neilernst reviewed Apollo 8 by Jeffrey Kluger
Review of 'Apollo 8' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The big problem for this book is that nothing untoward happened. It just isn’t a very interesting tale. The Right Stuff tells the early years better; Apollo 13 has the drama.
Most of the book is cribbed together from the official recordings and transcripts of the mission, so you end up with realistic but dull dialogue like “turn knob A to 74”. You could just read those transcripts yourself, as they are publicly available.
The other problem I have with this book is that it glosses over the Civil Rights era. A few casual references to the turmoil in US society at the time (1968), but no in depth look at why there were no black astronauts, why it was seen as ok for the astronaut wives to quit their own studies and raise their families instead. I think there is an interesting contrast to be examined there.
