From The Shelf

A MAN ON THE MOON: THE VOYAGES OF THE APOLLO ASTRONAUTS - Wow! That's pretty much the first word that comes to mind when I think about how to describe this book. This is such a great...GREAT...book! As the title suggests, this is simply a detailed history of the entire Apollo Space program in the 1960's and early 70's. You begin the book as NASA is coming out of the Mercury and Gemini programs, and Kennedy is making his historic speech at Rice University (the one about the United States sending a man to the moon and back within ten years.) From then on each chapter is a different Apollo mission. There are so many fascinating stories here, I don't know where to begin. The tragic fire that killed 3 astronauts on Apollo 1, the astronauts of Apollo 8 reading the book of Genesis on live TV as they orbited the moon, the historic Apollo 11 landing on the moon with Neil and Buzz, and of course the near disaster of Apollo 13. But there are so many stories here that most people don't know, like how the geological discoveries of Apollo 15, 16, and 17 did more for lunar science than all the other Apollo missions combined. This book has it all. It's truly a fascinating read. Here you get all the details about every Apollo mission, right down to how the astronauts go to the bathroom in zero gravity (back in those days it got quite messy.) I've read a lot of great non-fiction books over the years. Titles like INTO THE WILD, MANHUNT, INTO THIN AIR, UNDAUNTED COURAGE, and ENDURANCE. I'm going to put this book on that list. It's really that good.