Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Eugene Cernan is a unique American who came of age as an astronaut during the most exciting and dangerous decade of spaceflight. His career spanned the entire Gemini and Apollo programs, from being the first person to spacewalk all the way around our world to the moment when he left man's last footprint on the Moon as commander of Apollo 17.
Between those two historic events lay more adventures than an ordinary person could imagine as Cernan repeatedly put his life, his family and everything he held dear on the altar of an obsessive desire. Written with New York Times bestselling author Don Davis, this is the astronaut story never before told - about the fear, love and sacrifice demanded of the few men who dared to reach beyond the heavens for the biggest prize of all - the Moon.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Between those two historic events lay more adventures than an ordinary person could imagine as Cernan repeatedly put his life, his family and everything he held dear on the altar of an obsessive desire. Written with New York Times bestselling author Don Davis, this is the astronaut story never before told - about the fear, love and sacrifice demanded of the few men who dared to reach beyond the heavens for the biggest prize of all - the Moon.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From the Author
The development of this book, The Last Man on the Moon
Greetings, Reader: On a bright Florida morning in 1969, I watched in wonder as a huge, magnificent Saturn rocket took off – Destination: Moon. That was Apollo 10, doing a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 landing, and the lunar module pilot aboard that spacecraft was a crew-cut astronaut named Gene Cernan. Although I was one of the reporters covering the launch, I had never met the guy. But almost 30 years later, we have formed a firm friendship, because Gene let me write this book about his incredible life. Neither of us wanted it to be just another astronaut memoir, so we decided from the start to minimize technology and emphasize people. As we worked, I realized it had taken 30 years before one of those pioneer astronauts would break the code of silence and really talk about the sacrifice, the pain, the obsession and the problems of earning a walk on the Moon. Gene’s single rule was that he wanted to put the reader on top of the rocket and on the Moon, right along with him. So if you are looking for a tech manual about how such machines fly, this is not the book for you. We have some that, of course, because we couldn’t tell the story without it, but we kept it to a minimum. I guarantee that you will come to the last page very tired and weary and delighted to have survived so many close calls and to have lived on the Moon for three days. He wrote this with his poet’s heart, not with his engineer’s brain, and result is different than any space book I’ve ever read … and I’ve read them all. You’ll meet the original astros, the wives and children who carried such a lonesome load while their men were gone, thrill at the race with the Soviet Union in the troubled Cold War days, laugh in triumph and grieve in defeat with the people in the early, dangerous days of space exploration as somehow this nation accomplished the impossible, and sent a dozen men to walk on the Moon. And you’ll get a great trivia question answered. Everyone knows what Neil Armstrong’s FIRST words on the Moon were, but what were the LAST words said there by an astronaut, Capt. Gene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17? So, strap on a Saturn V, enjoy the ride and let us hear from you. Don Davis --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Greetings, Reader: On a bright Florida morning in 1969, I watched in wonder as a huge, magnificent Saturn rocket took off – Destination: Moon. That was Apollo 10, doing a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 landing, and the lunar module pilot aboard that spacecraft was a crew-cut astronaut named Gene Cernan. Although I was one of the reporters covering the launch, I had never met the guy. But almost 30 years later, we have formed a firm friendship, because Gene let me write this book about his incredible life. Neither of us wanted it to be just another astronaut memoir, so we decided from the start to minimize technology and emphasize people. As we worked, I realized it had taken 30 years before one of those pioneer astronauts would break the code of silence and really talk about the sacrifice, the pain, the obsession and the problems of earning a walk on the Moon. Gene’s single rule was that he wanted to put the reader on top of the rocket and on the Moon, right along with him. So if you are looking for a tech manual about how such machines fly, this is not the book for you. We have some that, of course, because we couldn’t tell the story without it, but we kept it to a minimum. I guarantee that you will come to the last page very tired and weary and delighted to have survived so many close calls and to have lived on the Moon for three days. He wrote this with his poet’s heart, not with his engineer’s brain, and result is different than any space book I’ve ever read … and I’ve read them all. You’ll meet the original astros, the wives and children who carried such a lonesome load while their men were gone, thrill at the race with the Soviet Union in the troubled Cold War days, laugh in triumph and grieve in defeat with the people in the early, dangerous days of space exploration as somehow this nation accomplished the impossible, and sent a dozen men to walk on the Moon. And you’ll get a great trivia question answered. Everyone knows what Neil Armstrong’s FIRST words on the Moon were, but what were the LAST words said there by an astronaut, Capt. Gene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17? So, strap on a Saturn V, enjoy the ride and let us hear from you. Don Davis --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 1967, was another balmy southern California winter day with temperatures in the low seventies, but a blizzard might as well have been hammering the North American Aviation plant in Downey. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 1967, was another balmy southern California winter day with temperatures in the low seventies, but a blizzard might as well have been hammering the North American Aviation plant in Downey. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Up there with the Michael Collins biography as one of the best astronaut books, this first-person tale of Gene Cernan's NASA career engages not least because of the drama of his three famous missions.
Co-author Davis has helped Cernan tell a complicated story in easy to understand language. Throughout, one picks up on the sheer enthusiasm of this astronaut: his awe and wonder at what he was lucky enough to do. Often self-depracating, he admits difficult moments - the horror of the spacewalk outside Gemini 9 and the frightening malfunction as he approached closer to the Moon than anyone before during Apollo 10, but conveys extremely well the controlled elation of the triumphant Apollo 17, including his and mankind's last steps on the Moon ... for now.
There are thirty-seven photos, the usual mix of family and space-related, the latter set containing little new for the Apollo enthusiast but no less relevant for that.
Do give this book a try. It's clear, interesting and bubbling over with enthusiasm.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Eugene Cernan flew in space three times,twice to the moon. He was pilot of Gemini 9, Lunar module pilot of Apollo 10 and commander of Apollo 17. This is a book charting his missions and experiences from the early days of Gemini to the ultimate goal of landing on the moon. Bieng the last person to step foot on the surface.
It's one hell of a book! exiting and well written. Another book you won't be able to put down.
Only downside, picked up by other readers, is the lack of pictures from the missions and especially the final landing.
I didn't buy the book for the pictures. If you want pictures buy "A MAN ON THE MOON" the 3 volume set,but i'm not reviewing that. If you want a truly exiting,wild ride of book buy this one!!!!
It's one hell of a book! exiting and well written. Another book you won't be able to put down.
Only downside, picked up by other readers, is the lack of pictures from the missions and especially the final landing.
I didn't buy the book for the pictures. If you want pictures buy "A MAN ON THE MOON" the 3 volume set,but i'm not reviewing that. If you want a truly exiting,wild ride of book buy this one!!!!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Forget the "attacks" on some other astronauts (and in my reading I found no attack on Jack Schmitt, quite the opposite). Forget just wanting to read about Apollo. DO read this book for a personal and honest account of how one man felt and how he journeyed from his roots to another world.
I grew up watching the space race from the UK and this account of it from the inside strikes true. I have read some other readers comments, who seem to think it was Captain Cernan's job to agree with them rather than say how he felt. I don't understand their desire for this.
I don't care that the author didn't get on with some of his colleagues - I don't get on with some of mine! For a truly genuine and exciting read, telling it from the heart and not from the populist point of view I have read little better about the USA space programme.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
just about OK but pretty hard going
I was looking forward to reading this book and although it did contain alot of detail about the early years of the space programme for Gemini and Apollo it was in the end spoiled... Read more
Published 11 months ago by David
Impressive
Engrossing, personal and deeply impressive look into Gemini-Apollo phase of the space program. It adds, in a indirect way, to the image of astronauts as incredibly tough, smart,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Sirbu Mihai
gene cernan
A most interesting book did'nt want to put it down. It explained the sheer hard work and guts it took to fly in space. READ IT!
Published 20 months ago by Mrs. Ann Smith
A Personal View of the Space Race
While I enjoyed reading this book, I can see why some people have given it less stars than I have. It is certainly a very personal account of Gene Cernans life and time in the... Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2010 by Mr. M. J. Bowyer
Fascinating insight
I read some mixed reviews for this book before purchasing, but I have to say that the boook is excellent! Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2009 by A. D. McIvor
Very good first hand account of that exciting time
I bought this book along with Michael 'Mike' Collins' account Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys and whilst i would suggest that Collins' book is overall a more enjoyable... Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2008 by Dickie Moore
This book answers the question: What did it feel like?
When I started to read The Last Man on the Moon I wondered: What did it feel like to walk in space and on the moon? I got more than I bargained for. Read more
Published on 31 July 2008 by C. Clayton
Interested in the US Space Program...read this book.
Whether you have a passing interest in the events surrounding the development of the US Space program leading up to putting Mankind on another planet, or are a serious enthusiast,... Read more
Published on 3 Feb 2004
The Last Man On The Moon
Fantastic reading for anyone interested in the Space Race of the 60's and 70's.
Gene Cernan is a true American Hero. Read more
Gene Cernan is a true American Hero. Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2003 by Mr. David A. J. Bowden
A suberb autobiography of a true space hero
Having been a close follower of Lunar landings and space flight in general I was very keen to aquire the autobiography of my hero, Eugene Andrew Cernan. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2001 by gaznjue@tinyworld.co.uk
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
