John Glenn: A Memoir [Mass Market Paperback]

John Glenn (Author), Nick Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2000

He was the first astronaut to orbit the Earth. Nearly four decades later, as the world's oldest astronaut, his courage reveted a nation. But these two historical events only bracketed a life that covers the sweep of an extraordinary century.

John Glenn's autobiography spans the seminal events of the twentieth century. It is a story that begins with his childhood in Ohio where he learned the importance of family, community, and patriotism. He took these values with him as a marine fighter pilot during World War II and into the skies over Korea, for which he would be decorated. Always a gifted flier, it was during the war that he contemplated the unlimited possibilities of aviation and its frontiers.

We see the early days of NASA, where he first served as a backup pilot for astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. In 1962 Glenn piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first manned orbital mission of the United States. Then came several years in international business, followed by a twenty-four year career as a U.S. Senator-and in 1998 a return to space for his remarkable Discover mission at the age of seventy-seven.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

At a time when overwritten biographies arguably provide too much information about their subjects, astronaut-turned-politician-turned-astronaut John Glenn's breezy memoir is welcome. His life story is simply told, not terribly reflective but enormously compelling: an Ohio boy grows up to become the first American to orbit the earth, takes a shot at the presidency but misses, and triumphantly returns to outer space as a senior citizen and national hero. Following a section on his youth, Glenn describes being a fighter pilot in the Second World War and Korea (where he lived in the same Quonset hut as baseball legend Ted Williams), as well as a test pilot. The highlight of the book is Project Mercury, the early NASA effort that hurled Glenn 150 miles above the planet in a tiny capsule--"flying from one day into the next and back again." In less than five hours, Glenn observed three sunsets and sunrises. He also conducted a few basic experiments, such as "squeezing some applesauce from a toothpaste-like tube into my mouth to see if weightlessness interfered with swallowing. It didn't."

Upon his return to earth, Glenn made a few abortive runs for the Senate. He was finally elected in 1974 as a Democrat and served for 24 years. In 1984, he sought his party's presidential nomination, and it looked like he was the one candidate potentially capable of beating President Reagan. But he stumbled and had to quit. The final pages detail Glenn's 1998 mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery at the age of 77. Just as his journeys riveted the nation, Glenn's memoir will grip its readers. --John J. Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Glenn's utterly plainspoken yet thrilling autobiography will put a lump in readers' throats. The astronaut and four-term U.S. senator from Ohio seems to embody the best old-fashioned American values of integrity, personal discipline, love of country, honesty, courage and responsibility. At 37, Glenn was a frustrated navy bureaucrat stuck in a Washington desk job. Just four years later, in 1962, he became the first American to orbit the earth, piloting the Friendship 7 capsule and restoring national pride during the space race with the Soviet Union. Before that flight, he deadpanned to his wife: "Hey, honey, don't be scared. Remember, I'm just going down to the corner store to get a pack of gum." Glenn says he acquired a sense of unbounded possibility from his mother, an elementary schoolteacher, and his father, a coal-shoveling railroad worker who squeaked through the Depression and built up his own plumbing supplies company. Glenn's exploits as a pilot during WWII and Korea, as well as his high-altitude feats as a test pilot in the 1950s, are re-created with hair-raising immediacy in a gripping first-person narrative written with an assist from Taylor (whose books include the memoir A Necessary End). On a personal note, Glenn writes affectingly of his 56-year marriage to organist Annie Castor, with whom he played as a toddler; the strains of being a military family often having to move on short notice; his friendship with Robert Kennedy. The book closes with a heart-stopping account of his momentous return to space at age 77 in 1998 aboard space shuttle Discovery, an event that helped redefine the meaning of "old age." Told without an ounce of pretension, this is a memorable autobiography by a man who embraced public life and held it with a unique blend of Roman virtue and American confidence. BOMC main selection. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553581570
• ISBN-13: 978-0553581577
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 1.5 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #569,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Scientists

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Story of a Perfect Life?, April 11, 2003

By 

David Seaver - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Glenn: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Based on this book John Glenn never got out of line, never got in any serious trouble or caused anyone else to get into trouble, had a perfect wife and family who always supported him 100%, even if it meant his being away from home for long periods of time. He even goes to the extreme of discounting a story about his concern over his height exceeding the max requirement for space travel. I found many parts of this book enjoyable, but left feeling I had only been reading a whitewashed version purified for mass consumption. On slight hint at the "real" John Glenn may be revealed in his writing a letter to NASA in an effort to overturn the decision to have Alan Shepard and Guss Grissom fly in space before him. This book left me with many more questions about the real man. Showing more of his human, occassionally risking and failing side would have added much to my enjoyment. Unfortunately this was missing.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the Memoir/Bio Generation 1999, November 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: John Glenn: A Memoir (Hardcover)

It is curious that as 2000 nears, so many memoir biographies have hit the stands...and so many worth reading. We have Glenn's story...astronaut turned politician, model American; Nabokov's story...scientist turned literary celebrity (Nabokov's Blues); Goodall's story...scientist turned reflective (Reason to Hope); Sagan...by Sagan AND by biographers. Glenn's memoir fits this mold...a man has taken time out not only to reflect but to share with his "fellow Americans" his insights on the last decades, indeed some of the most important events of the millenium. I recommend this book; its only drawback is it might be argued as less exciting than some of the others mentioned above. But John Glenn is a major public and historical figure and it is worth the time to digest here what he has to say about his life, and times.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "John Glenn: A Memoir":An Honored Look At An Honored Life, November 6, 1999

By 

Hartriono Sastrowardoyo - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Glenn: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Senator. Astronaut. American Hero. These are all words that come to mind when the name "John Glenn" is mentioned. But how much do you know about John Glenn the person? If you want to know the minutiae of Glenn's flight as a Mercury and shuttle astronaut then this is not the book for you. For "John Glenn: A Memoir" is a walk down Glenn's busy road of life, from his upbringing during the Depression to his second spaceflight, aboard the shuttle in 1998. If it's true that Neil Armstrong said that everybody was given a finite number of heartbeats, and that he didn't want to waste any doing anything frivolous, then Glenn must have been one of his followers. The times and culture of those years helped shaped Glenn's beliefs and philosophies, just as Glenn helped shaped America during his military service, his days as an astronaut, and as a senator. More than just a recitation of names and events, Glenn presents an enlightening perspective on himself and of those events in the world that made him who he is.