Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon

Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon – by Jeffrey Kluger

When most people see the word “Apollo” followed by a number, they rightly deduce that it stands for one of the NASA led space missions during the 1960s and 1970s. Those same people, however, probably couldn’t tell you which Apollo mission accomplished what. This is especially true since time has eclipsed many memories, and it’s now been over 50 years since the majority of these missions took place.  For someone like me who was only a toddler at the time, it’s hard for me to understand the importance and necessity of these missions, and how much they dominated world news and became so intertwined with the pop culture of the time.

The Apollo 8 mission was the first mission to “go to” the moon.  No, it wasn’t the first to LAND on the moon - that would be Apollo 11.  It did, however, exceed everyone’s expectations and expedited the space program by managing, for the first time, to leave Earth’s orbit and circle the moon a few times before returning home.  So, yes, the mission WAS a big deal, but history has regulated the mission to a footnote in many aspects since, a couple of Apollos later, they managed to actually land on the moon, and people across the U.S. stayed up all night to hear Neil Armstrong utter his famous words.

This is truly a great book, and had the author decided to write a book about ANY of the space missions – including the earlier Mercury or Gemini missions – I’m convinced the read would have been stellar as well.  Jeffrey Kluger simply tells a wonderful story.  I was never bored, nor did I feel he was overly detailed or technical. He spends about 2/3 of this book describing events leading up to this mission, and the other 1/3 the actual flight itself.

All these years later, it probably isn’t as obvious to many why the “space race” was so important. The United States was still in the midst of a cold war with Russia, and our adversaries seem to be winning the race on every front.  Then, in 1961, President Kennedy boldly announced that the U.S. would send a man to the moon by the end of the decade.  Academia everywhere raised their eyebrows.  When the young president was brutally assassinated two years later, his bold prediction was now attached to a fierce determination and success was now non-negotiable.  NASA was created, and the entire nation became enthralled with these brave young men who were called “Astronauts” and their seemingly improbable goal set by the late president.

The author gives us just the right background where all of this is concerned.  He also focuses heavily on one astronaut, Frank Borman, who would be the commander of Apollo 8.  Again, had the author focused on any of the astronauts at the time, I’m convinced it would have been equally as enrapturing.  Yes, Borman’s story is wonderful, but the same could be said for all of his fellow astronauts.

Sadly, any story about the Apollo missions can’t be told adequately without revisiting the tragedy of Apollo 1. The first Apollo mission was badly rushed and improper care was taken. A fire in the cockpit killed the entire crew during a simulation while still on the ground.  Again, this story – while tragic - is necessary. Not only does it illustrate the dangers of all of the space endeavors, but it also raised the question by many that asked “Is all of this space stuff really necessary?”

Once the Apollo 8 mission begins, the journey of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders is told in fascinating detail.  This portion of the book reminded me of watching a suspenseful movie that you’ve already seen and know the ending; you KNOW the hero will prevail at the end, but the many moments of tension still cause your knuckles to turn white.   This story really gives you a tremendous admiration for, not only the astronauts in space, but also for their wives and loved ones back home who knew the possibility was quite likely for an accident to happen causing their astronaut husbands to drift off and literally die by being “lost in space”.

So, yes, this book manages to be a thriller even though some may initially perceive that it is nothing more than detailing one of the many space missions that took place over the last half-century.  I was surprised how quickly the pages turned.   I mean, the author even manages to make a member of Mission Control in Houston lighting a Zippo lighter sound exciting. I’m serious here.

Post Note: Many people are familiar with the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission due to the excellent Ron Howard/Tom Hanks movie of the same name. THAT movie was based on a book (Apollo 13 – formerly titled “Lost Moon”) that was co-authored by this author along with the mission commander Jim Lovell.  That was an excellent book as well, and I would also highly recommend it.

X

X by Sue Grafton

I’ve read everything by Sue Grafton. This was the first book by her that I’ve read after her untimely and unfortunate death, so I feel a bit guilty about my overall conclusion after completing this book.  That conclusion is that I’m officially tired of Sue Grafton.  Every one of her books focuses on private investigator Kinsey Milhone, and her mostly second-rate crimes that take place during Kinsey’s time and place – the 1980s in some coastal town of California.

For the most part, I’ve enjoyed reading these books, but I can’t honestly say that any of them have been anything close to memorable.  I couldn’t, for example, tell you what happened in book “K” and how it compares to book “Q”.  All of these books are basically the same, and like a favorite vacation spot that you may visit every year because of the familiarity, at some point in your life you decide the allure of the holiday spot isn’t what it once was, and you decide to try a different place the next year.

Part of the problem (and this is also probably part of the appeal) is that Sue Grafton is far too detailed.  There’s only about 100 pages of actual story within the 400 pages of the actual book.  Many books ago, it was easier for me to plod through pages of Kinsey trying on clothes or Kinsey making a sandwich, but I simply don’t have the patience to do this anymore.  In fact, I have to confess, that I basically lost interest about half-way through the book and had to make myself finish.   I couldn’t even tell you who was who by the last couple of chapters, nor was I really even able to follow the plot.  

I suppose that if this is your second or third Sue Grafton (i.e. Kinsey Milhone) book as opposed to your 24^th, you might be able to enjoy it better than I did.   I seriously DID enjoy the majority of her books, so my attitude isn’t necessarily due to disappointment, but rather mundane familiarity.

So I’ll give it 3 out of 5 stars, but had this story been (much) earlier in the series, I may have given it 4, or even 5.

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin

It might be because I’m an impatient reader. My gut reaction after completing this book was one that I have had several times before; I felt this book could have been twice as good if it were about half as long.  This book really does a great job telling a part of world history that tends to be a bit overshadowed. While reading, I utilized the e-book highlighting tool more than any other book that I have ever read. I came across so many poignant observations and anecdotes.  On the other hand, there were also many chapters that got so bogged down with minutiae that I struggled to stay focused and ended up simply skimming through said chapters.

When one thinks of World War I, the countries of Britain, Germany, and France are probably the first nations that one recalls.  Even the United States didn’t get involved until one year prior to its conclusion. One rarely thinks of the ‘smaller’ countries and empires, yet there were so many that were involved.  The focus on this book is the Ottoman Empire, which was dealing with its own internal conflicts before and during the war. The Ottoman Empire was a vast geographical part of Europe which now constitutes what is known as ‘The Middle East’.  Because of all the turmoil in this region before, during, and after the ‘War to End All Wars’, the author argues that the war ultimately set the stage for this region that still exists today, and most would agree that the Middle East has metamorphosed into a hotbed of religious extremism and political instability.

The argument the author makes is a good one, it just seems as though he drones on too long.  True, there’s a lot of ground to cover, a lot of regions within the Ottoman Empire, and a lot of personalities involved in this tale.  Because of the influence of the European Powers during this time, we also read about plenty of the key figures from places such as Russia, Germany, and especially England. England had the strongest imperialistic widespread empire at the time, so they felt they had a strong hand in this particular game.  When so many nations with different goals and motivations clash, nothing good is likely to happen, and this seems to be the case a few short years after World War I ends. The narrative in this book essentially ends around 1922.

Although the author doesn’t explicitly state it, the really sad thing about the first world war is that the motivations for fighting were basically based on territorial greed. There weren’t really any altruistic motivating factors for any of the nations that got involved.  It was basically a global gang fight that began when one gang member kills a leader of a rival gang, and the sides are quickly drawn up. Then, four years of the worst blood-filled conflict the world ever knew occurred.  During the ongoing fighting, the Ottoman Empire seems to serve no other purpose than ‘more territory’ for the winner of the war to grab and secure.  It really was a sad mess.

The author also picks a title for this book that wasn’t an uncommon saying at the time “A Peace to End All Peace”.  This was an ironic moniker that others dubbed the final Versailles peace treaty since the winners left the losers (Germany) in such a shamble.  The thought among those who knew better was that Germany would never be able to properly rebuild based on the punishment inflicted on them detailed in the surrender terms.  These skeptics were correct since the Versailles treaty basically gave rise to a demented Bavarian watercolorist named Adolph Hitler. This led to the next world war, which ended up cataclysmically dwarfing its predecessor.  The author uses this title to describe the Ottoman Empire post 1922, but history has shown it simply wasn’t limited to this one geography.

Again, the author accomplishes his goals quite handily, and I doubt that there is any scholar that would debate his conclusion, so he does deserve credit for educating readers about history that needs to be taught.  I just wish he could have been a tad more concise and shaved this thing by a couple hundred pages.

Still, a great learning history lesson for many; including myself.