Customer Reviews

Journey Beyond Selene: Remarkable Expeditions Past Our Moon and to the Ends of the Solar System

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book focuses entirely on unmanned missions and all the human participants are entirely earth-based, so you might imagine that the story could be quite dry and clinical but Jeffrey Kluger brings the story to life in a most engaging and entertaining way. This book is a real page-turner -- you'll feel compelled to read it from cover-to-cover in one sitting! He brings the characters to life and the long cast involved on some of these amazingly longlived missions. It's a fascinating story with lots of amazing facts that I never knew before the read. And, it's an even better read than "The Race" which has garnered a lot of praise and also a very good book in its own right.

I think most people remotely interested in astronomy will find Kluger's book a worthwhile and informative read. Unmanned space flight is the poor cousin to human exploration of space but the story behind JPL's many probes sent into space is fascinating. Those not interested in space may find the book hard going. The end result however, is a greater understanding of the planetary bodies in our solar system and some of the men behind our greatest astronomical discoveries. The book would have merited five stars had Mr Klugar included more photographs and diagrams.

This is a lively, often anecdotal account of many of the lunar and planetary missions developed by NASA/Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The prologue in particular is overdramatic, but fortunately it settles down after that. The focus is on two projects: JPL's first program, the Ranger lunar missions, and the spectacular Voyager missions to the outer planets. The latter in particular is covered with great thoroughness from program conception to the final flyby, and beyond. It provides some interesting insight into the politics and pragmatism behind these great adventures.

If I have a criticism of this book, it's a simple one: there aren't enough pictures. There are only eight pages worth of color pictures, which isn't enough to do justice even to the Voyager missions. I can only think it was a misguided attempt to save costs.

Overall, though, it's an easy (for this space buff, anyway) and fascinating read about some of the most significant unmanned projects of the space age so far.

I agree with the other positive reviews placed here as of this date; I disagree completely with the Pittsburgh reviewer who panned the book. As a huge fan of Kluger's "Apollo 13" and other, less known writings, I found "Journey Beyond Selene" to be a fascinating and informative read. Although it certainly helps to be interested in space exploration and the space program to begin with, one can enjoy the book without having that orientation. That's because the personal stories behind the purely scientific stories also are so darned interesting. Kudos to Jeffrey Kluger for writing another informative and readable book.

Kluger delivers an absorbing narrative of selected unmanned space exploration missions conducted by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While avoiding arcane technical descriptions, which would be mind numbing to most of the public, he takes the middle ground, weaving personal vignettes with an above average description of the scientific and engineering details. However, his true gift is apparent in his personal description of some of the unsung heroes who made this journey possible. The reader is introduced to individuals like William Pickering, Bill O'Neil, John Casani, and Linda Morabito, just to name a few. These people, who are all but unknown to the public, and their remarkable spacecraft deserve their moment in the spotlight. However, as former JPL Director Dr. Bruce Murray once wrote, "there are no parades for robots." Perhaps, this book will be their march of glory.

A wonderful book on the history of space exploration. Kluger concentrates mainly on the initial efforts to reach the moon with unmanned craft, but has good sections on one of the Apollo missions, as well as Pioneer and Voyager. For a breathtaking look at the inner workings of a space mission, read this book!

Journey beyond Selene, like one of the reviewer has said, is a engaging, anecdote filled book. Overall its a very good book to read. It provides a good amount of information and is fun to read. Well done sir. The reason why I am giving it 4 stars is because it is seriously short on pictures. That would be a wonderful addition to the next edition, if there is one.

Writing with all of the professionalism and sophistication of a gum snapping, smart aleck teenager, Jeffrey Klugar can be added to the growing list of those "dumbing down" science. Journey Beyond Selene could have been an intelligent, fast paced story of unmanned space exploration, self-propelled by the incredible and intriguing nature of the raw subject matter. Instead, Kluger's silly off-track comments and hyperbole make the reading slow and distracting. The appendix is weak. There isn't even a single photograph or drawing of any of the craft or instruments discussed. The editor should be horse whipped.