Amazon.com: Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys: Michael Collins: Books

Review

“Collins tells what his space journeys meant to him as a human being [and] discusses the role of man amid the multitudinous mechanical marvels . . . Profoundly affecting.” —The New Yorker

“Michael Collins can write . . . No other person who has flown in space has captured the experience so vividly.” —Henry S.F. Cooper, Jr., The New York Times Book Review

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
The Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 astronaut tells first hand of his journeys into space and his arrival on the moon.

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Product Details

Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Cooper Square Press (June 25, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 081541028X
ISBN-13: 978-0815410287
Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #238,055 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
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#4 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British > Collins, Michael
#29 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Astronauts

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Citations (learn more)

59 books cite this book:

The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution, Second Edition (Library of Flight Series) by Frank White on 9 pages
The Moonlandings: An Eyewitness Account by Reginald Turnill on 5 pages
Flight A Celebration of 100 Years In Art And Literature by Anne Collins Goodyear on page 171, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA by Mark E. Byrnes on page 180, page 181, and Back Matter
Mastering the Sky: A History of Aviation from Ancient Times to the Present by James P. Harrison on page 268, page 311, and Back Matter

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	83% buy the item featured on this page: Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys 4.7 out of 5 stars (47) $13.57
	6% buy A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts 4.9 out of 5 stars (119) $12.24
	4% buy The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space 4.4 out of 5 stars (98) $10.85
	4% buy Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond 4.3 out of 5 stars (102) $10.88

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Customer Reviews

47 Reviews

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.7 out of 5 stars (47 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book - Tells What it Was Like, August 3, 2000

By	John D'angelo (Westchester County, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys (The Adventure Library , No 15) (Hardcover)

I found this book by referral from other's reviews of lesser astronaut books. Several reviews said, in effect, "don't read this book but find yourself a copy of Carrying the Fire." So I did and now I know what they meant.

Michael Collins was the third astronaut on the famous Apollo 11 flight that landed on the moon in July, 1969. Unfortunately, because he wasn't one of the two in the Lunar Module, he isn't often mentioned. He stayed in lunar orbit as the Command Module Pilot. This book is Collins' telling of what it was like to be an astronaut, both in the Gemini and Apollo programs. He talks about the astronaut selection process, and what it was like to go through it. And he tells the story - from a very personal perspective, of what it was like, what he felt, what he worried about, what angered him, and well...you get the idea - of preparing for and flying a Gemini and Apollo mission.

Because this is his story, and his first person telling of the story, there isn't really anything here about the lunar landing itself. Rather, he talks about what he was doing when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the moon.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It often made me laugh out loud and I certainly believe that I now know how Collins felt during his tenure as one of America's Astronauts. I found the book both well-written and engaging. I also found, to my surprise, that this is a humble, revealing and candid story. Highly recommended if you are interested in the genre.

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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Question About It--The Best Astronaut Memoir Ever!, April 30, 2004

By	Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

There have been several excellent Apollo astronaut memoirs, especially Gene Cernan's "The Last Man on the Moon" and Jim Lovell's "Lost Moon," which was made into the feature film "Apollo 13." This one is still the most honest and reflective of them all. It extends a tradition of the aviator as litterateur into the age of space travel.

Collins had an illustrious career as an astronaut. Chosen in the third group of astronauts in 1963, he served as backup pilot for Gemini VII, pilot for Gemini X, and command module pilot for Apollo 11. On that last mission he became the loneliest man in the universe when his two crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, landed on the Moon while he remained in orbit around the Moon in the Command Module. In "Carrying the Fire" Collins writes of his solitude in lunar orbit in July 1969. As he disappeared on the backside of the Moon from Earth, he recalled, "I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life, I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God only knows what on this side. I feel this powerfully-not as fear or loneliness-but as awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation. I like the feeling. Outside my window I can see stars-and that is all. Where I know the moon to be, there is simply a black void, the moon's presence is defined solely by the absence of stars." He compared it to being in a skiff in the middle of the ocean with only the stars above and black water below. It proved a profoundly moving experience for him.

Michael Collins left NASA in 1970 and became the first director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, continuing to write eloquently of the possibilities of spaceflight. Among other works he published "Liftoff: The Story of America's Adventure in Space" (1988) and "Mission to Mars" (1990), a powerful exposition on the value of a human mission to Mars.

"Carrying the Fire" is the first candid book about life as an astronaut. The author comments on other astronauts, describes the seemingly endless preparations for flights to the Moon, and assesses the results. He also describes what he thinks of as the most important perspective that emerged from his flight, a realization of the fragility of the Earth. He wrote that "from space there is no hint of ruggedness to it; smooth as a billiard ball, it seems delicately poised on its circular journey around the Sun, and above all it seems fragile...Is the sea water clean enough to pour over your head, or is there a glaze of oil on its surface?...Is the riverbank a delight or an obscenity? The difference between a blue-and-white planet and a black-and-brown one is delicate indeed."

It is a powerful and moving memoir. Read it more than once and lend copies to your friends. You, and they, will not be disappointed.

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, 20 years on, March 27, 2000

By	Vaughn Davis (Auckland New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys (The Adventure Library , No 15) (Hardcover)

I admit it, I took this book out from the school library when I was 12 and still have it 20 years later. Even at five cents a week, the overdue fees are not worth thinking about. As a schoolkid in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, not many of us dreamed we could ever be astronauts. After reading this book, I did. It didn't matter that by the early 1980s when I read Carrying the Fire there was no manned space programme to speak of. It didn't much matter that I didn't become an astronaut, just a military pilot.

What matters is that Colins's story touched, inspired and motivated me to believe I could do anything I put my mind to, and showed that there's more to success than glory, adulation or being the one kids can remember in history quizzes.

Good on you, Michael Collins. You're an inspiration. All you Amazonians out there who've leapt onto the space history band-chariot since Apollo 13/Earth to the Moon, take note. This is where it started. Find a copy and read it (just don't bother trying to get one from the Hutt Valley High School Library - it's out on loan right now.)

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars If you Love Space travel it's a must��
Michael Collins gives us a fascinating description of all his ordeal in the space program, since he is the unsung Hero for Apollo 11, he can give us a very special view of all the... Read more

Published 15 days ago by Bertah Elena Delgado Salinas

5.0 out of 5 stars Collins Sense of humor
Michele Collins sure has a unique personality, on one side he is a great American hero and history maker, on the other side his sense of humor is so overwhelming to let the reader... Read more

Published 8 months ago by H. Y. ELBATAWI

4.0 out of 5 stars Where is our next generation of heroes?
Collins writes a richly detailed and intelligent account, laced with smart-alecky humor, of what it was like to join the astronaut corps, the training and planning that go into a... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Elizabeth Clare

5.0 out of 5 stars You Won't Want to Put It Down
My father gave me his copy of CARRYING THE FIRE in 1975 when I was eleven. His recommendations were rare, so I knew the book was special--I was not disappointed. Read more

Published 11 months ago by J. Smales

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Astronaut books
Of all the astronaut bios & autobios this one is the best. Michael Collins' style is natural and funny.

Published 12 months ago by Edward J. Gerecs

5.0 out of 5 stars Carrying The Fire: An Astronauts Journeys by Michael Collins
I was reading Deke! By Donald K. (Deke) Slayton and Michael Cusset. Deke Slayton was the highly respected chief astronaut and godfather to the astronauts of the Mercury, Gemini... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Barry M. Porteous

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
The best (and one of the earliest) book by an Apollo astronaut. Very witty, with candid appraisals of other astronauts. Actually written by the astronaut himself. Read more

Published 15 months ago by S. Litchfield

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
I've read a fair number of books on Apollo, but not very many astronaut biograpies. I chose this one mostly because of its good reviews on this page! Read more

Published 18 months ago by Thomas F. Cunningham

5.0 out of 5 stars What a ride!
Having read a lot from Gemini-thru Apollo, this is by far the best book yet. Collins and the writter do such a great job on details and made for an very interesting read. Read more

Published 20 months ago by Keith David

5.0 out of 5 stars great book
I read this when it was first published, and read it again twice. It's wonderful - it gives you a sense of what the astronaut program was like, what it was intended to do, and... Read more

Published 22 months ago by coffee drinker

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