things, what happened in their lives to drive them to commit such crimes? We want to understand “Why?” so that we can identify what it is about these people that makes them not like us, and want to identify ourselves as very much not like them.
In “Sex on the Moon”, however, the crime is neither horrific nor particularly clever. It is unique in that moon rocks had never been stolen before…. (I did learn that it was illegal to own moon rocks, which certainly make sense, but was a new fact for me.) One of the major reasons for this, a reason that keeps Thad from committing the crime for a while, is that those people who have access to the rocks, wouldn’t consider doing something that would remove their chance to be a part of one of the greatest undertakings of humankind.
Instead, the crime is one committed for most of the usual reasons. Love, money and much too large an ego. This young man sees himself as more important than the program – a star more important than the universe itself. Thad compares himself several times to James Bond and the reader is made very aware that he thinks of himself as practically a hero.
“Steeling himself – without the help of a really good theme song – Thad skirted past the low hedge and across the crowded parking lot.”
It’s a shame that a great mind, so in love with learning, goes so wrong. That instead of focusing on the ways that he could move exploration and knowledge forward, that he is deterred by more profitable motives.
“Thad has his own word for it: serenity. The moment when the act of science organically shifted into the art of science; when even the most mundane, choreographed procedures achieved such a rhythm that they became invisible chords of a single violin lost in the complexity of a perfect symphony. Minutes shifting into a state of timelessness, where the world seemed frozen but Thad was somehow moving forward: content, fulfilled, free.”
For those of us who will only experience the science of space travel through films and television and books – it is very disappointing to read this story of someone who had a chance to get closer to the dream – and who threw it away.
At the end of the book, there is a hint that the ego that drove Thad to plan and commit this crime may have been humbled a bit. “Thad had always been a quick study. At NASA, being quick to pick up how things worked had been important because it had caught the attention of the people Thad had needed to impress, and it had given him that extra edge so that he could construct the person he wanted to be, right from day one. In county jail, being quick to pick up how things worked as important because it kept Thad alive.”
One can only hope that after having been confined to a jail cell, the art of the science can fulfill Roberts mind so that he can indeed, be free.