Book Review: Moonshot by Brian Floca

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
by Brian Floca (j629.454 Flo)

Terrific picture-book non-fiction title from author/artist Brian Floca, using the simplest possible terminology (combined with beautiful and highly detailed artwork — both watercolor and acrylic) to capture the basic details of the Apollo 11 mission for young readers. Floca manages to capture the heightened emotional states, and the technical details of what was involved with Apollo 11, without overwhelming kids with too much minutiae.

The opening two-page spread at the front of the book, and the closing two-page spread at the back of the book both feature a lot of the scientific details that are glossed over in the main text. So, in addition to being a a simple but emotional story, this book also provided a true learning experience for kids. I really enjoyed this book!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to check out the extensive list of materials assembled as a booklist on the libraries’ BookGuide resources, called One Small Step… for tons of great Apollo 11 and NASA reading and viewing suggestions! For both adults AND youth!]

[ official Moonshot page on the official Brian Floca web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

New Booklist on BookGuide: One Small Step...

Back in July 2019, the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of Man first stepping on the surface of the moon, during the Apollo 11 mission. Over the past 50 years, but especially in 2019 on that silver anniversary, numerous books have been produced that chronicled the history of NASA and the days before, during and after Project Apollo.

We've added an extensive booklist to the resources on BookGuide, listing all of the materials in the Lincoln City Libraries' collection that chronicle this subject -- books, DVDs, CDs, and even a unique and rare collection of newspaper/magazine articles on microfilm. If you've ever been fascinated by NASA's efforts to reach the Moon and expand the horizons of mankind's knowledge, you'll want to check out the many items included in this "booklist".

Check out the list of recommended materials at the following link: 

One Small Step...Non-Fiction and Fiction about Project Apollo

DVD Review: Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures
[DVD Hidden]

This 2016 film is a historical biopic, loosely based on the non-fiction book of the same title by Margot Lee Shetterly. It looks at the experiences of three African-American female scienctists working at NASA during the early days of the space race in the early 1960s. Taraji P. Henson plays Katherine Johnson (nee Goble), a brilliant mathematician who is ultimately called upon to calculate the flight trajectories of the Mercury flights and other missions. Janelle Monae plays Mary Jackson, an engineer in training who joins the team working on the heat shields for the Mercury vehicles, helping to identify a fatal flaw in their designs. And Octavia Spencer is Dorothy Vaughn, who initially serves as the “acting supervisor” for the African-American workers on the project, and then learns FORTRAN computer programming (from library books!) and teaches it to her team, in order to form one of the earliest computer programming units within NASA. Additional cast members include Kevin Costner, Mahershala Ali, Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons.

The film highlights both the racial and sexual prejudices the three central characters faced and overcame in their careers at NASA, and shines a light on a little-known chapter in America’s history of space exploration. Indeed, I was completely unaware of the events chronicled in this film, including Katherine Johnson’s incredible contributions to the Mercury program. Oddly enough, about the same time this film was in theaters, an episode of the NBC time travel series Timeless also touched on this exact same storyline. I was fascinated by the events portrayed in this film, and enjoyed reading even more about it in Shetterly’s book.

[Also available in traditional print format, by Margot Lee Shetterly.] [ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: First Man

First Man
[DVD First]

Oscar winners Damien Chizelle and Ryan Gosling, who worked together on La La Land, reunited to work on this marvelous film about Neil Armstrong as he was selected to be part of the Apollo program, assigned to be the leader of the Apollo 11 mission, and ultimately was the first man to set foot on the surface of the Moon. The film is based on the book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen. In addition to Gosling as Armstrong, the film also stars Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Ciarán Hinds, Christopher Abbott, Patrick Fugit, and Lukas Haas.

The film is far more a biographical portrait of Armstrong than it is an exploration of the Apollo program and Apollo 11 mission. While those significant events form an important backdrop to the movie’s plot, it’s most emotional moments come in looks at Armstrong’s personal life. Neil Armstrong was historically known as a rather reserved individual, and Gosling plays that very effectively — in fact as I sat in the theater watching this film, I almost felt he was too emotionally disconnected. But, in retrospect, the film portrays his reaction to the loss of his young daughter very realistically — a loss that results in a very poignant moment when Armstrong actually finds himself on the lunar surface.

The performances in this film are tremendous, as is both the production design (the “look” of the film) and the soundtrack. But the true shining star is the special effects, which won the Academy Award for SFX. In particular, the meticulously recreated sequence in which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin bring the lunar lander to the moon’s surface is nail-bitingly intense. If this was supposed to be primarily about the Apollo 11 mission, I might’ve been a little disappointed in this film. But since it is more a biographical portrait of Armstrong leading up to the moon landing, as indicated by the title First Man, I found this to be an excellent film, well worth the viewing experience.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the From the Earth to the Moon mini-series, To the Moon (a special on NOVA) or In the Shadow of the Moon (a documentary film by Ron Howard), or the Neil Armstrong biographies First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen and Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight by Jay Barbree.]

[Also available in traditional print format.] [ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official First Man web site ]

Read Charlotte M.’s review of Jay Barbree’s book Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight from January 2015

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: The Ordinary Spaceman by Clayton Anderson

The Ordinary Spaceman: From Boyhood Dreams to Astronaut
by Clayton Anderson [Biography Anderson]

Clayton Anderson is Nebraska’s contribution to the astronaut corps. He famously applied to the astronaut program 15 times before finally being accepted. I met him when he was on book tour in Lincoln while promoting this book. I enjoyed his talk, and found him personable and humorous.

His book is so interesting as he relates a lot of behind-the-scenes stories not usually shared in other astronaut memoirs. He writes about the process for acceptance into the space program, the training involved, and the politics and stress with so many high achievers. He was required to learn Russian for one of his missions and spent many months in Russia training and discusses how difficult his absence was on both he and his family. We re-live the sorrow of the Challenger tragedy when he writes about his role as one of the family escorts.

An enjoyable book full of laughter, grief, and astronaut stories, this is a quick, engrossing read even at 400 pages.

[ publisher’s official Ordinary Spaceman web site ] | [ official Clayton Anderson Twitter feed ] | [ Clayton Anderson’s NASA biography page ]

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Sex on the Moon

Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History
by Ben Mezrich [629.4 Mez]

The true story of Thad Roberts, a third-year NASA co-op, who stole moon rocks in July, 2002 from a NASA safe and tried to sell them online. So titled because he put a small bag of samples from Apollo 11 on a bed beneath the sheets and he and his girlfriend had sex on the moon rocks. The story begins at high school for Thad as his strictly religious father throws him out of the house for having sex with his girlfriend. They eventually marry while he attends college and wins a co-op to NASA. Thad is living the dream (at least for us space fans) but his marriage is falling apart when he meets a fellow co-op. Spurred by his desire to impress her, he embarks on this insane scheme. Interesting to see how easily he actually accomplished the theft, and wish the author had mentioned how NASA changed security protocols (if they changed protocols and did heads roll?), but as a frustrated space cadet this reader couldn't believe how he threw it all away. It's especially interesting to follow the story of the European rock hound who answers Thad's offer to sell the moon rocks. You'll spend most of your reading time slapping your forehead with your hand saying, "What was he thinking?!" but you can't put down this tale of stupidity until the bitter end. -- recommended by Charlotte K. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in downloadable audio, book-on-cd formats.]

[ official Ben Mezrich web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.