Long ago, our reading habits were quite different. But now, as we are going digital, instead of keeping a physical copy on the bookshelf, I have decided to use Goodreads as my external memory drive.

This book is essentially like "The Right Stuff". I believe I read it around the same time. It offers a fabulous, gripping, and comprehensive fictionalized account of the personalities involved in the creation and development of NASA from its inception through 1982. Here's a true story: This book, along with Michener's "Poland", was so excellent that it convinced me to read everything he published with a black cover.

The detailed and engaging narrative in this book makes it a must-read for anyone interested in the history of NASA and the people who made it possible. It brings to life the challenges, triumphs, and sacrifices of those early days.

Using Goodreads as my external memory drive allows me to easily access and recall my thoughts and impressions of this book, as well as discover new books that might interest me.

In conclusion, going digital has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for our reading experiences, and I'm excited to see where this journey takes us.

This story unfortunately gets caught in a conflict between science and religion, perhaps because of Michener's own beliefs.

Consequently, this historical space fiction loses some of its potential and gravitates towards the earth.

It's a pity that what could have been a more profound exploration of the intersection of science and the unknown is somewhat limited by this internal struggle.

Rated 6 out of 10 stars, it shows promise but fails to fully deliver on its ambitious premise.

The conflict between science and religion is a complex and often controversial topic, and while Michener attempts to address it, the result is a story that feels a bit weighed down.

Nevertheless, there are still aspects of the book that are engaging and值得一读, but it ultimately falls short of being a truly great work of historical space fiction.

Michener's "My first book" is truly a remarkable piece of work. It has captured my attention from the very beginning and left me eager for more. It's not just a book; it's an experience that takes you on a journey through the author's thoughts and ideas.

Certainly, this won't be my last encounter with Michener's writing. His style is engaging and his stories are captivating. I was so impressed that I immediately went to Amazon and ordered my next one. I can't wait to see what other treasures he has in store for me.

I highly recommend "My first book" to anyone who loves to read. It's a book that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page. Whether you're a fan of fiction or non-fiction, Michener's work is sure to satisfy. So, go ahead and give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

I haven't read a Michener book for a long time. In fact, I've not really read many Michener books at all. I think the last one I read was Caravans. However, after reading Space, I'm eager to read more of his works. His books, often historical fiction, are of epic proportions and are well-researched.

I loved how Space combined historical characters and events, such as facts about space, NASA, and the Apollo Moon Program, with fictional characters and intertwined them, creating a very believable story. It sets the historical context for the US space program by first following historical and fictional characters in WWII. There are rocket scientists and engineers who designed the dreaded V2 rockets and had even bigger aspirations to make intercontinental rockets, as well as military characters who fought in the Battle of Leyte Bay in the Philippines against all odds with the Japanese Navy.

Interestingly, this book was first published the year I was married, and this paperback copy is a book we've been carrying around with us since around its 6th printing in 1985, before we headed off to NW China in 1987. Wow, we've been hauling this around for a long, long time, and now it's finally been read and greatly enjoyed!

Interesting and well-written. In my opinion, it is the most readable book he has written. Maybe it's just that I find the subject matter extremely interesting. It serves as a great start to the U.S. space program, but it is by no means all-inclusive. He could have effortlessly expanded this into a trilogy. If there was any shortcoming, it was the limitations of the book. It only scratched the surface of the vast and complex U.S. space program. There were many aspects that could have been explored in more depth. For example, the political and economic factors that influenced the development of the space program were only briefly mentioned. Additionally, the personal stories and experiences of the astronauts and scientists involved could have added more depth and humanity to the narrative. Despite these limitations, the book is still a great read and provides a good introduction to the U.S. space program.

This is a very interesting read.

However, the book was incredibly dense, which made it a bit challenging to get through at times.

Despite this, I still overall enjoyed it.

The author presented a lot of complex ideas and concepts in a relatively short amount of space, which required me to really think and process what I was reading.

But, as I persevered, I found that the book had a lot of depth and substance.

It made me consider things from different perspectives and gave me a new appreciation for certain topics.

I would definitely recommend this book to others who are looking for a thought-provoking read, even if it does require a bit of effort to fully understand.

The older I grow, the more I feel like I'm emerging victorious - or at least not losing - in the battle against my completist tendency. I'm penning a review of this flawed novel after reading just 470 pages, as a celebration of once again conquering my completist impulse. I don't have to finish every book I start, especially when they're bad.

While reading "Space," I wonder if I was too lenient with the first Michener I read, "Hawaii," or if this one is just a subpar Michener. (It might be the latter, as it doesn't follow his formula and lacks what I suspect made him so popular: focusing on the perspectives of different cultures in one novel when most mainstream American authors didn't.)

The flaws that were obvious in "Hawaii" are also present here: the novel is far too long, it's too much of a celebration without a critical eye (more on that later), and so on. But there are a few really significant flaws that make this novel rather brutal and ultimately lead me to abandon it slightly over halfway through, after my nth complaint to my girlfriend when she encouraged me (for the nth time) to stop reading something I hated. (Thanks!)

One major flaw is that the characters are extremely underdeveloped, despite Michener devoting 176 pages (yes, you read that right! 176 pages!) to their collective backstories. They're archetypes rather than real people, meant to represent specific types (as Michener sees them) who serve the space program in one way or another. Some of them have highly unrealistic roles (such as the wife of one astronaut who is the lead council for the space committee), but most are just portraits of people, not actual people. The worst character is Stanley Mott, the protagonist, if we can even call him that. Mott seems to substitute for 8 - 10 different real people in the actual space program as his skills change to suit the needs of Michener's narrative. A man like this, who held so many jobs in the space program, couldn't have existed, or if he did, he would have been bad at at least one of his countless new jobs. We're supposed to believe that this one guy is a brilliant engineer, a brilliant scientist (despite being portrayed as ignorant of various things many times), and an amazing people person? I've never met anyone like this. He's absurd. He's just a plot device.

Michener also has a strange - and very American - distrust of theoretical scientists in favor of the more "blue collar" engineers. It's very odd, considering how important both of these jobs were for the space program. But, like any true American, Michener wants to celebrate those who work with their hands more than those who think. Even the men with PhDs in this novel aren't nerds. It's really strange.

But perhaps the biggest flaw (depending on how much you hate bad characters) is Michener's (once again, entirely American) celebration of the great myths of the space program. Michener looks at everything that happened with what appears to be a completely uncritical eye - it was necessary because it happened. Even only halfway through the novel, there are numerous instances where Michener presents scenes that should be considered offensive to the 1982 reader (maybe not, as I was only 1 at the time), but which Michener presents without any kind of critical eye, irony, or anything like that. This includes both his treatment of women and his treatment of non-white people (the latter a real surprise for Michener given "Hawaii"). Yes, depicting isn't the same as condoning, but it's hard to tell that Michener isn't condoning this behavior because he seems to think everything in this is necessary so that America can land a man on the moon.

What's the justification for the space program according to Michener? Propaganda, I think. If that's the real justification for the space program, Michener should have been a bit more critical of that idea, even back in 1982, right? And that's the problem with this novel: everything the US did to get into space is justified, and the way they did it - or rather, the way the dominant narrative of how they did it - is presented here unquestioned, as if it was the myth of the American space program - a bunch of able-bodied, can-do Americans working together to beat the Russians to the moon - that is of interest. Michener's novel is mythology, not literature, and with those flimsy characters, it's not even good mythology.

This brings me to the section from 458 to 470, where Michener attempts to address why there weren't any black people in the space program. (Clearly, Michener didn't do enough research to familiarize himself with the history that inspired "Hidden Figures.") Michener wants you to believe that the honorable white men responsible for the space program were accidentally prejudiced against black people, but... but!... when upstanding members of the black community brought this to their attention, these honorable white men did everything they could - everything! - to find qualified black men to be in the space program. Only there weren't any. At all. In the entire United States of America. Michener wants us to believe that in 1965, there wasn't a single African American qualified to be an astronaut or a member of Mission Control. So these honorable white men used affirmative action to put some less-than-capable black men (not women, of course) in the picture because, in Michener's eyes, affirmative action was all about appearances and not about combating systemic racism.

I mean, seriously. I thought Michener was pretty progressive in "Hawaii," but it's hard to believe the same man wrote this. I guess what seemed progressive in the 1950s seems regressive now, but it's hard to believe that the man who wrote "Hawaii" actually believes that the only point of opening up job opportunities to people of color is so that the workforce is proportional to the population.

This section was the final straw. After reading it, I lay in bed thinking, is this really just what the Senator believes, or is it what Michener believed, or is it what Michener thought America believed (and so must be reflected back)? Whatever the case, Michener presents it like everything else in this book: as necessary. All so that a couple of "genius" can-do white Americans can walk on the moon. (To what end? He never says. At least, not in the half I read.) Having read this, Michener now strikes me as one of those white men who refuse to acknowledge both male privilege and white privilege and continue to insist that everyone got the same systemic advantages they did.

Save yourself the mental energy. Read "The Right Stuff" instead. At least that's honest.

An "oldie but goodie" - I read this book for a very special reason.

Next month, I'll be accompanying my 10-year-old granddaughter on a Space and Aviation adventure in Kansas as part of the Road Scholar Intergenerational program.

This book was one of only two on the "recommended" list. I've always had a fondness for Michener's works, so I thought I'd give it a go.

And I was truly not disappointed. Although I had a tendency to "skim" over the scientific jargon, the book, which was originally published in the 1980s (when this granddaughter's parents were toddlers!), managed to hold my interest throughout.

It also impressed me anew with the remarkable accomplishments made in space during the last half of the previous century.

Furthermore, the characters in the book were likeable, and their fictional stories were believable, adding to the overall charm and appeal of the book.

It was a great read that I would highly recommend to others.

A sprawling novel that delves into the development of the space industry, yet it serves merely as a means to explore the intellectual climate of 20th century America. The build-up,尽管缓慢, was captivating, and the culmination truly took my breath away. I was so moved that I actually teared up in the last 10 pages, which centered around an academic conference, proving Michener's mastery. What intrigued and perplexed me the most is that Michener seems to redeem religious thought at the end. Throughout the novel, he emphasized the ills and harms of abused and abusive religion, without highlighting the best that sincere and careful religious thinking can offer. Had he focused more on the positive aspects of religious thinking, the ending might have landed more effectively. Nevertheless, Michener once again swept me away, and I couldn't stop telling my husband to read the darn thing already. And I'm telling you the same.

Takes awhile as he obviously did his homework and wrote it in fiction.

He spent a significant amount of time on this task. It is evident that he put in the effort to research and gather information before starting to write.

The fact that he chose to write it in a fictional style adds an interesting dimension to the piece. It allows him to be more creative and imaginative, perhaps presenting ideas and concepts in a unique and engaging way.

By using fiction, he can also explore different perspectives and emotions that might not be as easily accessible in a non-fiction work.

Overall, it is clear that he took his time and did a great job with this piece of writing.

On my list of favorite books now stands this remarkable one.

My husband presented it to me during our dating days - a surprise package dispatched via the mail from a secondhand bookstore. I initially postponed reading it out of fear that I wouldn't take a liking to it. I thought it might be outdated, overly detailed (my mom dislikes Michener for precisely this reason), and I had already seen 'The Right Stuff'. However, reading it served as further evidence that he knows me extremely well.

Michener's style might be too detailed for some, but I adored the way he constructed this story piece by piece. There is a passage in the book where a reporter describes the process of painting Korean pottery, and it could very well summarize his writing method - layer upon layer, detail upon detail. The book granted me such a profound appreciation of the race to send a man to the moon. It's one thing to simply read the facts, but to have it narrated through the multiple perspectives of characters with whom you become connected, and to learn just how much effort went into it through symbolic individuals - it's truly breathtaking. Amidst the success, there was an abundance of sacrifice.

The book also deepened my understanding of how long-standing some of the back-and-forth arguments regarding NASA are. Virtually all of the political issues we hear about nowadays were already in play back then. Even the scientific debate of sending men versus machines was being discussed early in the story. I was astonished by a sub-plot involving a religious and scholarly charlatan that would be believable even today (unfortunately).

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who has a passion for learning about the history of our space program and the efforts that went into it. It's a beautiful story, exquisitely told, that will resonate with me for a very long time.

I haven't delved into a Michener novel for quite a few years. However, there were numerous ones that I adored in the past - Chesapeake, Mexico, Texas, and many more. So, when I chanced upon this particular book in a thrift store, I thought it would offer a refreshing change.

My initial inkling that this might not be everything I had hoped for came with the fictional state of Fremont. I voiced my complaint to my husband, wondering why on earth Michener would feel the need to invent a state. Then, the sporadic mentions of religion made me suspect that it was the author's personal views rather than the historical narrative speaking.

I simply couldn't bring myself to read any further when I reached the part where the reporter was depicting Debby Dee Claggett and Penny Pope as enormous PR problems. I'm well aware of the attitude towards women in the 1960s as I was alive during that era. But I had picked up this book with the intention of reading about the space program, not about such matters. After enduring 320 pages of misgivings, this was the final straw that tipped the scale. I truly don't know if I will ever pick up a Michener book again.