Sky High: Stories of Survival from Air to Space [Paperback]

Clint Willis (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 10, 2002

As proven by Wild Blue, Adrenaline's first collection of airborne adventures, the best writing about flying includes all the elements of great drama: mortal danger, high stakes, and individuals with not much more than their wits to rely on. Clint Willis's latest collection, Sky High, raises the stakes even further with a greater focus on the men and women who fly in space. From smashing the sound barrier to the struggles required to get a man into orbit (and then back again), from the first trips to the moon to today's space station pioneers and paying passenger astronauts, Sky High includes great writing by and about those who have been among the boldest explorers of the past century. From those who led the way (Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, and Neil Armstrong) to world class writers and journalists (Norman Mailer to Bryan Burrough) to lesser-known authors, Sky High gives readers more of the aeronautic thrills that made Wild Blue take off. "Try Adrenaline Books.... In three years, this 20-volume anthology series has earned a cult following."—ESPN the Magazine

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (December 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560254599
• ISBN-13: 978-1560254591
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,277,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great blend of aerial combat and adventure -, January 2, 2003

By 

Andrew Entwistle (Schodack, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sky High: Stories of Survival from Air to Space (Paperback)

A worthy successor to "Wild Blue", which is still one of the series' very best volumes in my opinion. Sky High is 300 pages, 12 nonfiction tales and a selection from H.G. Wells' First Men in the Moon. I'd have preferred another true story, but that's me. There are two WWI flying tales, and a pair of WWII stories, one very good. Rounding out the military aviation is a complete article about several days spent on a modern aircraft carrier - strong stuff. Yeager tells of breaking the sound barrier (Wolfe's version was excerpted in "Wild Blue"); in Sky High the excerpt from Wolfe's 'The Right Stuff' is about John Glenn orbiting the earth, and it's terrific. Gene Cernan describes the tensions of walking in space and an excerpt from Chaikin's 'A Man on the Moon' details the horrifying Apollo fire that killed astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee. Personally I think these 'space stories' are the three best in the book. Rounding it all out - an interesting full piece on crop dusting, a tribute to an Alaskan Bush pilot and a not-so interesting story about a nature writer who survives a plane crash (my least favorite, luckily at the end where it doesn't interupt the flow of adrenaline.) Three of the 13 selections are complete, the rest are excerpted. This volume lives up to the 'adrenaline' rush the cover promises and if you like it, don't forget to check out "Wild Blue".