A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts

If you liked the HBO series "From The Earth To The Moon", you must read this book. Such a detailed account of the astronauts and the missions does not exist else where. Each mission is described separately, in great prose. A must buy for all serious space readers.

The 3 volume boxed set of "A Man on the Moon" is perhaps the best book on the Apollo program ever published. Not only does it have the complete text of the original "a Man on the Moon", which was a great description of what it was like to fly on the Apollo missions, though lacking in both technical details and Apollo development history, but it is graced with hundreds of beautiful photos and a number of sidebars describing aspects of the moon program. Even if you have the original hardbound or paperback edition, buy this....its worth every penny and then some. I've spent many hours just leafing through it (I read the original years ago). If you or someone you know has the slightest interest in the moon landings, this is the book!

I've read this book numerous times since the first hardcover edition in 1994, and I never fail to learn something new. While there on many books on Apollo that a serious enthusiast should read, this is easily the SINGLE best book yet written.Chaikin is the only person to interview all 12 moonwalkers and get their personal feelings about everything from astronaut & crew selection, training, peer relations and best of all; orbiting and walking the moon. This is not a technical or scientific history, but an account of how the astronauts FELT about their entire Apollo experiences. You can easily "walk in their shoes" and "see through their eyes" with this book.He writes in a way all persons can understand, and simplifies the engineering and scientific aspects so you can understand what the astronauts were dealing with. Not only does he avoid getting bogged down in techical speak, but actually makes the technical parts fascinating to learn!If you want a good summary of Project Apollo, I'd recommend three books:"To A Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration" - by Don Wilhems. This is the science side of the story, and quite fascinating!"Full Moon" by Michael Light. A beautiful coffee table book with pictures that take your mind to the moon. With this you can almost see what the astronauts did!And lastly, and most important of all, this book. . ."A Man on the Moon." It will almost make you feel like you were the fourth crewman.The three together will give you the best sense of what happened at that fascinating time in history!

I was 2 years old when Neil Armstrong placed the first boot print on the lunar surface, and after watching Apollo 13, I became curious as to what exactly it was that got us to the moon in the first place. In 6 months time I read "Lost Moon" by Jim Lovell, "Last Man on the Moon" by Gene Cernan, "The Race", "Schirra's Space" and "Deke!". A Man on The Moon was the last book I read, and I can speak from firsthand experience when I say that if I would have read it up first, I would have had no need to read the others. That is NOT to say that all of the other books are not good, quality reads (with maybe the exception being Schirra's book), because they certainly are, but Andy Chaikin left absolutely nothing to the imagination and almost no stone unturned when he penned this exciting and informative book. Even though I was just a toddler when our exploration of the lunar surface began, thanks to Andy Chaikin, I don't feel that I missed a single thing.

Whether you are old enough to personally recollect the days of Apollo or if you were "born too late", the illustrated edition of Andrew Chaikin's, A MAN ON THE MOON is an essential book to own. Chaikin's uncanny ability to put you behind the eyes of the participants in humanity's greatest adventure, coupled with a collection of beautiful photos and illustrations, make this illustrated edition more like a "ticket to the moon" than any other work yet produced on the topic of spaceflight.The historical accuracy of the author's narrative makes this an essential reference shelf item as well. Chaikin interviewed all of the Apollo moonwalkers and all of the key figures alive at the time of it's writing. The recollections and interesting details relayed by Chaikin are not to be found in any other work. Chaikin has turned his collection of interviews and research items into a dramatic and bold story as interesting and arresting as any work of fiction ever produced. It is no mystery why Tom Hanks was so inspired by Chaikin's writing, that he set out to produce HBO's FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, the most expensive and elaborate mini-series production to date.This book goes way above and beyond what you would normally think of as a "good read". I find it quite easy to pick up these volumes and randomly start reading from any of it's pages. Chaikin also reveals the more human side of the very special people who took us to the moon and made President John F. Kennedy's dreams of lunar conquest come true. reading this book will help you understand what made people like Alan Shepard tick or why Neil Armstrong is often misunderstood by the press and his collegues.A MAN ON THE MOON should be on the bookshelf of everyone who claims a sense of adventure, curiosity, or history.