A review by nelsta
A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin
5.0
After Perseverance's successful landing on Mars last month, I felt inspired to read more about space. Specifically, I gravitated toward the Apollo program and the titanic leaps of engineering, geology, navigation, and understanding it provided. Last year, or the year before, I read "Apollo" and gave it a perfect five star score. I thought it was practically perfect and couldn't be beat. Well, I wasn't wrong, per se, but its only equal is "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin.
This book merits an unequivocal five stars. Not only is the subject absolutely fascinating, but the writing and delivery (on Audible) is impeccable; flawless, even. I was often so engrossed in the story that I found myself staring out the window, mouth agape, stupefied by the wonders these twenty-four men beheld.
While "Apollo" masterfully explains the feats of engineering and science that helped propel NASA's astronauts to the moon, "A Man on the Moon" is decidedly more human. It focuses on the astronauts' stories and explains, often in direct quotes, just how it felt to hurtle into space at record-breaking speeds atop the most powerful rocket ever created, hurtling toward a celestial body about which humans had essentially only theories. While movies may focus on Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong, this book described each Apollo mission in enormous detail. I was spellbound while listening to the stories of each mission, but Apollos 8, 12, and 17 were especially interesting to me.
It's almost unfathomable that humans dared to walk on the moon, only to retreat into Earth orbit and stay there for the next six decades. This book, originally published in the mid 90's, discusses NASA's fledgling plan to travel to Mars. I pray that happens, if only so I can read a book as equally perfect as this one about the first human to step foot on another planet.
This book merits an unequivocal five stars. Not only is the subject absolutely fascinating, but the writing and delivery (on Audible) is impeccable; flawless, even. I was often so engrossed in the story that I found myself staring out the window, mouth agape, stupefied by the wonders these twenty-four men beheld.
While "Apollo" masterfully explains the feats of engineering and science that helped propel NASA's astronauts to the moon, "A Man on the Moon" is decidedly more human. It focuses on the astronauts' stories and explains, often in direct quotes, just how it felt to hurtle into space at record-breaking speeds atop the most powerful rocket ever created, hurtling toward a celestial body about which humans had essentially only theories. While movies may focus on Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong, this book described each Apollo mission in enormous detail. I was spellbound while listening to the stories of each mission, but Apollos 8, 12, and 17 were especially interesting to me.
It's almost unfathomable that humans dared to walk on the moon, only to retreat into Earth orbit and stay there for the next six decades. This book, originally published in the mid 90's, discusses NASA's fledgling plan to travel to Mars. I pray that happens, if only so I can read a book as equally perfect as this one about the first human to step foot on another planet.