The Man Who Touched the Sky [Hardcover]

Praise for MUSHROOM:
'Johnny Acton and Nick Sandler have hit the toadstool on their head'

"Praise for MUSHROOM: 'Johnny Acton and Nick Sandler have hit the toadstool on their head' - Mike de Stroumillo, Wild Harvest

‘Expert, beginner or vertigo sufferer, this is entertainment of the highest calibre’

'A ripping yarn of the most heroically vintage Boy's Own variety . . . This book has it all'

'Both zealous and absorbing'

'Breathtaking . . . beautiful, emotional and devoutly humbling. The very best of reading.'

‘A fascinating and exhilarating read, both for thrill-seeking balloonists and the earthbound alike'

‘Expert, beginner or vertigo sufferer, this is entertainment of the highest calibre'

On August 15th 1960, Joe Kittinger went up in a balloon, and kept going up. This is the story of an incredible journey, but beyond that is the biography of man's unfolding relationship with the sky. When Joe Kittinger finally came to a halt, he found himself in a paradoxical world of preternatural colour where the sun blazed from a sky as black as pitch. A few minutes on the very border of space were enough to persuade him to throw himself from his open gondola with relish. This is the tale of the fulfillment of one of our most ancient dreams - to escape the confines of earth and find out exactly what lies beyond the beautiful blue dome of the sky. In the process, it overthrows the universal myth, enshrined in the West in the legends of Icarus and the Tower of Babel, that the realm above the clouds is strictly for the gods.

Johnny Acton was born in 1966. Since studying philosophy and theology at university, he has been variously a mini-cab driver, television researcher, an obituarist for The Times and the founder of a popular chain of soup bars, Soup Works, where he co-authored the books 'Soup' and 'Mushroom'. He currently lives in West London with his wife.