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Jeffrey Kluger

Författare till Apollo 13

73 verk 4,101 medlemmar 187 recensioner 1 favoritmärkta

Om författaren

Jeffrey Kluger is editor-at-large at Time and Time.com. He is a coauthor of the bestseller Apollo 13 and the author of The Sibling Effect, Simplexity, Splendid Solution, Moon Hunters, and two novels for young adults. Kluger lives in New York City with his family.

Verk av Jeffrey Kluger

Apollo 13 (1994) 2,233 exemplar
Holdout (2021) 82 exemplar
Freedom Stone (2011) 30 exemplar
New Space Discoveries (2012) 7 exemplar
Spinal Tap 1 exemplar

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Jeffrey Kluger is the co-author, with astronaut Jim Lovell, of Lost Moon (later renamed Apollo 13, after the movie based on it came out). Here, he returns to cover Lovell's previous mission, Apollo 8. It's a mission that lacks some of the cinematic drama of 13, but it's one that was thrilling in its own right, a remarkable achievement full of historic firsts: the first crewed mission to the moon, our first look at the far side of the moon, humans' first time orbiting another body in space, and the first time anyone was able to see the entire Earth as a tiny blue marble hanging in the darkness and, not incidentally, to snap its picture and bring that image home for the rest of us.

This is a very readable account of the mission, and one that captures some of that thrill... or at least, it did for me, but I am admittedly an easy sell on this stuff. It is perhaps not quite as detailed as one might expect for a book devoted solely to this one mission, but in fact, it covers a lot more ground than just Apollo 8 itself, which doesn't begin until maybe a third of the way through the book, after a thorough biography of mission commander Frank Borman and a discussion of the most relevant of the Gemini and the previous Apollo missions. I'd also say there's considerably more emphasis on the people than on the hardware, keeping things relatively light on the technical details, although when it does come up, all of the scientific and technical stuff is certainly explained clearly enough.

If you're interested in reading about the Apollo program in general, I always recommend Andrew Chaikin's A Man on the Moon first and foremost, and I very much recommend Lost Moon, as well. But it's nice to see the first of the moon shots getting some love, and I'd say even those with even a casual interest in the subject could do much worse than to pick this one up.
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bragan | 38 andra recensioner | Feb 24, 2024 |
In truth, there's not a lot of detail in this book that is not better covered in others (particularly Andrew Chaikin's A Man on the Moon. It's not that this book is bad or especially lacking. It just suffers by comparison.
 
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Treebeard_404 | 38 andra recensioner | Jan 23, 2024 |
I watched First Man a couple of weeks ago, which tells the story of astronaut Neil Armstrong and the events leading up to the space mission that led him to walk on the moon. I enjoyed it, and I wanted to learn more about the space program as it actually was back in those days. Seeing as how the 60s were before my time, I found it fascinating to get a deeper look at the social impact that the space program had on the American people at the time.

Unfortunately, I found APOLLO 8 fairly dull. I struggled to get through it, and found my thoughts drifting often as I flipped the pages. I frequently had to go back and re-read entire paragraphs, realizing my mind had wandered and I couldn't remember a thing I just read.

I was hoping for a more engaging narrative, one that would make the subject matter come alive. It's such a fascinating time in history, yet in the retelling it loses its magic. The narrative bounces around from one event to another, from one person to another, with no link or continuity between them.

This book reads like a "Just the facts, Ma'am" retelling of what went on. And while I have little doubt it's historically accurate, it lacks heart, drama, and emotional engagement. Maybe I should just stick to movies on the subject.
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Elizabeth_Cooper | 38 andra recensioner | Oct 27, 2023 |
"'Freddy,' Lovell said, turning to Haise. 'I'm afraid this is going to be the last moon mission for a long time.'"

This is the compelling story of the Apollo 13 disaster: the blow-out that disabled the command module and life support systems for astronauts James Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert, and the ensuing rescue efforts to bring them safely back to Earth. The story is told from the points of view of the astronauts, from all the engineers and staff at NASA Mission Control working frantically, and from the families who watched helplessly. There's a lot of detail here, as one crisis follows another, but it's not too technical and not boring.

If you've seen the Ron Howard movie, you will know the outline of the story (and the importance of duct tape), but it was still interesting to me to get all the details filled in. I was constantly amazed at the skill and ingenuity of the the astronauts and the people on the ground, as especially their dedication. The families, too, were amazing in their bravery and stoicism. It was a thrilling adventure to read, but also a very feel-good book.

Recommended.

4 stars
… (mer)
 
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arubabookwoman | 39 andra recensioner | Sep 15, 2023 |

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Statistik

Verk
73
Medlemmar
4,101
Popularitet
#6,134
Betyg
3.9
Recensioner
187
ISBN
144
Språk
11
Favoritmärkt
1

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