Book Post : Apollo's Legacy : Perspectives on the Moon Landings

Book Post : 22

Book Name : Apollo's Legacy : Perspectives on the Moon Landings

Author : Roger D. Launius

Genre : Non-Fiction/Science

What is it about?: Written by NASA's chief historian from 1990 to 2002 this book is a history of the Apollo program, which put humankind on the moon, and also talks about different points of view of the program and how some of them have changed or not changed over the years. 

How I came to read it : Casual browsing in my local library lead me to this book and since recent news have been dominated by Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson space flights I thought Ill read something about Humankind's biggest achievement till date. The moon landings. 

   

Did I like it? : A bit on the fence on this one. So unlike my usual posts I am going to keep this one a bit short. If you are looking at purely the story of the Apollo missions then this book is not the one. There are a few chapters on the actual story but the rest of the book is about the perceptions of the people about the achievement. The author also takes a look at the different aspects of the whole endeavor. The technology, the astronauts, useful research that has come out of it, its impacts on everyday life and how people remember it now. He also talks about the three main narratives that sprang up during and after the moon landing missions. One is that the whole mission was a technological high and it has resulted in many useful scientific advances which have translated into human life. The second is that there was no need for man to go to moon at that point in time as there were a number of other problems where efforts could have gone in and that would have resulted in much better results for humankind. The author explores these two points in depth often jumping from the past to the present. Surprisingly the author devotes an entire chapter to the third narrative: the conspiracy theories. The fact that a number of prominent people had to even entertain the existence of these conspiracy theories shows how ignorance and stupidity when spread into large numbers poses a real problem. Overall, the book is interesting if you are interested in the perceptions of the mission and not the mission itself. I am not in that category so this was a bit of uninteresting read for me. Twice I thought of abandoning the book but soldiered on just to finish what I started. 

PS: I believe that moon landings were indeed a technological marvel and it has helped humankind progress further in science and technology. Also, I believe that men have indeed landed on the moon and its not just some kind of a big fake set up.