Ebook Picturing Apollo 11 Rare Views and Undiscovered Moments J L Pickering John Bisney 9780813056173 Books

Product details Hardcover 272 pages Publisher University Press of Florida (April 2, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 0813056179

Picturing Apollo 11 Rare Views and Undiscovered Moments J L Pickering John Bisney 9780813056173 Books Reviews

• In an age where the phrase "print is dead" is becoming more of a reality every day -- and I'm one who for years has preferred to consume his news on a screen rather than paper -- along comes a book filled with images that is best presented as it is a high-quality, bound tome filled with photos precisely arranged to tell the story of what is one of humanity's greatest achievements so far. That achievement -- the 1969 flight of Apollo 11, the first lunar landing -- is reverently presented here as a visual feast that includes an unexpected sense of intimacy that puts the reader right next to the men and women who were involved with every step of the mission, from pre-flight training and hardware assembly to splashdown and the post-mission celebrations.
  
  All of this comes courtesy of authors Pickering and Bisney, who have proven their visual story telling skills with other books collecting images from the space program. This book, like the others, is built from the thousands and thousands of space program-related photographs, negatives, transparencies and digital images they have collected quite literally from childhood. Material sourced from NASA or government contractors working on the Apollo program are supplemented by private news photographers who had a front row seat to Apollo and were willing to share. The brothers Mark and Tom Usciak should be singled out in particular.
  
  As the authors note in their book, the description that these are "rare views and undiscovered moments" is quite true. I have been associated with the space program at Cape Canaveral for more than 30 years and I can vouch for that description. While the book certainly contains a number of photos familiar to anyone who has read even a little about Apollo 11, the vast majority have been seen by very few, if not at all. In any case, the way they are presented here, with accompanying text that is non-technical and helpful, makes it all seem fresh and new. And if you're like me, you will find yourself surprised with what the captions say about these moments captured on film. The one that grabbed me the most and prompted me to just stare at the picture for a long while was one featuring NASA astronaut Ted Freeman in which the caption notes the very next day after this picture was taken Freeman died in a T-38 jet crash.
  
  And that underscores what I think is the true value of this book. It's the human story, the many pictures of people and their faces, that is seen here -- not just endless views of cold machinery and rockets and spacecraft in flight. It took the intelligence, leadership, dedication, talents and just plain hard work of hundreds of thousands of people to make Apollo 11 a reality. "Picturing Apollo" does an outstanding job of reminding us that the voyage from the Earth to the Moon was a human undertaking and a shining moment in the history of mankind.
  
  If you can only make one purchase to satisfy your desire to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 this summer -- of all the other books, DVDs, merchandise and very likely just plain junk that will be offered -- buy this book. Proudly display it on your bookshelf and at every opportunity, show it to your children and grandchildren.
• Spectacular book with amazing pictures. I've been collecting space books for years and this book has pictures that I haven't seen before. The five stars are for the product. Only problem was that doesn't appear to be able ship a book without damage a high percentage of the time.
• There's undoubtedly going to be plenty of coffee table style rehashes of the Apollo 11 mission published this year, most of them filled with well-known photographs and historical errors. Thankfully, and mercifully, this is not one of them. John Bisney and J.L. Pickering have culled nearly 500 images from their massive collection to present an extremely well rounded and intimate photograph study of the first manned moon landing.
  
  Those expecting a compilation of iconic images and Life Magazine-ready pictures of the astronauts and their families are going to be disappointed. All of the Hasselblad photos taken by the crew have been freely available for years, and only about 35 are included here. As hinted in the title, the real highlight of this book is the huge number of obscure and previously unpublished photographs. Along with official NASA imagery, many come from private collections, the Tiziou News Service, the Associated Press, and other media organizations. Every phase of the mission is depicted, from launch vehicle and spacecraft processing, through crew training and final preparations, launch, landing, quarantine, post-flight world tour, and many of the crew's reunions since.
  
  Although most books on Apollo focus either entirely on men or machines, "Picturing Apollo 11" does a fine job depicting both. Alongside photos of the S-IVB umbilical plate and the LM's environmental control unit, we get pictures of Neil and Buzz practicing their EVA procedures, Kurt Debus being interviewed by NBC, huge crowds watching the launch, and the signs of some of the space-themed hotels that popped up on the Cape in the 60s. There are even pictures of the astronauts signing their rental car agreements, Gregory Peck and his wife Veronique visiting the VAB, and the flag and commemorative plaque pre-flight. I've had a hard time writing this review because there's simply no way to describe the huge variety of images presented here without rambling on aimlessly.
  
  In fairness, I'd give this 4.5 stars if I could. On some pages, a number of the photographs are overlapped over the corner of others, which just looks rather sloppy. A slightly larger format would have helped. There are a couple of errors in the captions, including a photograph supposedly taken post-landing which has an awful lot of boot-prints in the lunar surface, and an image of the SM burning up described as the CM re-entering. These aren't major flaws, and they shouldn't deter anyone from buying this book. I'm usually too darn picky to give most space books five stars, but this one actually deserves it, and it makes a fine companion to the Todd Douglas Miller documentary "Apollo 11."
• An awesome look at the Apollo 11 moon mission. At the time I was in grade school and followed everything I could about the Apollo missions. This book goes in to great detail about all stages of the moon mission itself, not really the lunar surface portion. I've been thru this book cover to cover quickly, now to go page by page in slow mosey. The pictures are wonderful with lots of data about what's in the picture and background you won't really get anywhere else.
• A wonderful collection of very rarely seen photos. The book truly gives you a sense of the excitement and anticipation that led to the mission, as well as the post flight activities. A great companion to the two other books in the series which cover Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
• I have some space books, but was hoping this would tell who made the rocket, cm and such things. I did my research but no documents for the things I wanted as proof on Sprague of North Adams, Massachussets. The only good thing are pictures- these are color not black & white. Not even the coin was mention with the saying "From Planet Earth" Sad to say they wasted their talent.