Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide(R) to NASA

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First of all, I'd like to say that I had a hard time rating this book. I thought about giving the book anywhere from two to five stars. Even though, the book is extremely well written and very easy to read, I ended up giving it just three stars, since it only focused on a portion of NASA's activities, such as Apollo era manned space flight, mostly pre-Challenger Space Shuttle activities and unmanned planetary explorations. The book is totally devoid of any information related to how NASA operates, their research into aeronautics, space vehicle development and on and on (about a half a page total). In other words, the reader only gets a glimpse of NASA's activities. Furthermore, the book contains more than a few non-typographical errors, such as vehicle performance, launch dates, etc., which the author, a former astronaut, and the editor should have caught. If the book had titled something like "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Exploration of the Solar System," I'd have probably given it four or four and a half stars, because it is quite well written and is based on the author's (former astronaut Tom Jones) interesting and highly entertaining personal experiences.

The book opens with opens with a brief description of the author's four Shuttle flights and what he did of each mission. After this introductory chapter, the author describes how rockets works (Newton's laws of motion), the early pioneers and what it takes to become as astronaut. The book then proceeds into the early attempts of both NASA and the Russian Space Agency to put the first manned and unmanned vehicles into space. The book then presents NASA's effort to put the first man on the moon, from the first Mercury flights to the last Apollo mission. After this long section, which compromises approximately 50% of the book, the remainder of the book summarizes NASA's manned and unmanned adventures since Apollo, such as Skylab, the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle.

Even with the absence of information on NASA aeronautical and space vehicle development programs or even something on its general management style, I found the book to be quite enjoyable, since it is based on the author's fascinating and highly entertaining personal experiences as an astronaut. It provides a great summary on much of NASA's manned and unmanned space missions including hardware such as space suits and space food. The chapter dealing with the development of astronauts' meals was extremely interesting and I doubt if I have ever found so much information about this topic located in a single source.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a well written, entertaining and concise history of NASA's manned and unmanned endeavors to explore the solar system, this book is a very good start. On the other hand, if you're looking for a book about NASA, what it does and how it operates, this book is not for you.

"Both Pioneers 10 and 11 contain a gold plaque with etchings showing a man, a woman, and the location of our Sun..."

That's one of the dozens of factoids that appear in "Dr. Jones's Corner," one of several categories of sidebar in this general book about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, intended to inform and entertain those of us who are not rocket scientists --- although co-author Jones is, in fact, a real-life astronaut.

Anyone with a broad interest in the U.S. space program and in the space agency will want "The Complete Idiot's Guide to NASA" handy on the bookshelf. Yes, believe it or not, an "Idiot's Guide" can be used as a reference source and does come with an index. Want to know how Werner von Braun helped develop the ballistic missile? Want to remember who were the seven astronauts in the Mercury program? In fact, would you like to become an astronaut yourself? It's all in this volume.

Like many Americans, I have a general interest in knowing a little more about NASA and about space, but I'm not a technology geek and I'm not sufficiently interested to purchase, for example, a well-known 1,000-page guide to the space shuttle. This moderately sized and priced volume is the right book about NASA and space for someone like me with a general interest.

In a blurb on the cover, astronaut Story Musgrave, M. D. tells us that this book is "big and beautiful...[and]...has a monumental scope." That's a big of an exaggeration. Like I said, it's moderately sized and priced. But it's attractive, well illustrated, and well designed. Hey, it's a good book for the general reader about NASA and it appears to have the facts right. That, plus the entertainment value, seems enough for four stars if you ask me.

I had the pleasure of reading Dr. Jones book after meeting him last year. He is from my hometown of Baltimore. Hardcore space junkies will probably know most of the historical material in the book already. However, like any book written by an astronaut, what makes his book enjoyable are his own personal experiences. I didn't know that Tabasco sauce was such an important part of a Shuttle Astronaut's diet! Kids with an interest in space exploration will find the book fun to read and it seems like that is the target audience. My son liked it.

What NASA has done for us is amazing and here is the book for the person just getting into this topic or who was bored learning about it in school and needs to get the more interesting and fun version of it. It is an excellent reference tool and a good read straight through. And any agency that can put a man on the Moon has to be applauded!