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Amazon.co.uk Review
Imagine yourself in a decaying space station far away from the atmosphere you never realised you needed so badly, not knowing if the next malfunction would kill you or just keep you busy. Dr Jerry M Linenger experienced just this and describes his harrowing but ennobling five months aboard Mir in Off the Planet, a memoir that evokes the excitement of living every day as a life-threatening adventure. Linenger's very personal writing style draws the reader into the story quickly, breezing through his childhood, Annapolis training, medical school and selection as an astronaut, then moving quickly to the Mir assignment and its aftermath.
Linenger isn't shy about sharing his opinions; chapter titles such as "Broken Trust" and "An Attempted Coverup" show his feelings about the bizarre relationship between the crew and mission control that may have kept him and his Russian comrades in constant danger. He also heaps praise on his fellow crew members and family for their strength and perseverance throughout the mission--between communication difficulties, the cloud of doubt surrounding the station's systems, and problems such as fires and toxic fumes, it's a wonder anyone survived with their sanity intact. The full-colour pictures accompanying the text add further insight into life aboard Mir. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir' by Jerry M. Linenger is one of the most readable. Off the Planet sheds new light on such present developments as the Russians' determination to continue the Mir after their repeated commitments to abandon it, combined with their commitments to the International Space Station. The book makes one think that perhaps the United States would be better off partnering in space with, say, Somalia or Lower Slobovia. Russian Psychologist, cure thyself and thy kindred. (The Wahington Times )
The author, a NASA astronaut, orbited the earth more than two thousand times in the space station Mir and became the first American to spacewalk outside a foreign spacecraft. But he paid a high price for these distinctions. Inside, Mir was as mess, and several power failures lefts its inhabitants in total darkness. Worst of all, Linenger reports, was the lack of professionalism among their Russian handlers. "Mission control in Moscow became our enemy rather than our friend." he writes, "our nemesis rather than our support structure." Mission control threatened to cut the Russian astronauts pay if they performed poorly, and dangled bonuses for doing well. And mission control's propensity to micromanage was so extreme that the astronauts had their every activity programmed down to the minute. (The Washington Post Book World ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The author, a NASA astronaut, orbited the earth more than two thousand times in the space station Mir and became the first American to spacewalk outside a foreign spacecraft. But he paid a high price for these distinctions. Inside, Mir was as mess, and several power failures lefts its inhabitants in total darkness. Worst of all, Linenger reports, was the lack of professionalism among their Russian handlers. "Mission control in Moscow became our enemy rather than our friend." he writes, "our nemesis rather than our support structure." Mission control threatened to cut the Russian astronauts pay if they performed poorly, and dangled bonuses for doing well. And mission control's propensity to micromanage was so extreme that the astronauts had their every activity programmed down to the minute. (The Washington Post Book World ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
"YES, I ALWAYS WANTED to be an astronaut." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"YES, I ALWAYS WANTED to be an astronaut." Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read this book after reading the superior 'Dragonfly' by Bryan Burrough, and I was hoping that Burrough's stories of Jerry Linenger's monumental ego were false. Sadly, this book confirms them all- Linenger even admits it (though he says he is not the worst of the astronauts). Some of the opening chapters grate somewhat because of this, as Linenger describes just what an incredibly sucessful specimen of humanity he thinks he is.
Linenger's book does get really good, though, when he gets to MIR. The description of the onboard fire make the whole book worth reading- the bonechilling image Linenger gives is the best I have read, and Linenger's description of the extent and danger of the fire shows just how much it was played down elsewhere at the time. Linenger also gives a wonderful picture of the sheer hard work of life on MIR that Burrough and Colin Foale never quite get across in their books on the same theme.
So, in all, a great read. In some ways, though, I hope it sells badly. Linenger needs the wind knocked out of his sails a bit.
2 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
First of all, I loved the book. I'm approaching codgerhood and first fell in love with the stars and space in the 50's, read Van Vogt & Clark & Asimov and I felt as if I were there with Jerry on the Mir. My brother is a helicopter pilot and I certainly recognize the pilot mentality. I suppose that know-it-all attitude can be abrasive... just realize that it is a necessary part of the pilot's training and mentality...
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
57 reviews
42 of 42 people found the following review helpful
A very human astronaut's tale
28 Feb 2000
Format:Hardcover
I was wrong. I picked up Jerry Linenger's long-overdue book expecting it to be a somewhat bland account of an astronaut's existence aboard Mir. Instead I found it to be eminently readable, and a truly facinating tale, with enough intensely dramatic content to keep me reading beyond each chapter heading. Other reviewers have mentioned his account of the fire aboard Mir - a very harrowing description indeed, but I was fascinated by some of the smaller vignettes, such as his terror at standing on the end of a robotic arm, thrust out and away from the shuttle, feeling like he was in perpetual freefall off a cliff. I've read many books by and about a lot of space explorers, and it was nice to find a solid, human account of life as a recent NASA astronaut. All too often these days the astronauts just seem to be the same person going up on the same shuttle doing the same things, and little is known about them beyond their names. Thank you Jerry for humanising the shuttle-Mir program. But above all else I wish to congratulate him for a superb book written without the ubiquitous ghost-writer. The words are his own, and I feel he's crafted this book superbly. I certainly enjoyed it a great deal, and wish it every success.
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Worthwhile despite being a total ego trip
31 Jan 2002
Format:Hardcover
Jerry Linenger gets rapped in Dragonfly as being a total egotist, and this book does nothing to dispell the notion. He makes sure to mention in great detail the number of advanced degrees he has, his skills as an athlete, the fact that he got a shuttle flight only two years after being chosen as an astronaut, and so on. (Dragonfly makes it clear that the only reason he got a flight was that the Russians forbade rookies aboard Mir, so he had to get a quick flight before reporting for Mir training. Linenger doesn't mention this, nor his mission commander's dissatisfaction with his performance on his one flight.) There's not a whole lot about anyone else in here, and even most of the photographs are of him and him alone. The quality of the writing also makes it clear that he wrote the book himself without the aid of a professional-not that it's bad, but that it could be better. Gene Kranz did the same, but in that case it seemed to work because one got the feeling that the words were coming straight from the heart.
That being said, this remains an interesting book. Linenger is one of only five American astronauts to spend time aboard Mir and the only one (so far) to write a book it. So hearing his thoughts on the preliminary training and the experience itself remain well worth reading, whatever his faults. The most gripping part is his account of the fire onboard Mir, which was far more dangerous than NASA was originally led to believe. He also provides something of the feel of that unique experience, spending five months in cramped and alien quarters with only intermittent contact with his family.
So, in short, Linenger is not someone I'd enjoy spending much time with, I don't think, but I did enjoy reading his book. Recommended for the space enthusiast or anyone interested in a first-person account of the space program.
52 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Jerry's ego is off the planet
4 Aug 2000
Format:Hardcover
No Doubt that Jerry Linenger is a very brave very intelligent guy. But this book is 253 pages of self praise and I could barely get through it, particularly the first few chapters. "I am formally Dr.,Dr.,Dr.,Dr.,Dr. Jerry Linenger" "My name properly written is Jerry Michael Linenger, M.D, M.S.S.M.,M.P.H.,Ph.D." The words 'me,my, I' predominate. Other people in the book are glossed over and no one is as smart and clued in as Jerry. The sequence of events is also organized in a disjointed way, it leaps from the present to the future to the past all within one chapter, and there are 27 chapters. It reads like a collection of articles. And he states and restates the same facts over and over. The book does cover some interesting ground, but overall it was disapointing.
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