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A review by castairs
Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon by Howard Benedict, Deke Slayton, Jay Barbree, Alan Shepard
2.0
I wasn't sure whether to give it two or three stars so I guess I would put it somewhere in the middle.
Being a book written by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton, I thought this would be a great read and a good resource to learn more about the life of an astronaut during the Mercury days and what it was like to work with the other astronauts later on, but to my disappointment I found very little of the latter in this book.
It started out well, offering a more detailed and interesting picture of the early years of the space race since it included information about the soviet side too and their progress alongside the american. I enjoyed reading about the first Mercury flights too.
However, and this is my main problem with this book, the writing was quite bad, resorting to the use of purple prose and flowery language that felt out of place to me. The book is ghostwritten and it shows. I didn't connect with Slayton or Shepard and I felt like I was reading a fiction novel based on these people rather than their personal experiences. The writer also has a tendency to describe the emotions and thoughts of people who are neither Slayton nor Shepard, which made me feel uncomfortable at times.
In general, the second half of the book lacked substance (the only somewhat redeemable chapter is the one about Apollo 14) and the impression I got was that the two "authors" wanted to write a book to cash in on the hype rather than a genuine desire to tell their stories. If you've already read some books about the space race don't bother with this one.
Being a book written by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton, I thought this would be a great read and a good resource to learn more about the life of an astronaut during the Mercury days and what it was like to work with the other astronauts later on, but to my disappointment I found very little of the latter in this book.
It started out well, offering a more detailed and interesting picture of the early years of the space race since it included information about the soviet side too and their progress alongside the american. I enjoyed reading about the first Mercury flights too.
However, and this is my main problem with this book, the writing was quite bad, resorting to the use of purple prose and flowery language that felt out of place to me. The book is ghostwritten and it shows. I didn't connect with Slayton or Shepard and I felt like I was reading a fiction novel based on these people rather than their personal experiences. The writer also has a tendency to describe the emotions and thoughts of people who are neither Slayton nor Shepard, which made me feel uncomfortable at times.
In general, the second half of the book lacked substance (the only somewhat redeemable chapter is the one about Apollo 14) and the impression I got was that the two "authors" wanted to write a book to cash in on the hype rather than a genuine desire to tell their stories. If you've already read some books about the space race don't bother with this one.