First On The Moon: A Voyage With Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins [And] Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. (Hardcover)

by Neil Armstrong (Author), Michael Collins (Author), Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. (Author), Arthur C. Clarke (Epilogue)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 434 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T) (June 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316051608
• ISBN-13: 978-0316051606
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #352,955 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First On Moon--by far is best non-fiction space book, May 27, 2000

By	anthony j pache jr "tony" (sharpsville, PA United States) - See all my reviews

i'VE JUST FINISHED READING THIS BOOK FOR THE 100TH TIME, SINCE PURCHASING IT 10 YEARS AGO! Ihave always wanted to meet these men [Apollo 11] and this book helps me to know more --especially about Neil Armstrong! When I wrote Neil Armstrong back in 1987, he suggested this as the main book to read from the three Apollo 11 astros. Tells about their lives, the training, how being an astronaut affected them and personal lives, all leading upto, and to splashdown! This book deserves a 10 plus star rating! I'll probably read it another 100 times!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME!!, October 21, 1999

By	Meghan Davis ([e-mail]) (USA) - See all my reviews

This book is one of the most intriguing books on the Apollo 11 missions i have ever read, and i HIGHLY recommend it to anyone interested in the Apollo 11 mission

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars From the Editors of 'Life' Magazine, December 20, 2003

By	Robert I. Hedges - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This was published in 1970, and consists largely of information obtained via the lucrative 'Life' magazine contract that began with the Mercury 7 astronauts. The book is mostly long passages of quotes from Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin, as well as others peripherally related to the mission (families, other astronauts, NASA officials, etc.) sequenced to fit into the defined chapters of the book. Ostensibly Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin are the 'authors' which is true to the extent that they provided the quotes that make up much of the book during interviews by 'Life', but the book was actually written by 'Life' employees.

Having said that, it is not a bad book, it is just very commercial and polished, with mostly a sanitized up close and personal view of the mission through the astronaut's eyes. In that regard, it is quite good: it does shed light on the lives of the three astronauts pre Apollo 11, and is particularly good in discussing background information on childhood, early flying careers, etc. It is particularly useful in relating information on Neil Armstrong, perhaps the most enigmatic of all the Apollo astronauts. That is the main strength of the book: it is a human interest story right out of 'Life' lengthened to 400 plus pages.

On the downside, the book tends to idealize the astronauts and NASA into supermen, and acts as if they have no faults. For this reason I recommend "Carrying the Fire", the superb book by Michael Collins for a true, unvarnished, insider's look at the astronauts and NASA. This book was obviously written immediately after Apollo 11 splashed down in July, 1969. For this reason, it is unable to really place Apollo in historical perspective as well as some of the more recent books have been able to. As for technical information, there really isn't a lot. Of course, that's not the focus of the book, either. The technical information that is presented is generally accurate and well explained, however.

Three stars overall. A good human interest story, but many subsequent books have done a better overall job of appraising Apollo 11 and it's impact.