Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon, 1963-1972 Hardcover – May 26, 2013

I am a very visual person, both in my university teaching and in my personal learning. In my constantly-expanding library of Apollo books, “Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon” is graphically leaps and bounds beyond anything else I own or have seen. While it does not pack as much factual content as many of my other references, that space is filled instead with an outstanding collection of the very best photographs from the early space and Apollo eras and THE best illustrations I have seen for much of the Apollo hardware and facilities.Part of this book’s illustrative success is due to its sheer size, and inclusion of two yard-long centerfolds that provide the best explanatory Saturn V illustration I have seen yet, and a spectacular moon panorama unequaled in any other book that I know of. Other illustrations and photos, while smaller, are excellent and even single-page graphics are generously sized to provide more detail than smaller books are capable of.In addition to the outstanding graphics, Dr. Reynolds’ writing is a refreshing departure from the textbook language in nearly all of my other reference volumes. While I am definitely not trading in my space exploration library and have done plenty of technical writing myself, none of my other Apollo books repeatedly caused a bit of “rocket smoke to get in my eyes” at the sheer wonder and grandeur of what it must have been like to make man’s noblest voyage and actually tread the Moon. This book sacrifices technical detail and a formal style in order to provide a sense of awe and magnificence for what still remains, half a century later, humanity’s greatest achievement. It is a trade well made.Before finishing, I want to briefly mention that I found the (very few) negative reviews to be overly critical, and in some cases simply unjust. Accusations include focusing on too narrow a handful of key individuals (something impossible to avoid in a program involving over 400,000 people), drawing too much information from other books, and—if you enjoy this book—falling squarely in the sights of something “essentially…aimed at children”. This book is not the definitive Apollo compendium, and I think those missing that fact have also missed something more human and more important. In rendering judgment, I cast my lot with Gene Cernan, the last person to walk the Moon: “In this book, you have stood by my side, and you have felt what I felt within the midst of those extraordinary adventures. This book IS the story of Apollo. As I close these pages, the wonder and the glory surround me, and I remember: I have been there.” (Afterword) This book did that for me, and as I recommend it my hope is that it may do the same for you.As a university science instructor, this is not my most accurate or most comprehensive Apollo book. But as a member of “All Mankind” who still remembers gazing up at the Moon with a ten-year-old’s wonder, this Apollo book remains my favorite.

What none of the reviews so far have mentioned is that this is essentially a book aimed at children. That should be obvious from Reynolds� previous books, all of which have been Star Wars books with lots of illustrations and two of which are "pocket" books less than 30 pages long. Although the dust jacket trumpets Reynolds� previous books, mentioning that one was a best-seller, and refers to his Ph.D., this is all misleading. Reynolds' experience is writing illustrated childrens' fiction books, not history. This book is not intended to be an accurate or comprehensive history of Apollo, but a picture book for the early teen market.The book is beautifully illustrated. Some of the artwork is excellent, and the labels are designed to be clearly understandable. The photographs are also quite good, and the author deserves much credit for using dramatic photos that have not been used in other books before. If all you are going to do is look at the photos, then this is a really good book.The text, however, leaves a lot to be desired. Often the style is one of outright cheerleading and hero-worship rather than objective history. The author does not provide a balanced critique of the Apollo program. John F. Kennedy and Wernher von Braun are brave and unvarnished heroes in this book. The problem is that this portrayal distorts reality. Von Braun, for instance, was only one of many influential people involved in the Apollo program and was not necessarily the most important engineer. Most of the work he did on the Saturn rocket was bureaucratic, not engineering. And by focusing too much on him, Reynolds detracts from the many other people who had significant impacts on the space program, such as Robert Gilruth, George Mueller, Abe Silverstein and even NASA Administrator James Webb. Similarly, Kennedy pursued Apollo solely to beat the Russians, and was never enthusiastic about space.There are also errors that indicate that Reynolds got most of his information from other books and not original research--and that he did not get anyone to fact-check his work. Some of the mistakes are not merely minor errors, but serious distortions of what happened. Take, for instance, the claim that it was a Disney space film that led President Eisenhower to start the scientific satellite program (pgs. 30-33). There is absolutely no evidence that Eisenhower even watched that program or requested a copy for the White House. And the claim that 100 million people watched it is also unsupported. Reynolds apparently got his story from the book Blueprint for Space. If he had looked at other more recent books, like Howard McCurdy�s Space and the American Imagination, or had talked to the relevant people in the history field, he would have learned that this story was false. Similarly, he also claims that President Eisenhower specifically forbade the Germans from launching Missile 29 to orbit. There is no evidence to support this claim, and other space historians, like Michael Neufeld, have explained that this missile was never capable of reaching orbit at that time (for instance, it had no guidance system). There are numerous other mistakes and omissions, but one gets the sense that the author was not about to let the facts get in the way of a good story.The book is only around 270 pages long, with over half of those pages taken up by photographs and illustrations. There is no way that such a short book could be the "best" or "most accurate" or "most comprehensive" history of a space program that spanned more than a decade and used the equivalent of over $180 billion in today's money. This is a book aimed at the early teen market, not the serious space reader.In summary, the book is fun to look at, but unfortunately will give children inaccurate information about the Apollo program. At a time when space enthusiasts get enraged that some people claim that the moon landings were faked, one wonders why they so enthusiastically embrace books that get the history wrong.

It seems like yesterday when I sat by the TV to watch the first step a man took on the moon.This is the story behind that first step, who began the race to the moon, how it was designed, it's triumph, it's tragedies, it's breath holding innovations to make it back to earth alive.Apollo 13.The flight that almost didn't make it. Thanks to the innovations by the astronauts & help from Mission control, they did return alive, well & a little shaken, but then who wouldn't be after losing all their O2 from an explosion that rendered their command module useless?There are many illustrations showing the people behind the dream, cutaways of the massive Saturn 5 rocket that made such an adventure possible.Details of the suits they wore, the lunar module, the rover, the control module & the result of that first step showing the lunar surface was covered by a fine dark dust like talcum powder.Most of that dark layer was from billions of years of the solar wind particles settling on a world without wind.Each of the flights were covered from the first person to orbit the earth to the last person to leave their marks on the lunar surface.Great reading for anyone interested in knowing about our fascinating moon missions.Looking at the images taken of the moon by the astronauts, there was no way this was faked as some ignorant people have claimed.

Excellent account of the moon landings. Very informative and well illustrated with superb photographs and great diagrams. Better than I thought it would be.

I ordered this book and waited with baited breath for its publication and arrival. It looks the part and has a striking picture on the cover and there are lots of glossy photos and some nice diagrams-I especially like the drawing of the stages of the powered descent phase of the LM landing with altitudes and horizontal velocities etc. something I've never seen before.However, the text is slightly lacking in detail. The author seems to skip many essential points and even makes the odd error (1201 alarm flashing up on the DSKY-which if i remember correctly is the keypad to input data and prog chages etc). The author completely ignored Apollo 14's inability to make an initially successful hard dock with the LM-a nail biting part of the mission! Apollo 12 is described in about half a page!This book is aesthetically pleasing and a good introduction to the Apollo story-some parts are very informative (mainly because of good drawings) whereas others are sevearly lacking. I'd recommend to those with limited experience of the area and for its pictures-but the accounts of the missions are not so complete.

It is a very interesting book. Lots of information and interesting facts.Well worth a look! Great choice for a present .

The complete Apollo Story in great Photographs and informative text.Very Highly Recommended.

Bought for hubbie's birthday and he absolutely loves it..great photos and content. Worth every penny for it, and came really quick too.