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Light This Candle: The Life and Times of Alan Shepard, America's First Spaceman
 
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Light This Candle: The Life and Times of Alan Shepard, America's First Spaceman (Hardcover)

by Neal Thompson (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Crown Publications (Mar 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0609610015
  • ISBN-13: 978-0609610015
  • Product Dimensions: 24.4 x 16.3 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 485,175 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Synopsis
A portrait of Mercury Seven team member Alan Shepard, America's first man into space, describes his achievements as a test pilot, competitive nature, and career-challenging struggles with illness.

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Al Shepherd a true hero., 18 Mar 2005
By A Customer
I have always been a space cadet and, when this book was given to me as a present I jumped in feet first to find out more about the man who heralded America's entry into manned spaceflight.

The book itself is remarkably absorbing and easy to read, with a very " hard to put down feel to it".

It tells the story of Al Shepherd from his formative years in East Derry, to joining the U.S Navy, eventually ending up at Pax River as a test pilot, and then when the call came to join Nasa he was first in queue.

This is where the book has a shortcoming,I found the author was lacking slightly in some of the technical aspects of the Freedom 7 sub-orbital flight and Shepherds later Apollo 14 flight, and whilst this does not really detract from the book I feel he could have researched some of the aspects a lot more deeply and
accuratley.

That said when I closed the book I was rather sad that this remarkable mans story was over. A must read for anyone with an interest in the heroes of spaceflight.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Gives us the man rather than the missions..., 10 May 2007
By Mr. N. Bovaird (Loughborough, leics United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The book does live up to half of its title for sure. It really gives a great appreciation of Alan Shepard the man warts and all. I should imagine that his peers would probably have agreed with a lot of what is written, as most of what is described has been suggested in other books of the genre. I do have to agree with another review on this book though, it certainley seems to be lacking in details when it comes to what he was most famous for, his two space flights. As a matter of fact his trip to the moon is really a little bit too light on details, and it appears that the author really wanted to get his personality across rather than give much away about either of his space flights. It is nicely written and well paced, although I did find myself wondering just exactly when we were going to get to the space flight bit. As previously mentioned it does give us a good idea of what type of personality the man had, but I feel that sometimes it doesnt comment upon the context that these particular character traits came to the forefront. It gives us the context in generous proportions, but it would have been nice to be reminded that some of these traits were pretty much neccersary for the man to become who he became. Without this commentary, it could possibly be too easy to attach negativity to the same. Having said that, the ending does really round things out, and ammends are made. I enjoyed the book very much and would certainley recommend it.
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