Easy Travel to Other Planets [Paperback]

Ted Mooney (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 278 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (December 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374528284
• ISBN-13: 978-0374528287
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ted Mooney was born in Dallas, Texas; grew up in Washington, D.C.; and in 1973 moved to New York, where he has resided since. Throughout his adult life he has pursued two parallel careers--in the literary and art worlds. His first novel, "Easy Travel to Other Planets" (1981), which won the Sue Kauffman Award for First Fiction from the the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was also a Finalist for the National Book Awards, was written between the hours of 4:00 and 8:30 AM daily before he reported, at 9 AM, to his full-time job as Senior Editor at "Art in America" magazine, a position he held from 1977-2008. He continued this dual arrangement throughout the writing of his next three novels: "Traffic and Laughter" (1990), "Singing into the Piano (1998), and "The Same River Twice" (2010). Also during this period he was a frequent contributor to such publications as "Esquire," "Granta," "The Los Angeles Times," "Vogue," "Art in America," "Artforum," and others. Currently he teaches a graduate seminar at Yale University School of Art, while working on his next novel, titled "Shadow and Silhouette." When time permits, he travels enthusiastically and widely, usually in research for his fiction writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gorgeous, prescient novel, January 16, 2006

By 

alan_in_la "alan_in_la" (Los Angeles, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Easy Travel to Other Planets (Paperback)

This was the best first novel of its year, a beautifully written book that captured the sensibility of a generation of university-educated Americans (their fears, their open minds) and transcended some of its shocking scenes to leave a residue of powerful images. Mooney's uncanny discussion of "information sickness" appeared years before ARPAnet became the internet, and the "Fossil Fuel 500," so intriguing to the cancer-stricken mother, prefigures the red-state popularity of NASCAR. And who can forget the relationship-averse friend who's afraid to stop using her airline pass? This is a special book, better than Mooney's second and third novels (though "Singing into the Piano" is worth a read), and I recommend it to anyone who loves literature and/or wants a glimpse into the inner life of what are now 50 year-old boomers.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, December 16, 2005

By 

music lover (Mountain View, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Easy Travel to Other Planets (Paperback)

I agree with many of the criticisms of the other reviewers. Yes, some aspects are disturbing. But so many details were remarkably prescient. Notice how the race audience pays more attention to their headphones than to what's going on in front of them. Notice the multi-tasking and information overload. I read this book in its original edition. I don't even remember how long ago that was, but I still find myself thinking about it! To me that's a book worth reading.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lyrical tale based on hard science., April 11, 2001

By 

R. Swanson (Hesperia, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Easy Travel to Other Planets (Paperback)

Mooney has been able to with his first novel what many others have struggled to do with more experience: make a poem about a scientific subject that both poets and scientists can enjoy. Easy Travel to Other Planets is a well written, quick moving tale that encorporates the love (in more than one way) of dolphins, and a sense of the pull that men and women have for each other. It is a tremendous first effort.