Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #251589 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 752 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
More comprehensive than Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, more critical than James Lovell's Apollo 13, This New Ocean is a near-perfect history of the men (and occasional women) who have "slipped the surly bonds of Earth". Eminent science journalist and space expert William E. Burrows covers just about everyone in history--from Daedalus to John Glenn--who ever designed or flew a rocket, trying to "ride the arrow" to the moon and beyond. It's a trail of testosterone from start to finish but it makes for an engrossing read. One of Burrows's most interesting points is that without the cold war we never would have made it into space. He writes: "the rocket would forever serve two masters at the same time or rather a single master with two dispositions: one for war and one for peace." Werner von Braun, Robert Goddard and other rocketry pioneers may indeed have wanted to explore space but they knew the only way to get there was on the military's back.

Burrows extensively researched his subject and he seems to want to include a little bit of everything; too much detail bogs down the narrative in places. Then again, he is no apologist for the space programs of the United States and the former USSR. and to tell their complete stories requires slaying a great deal of political and scientific groundwork. When it comes to the great, memorable moments in space history, Burrows really shines. In telling the stories of Sputnik's first orbit, Neil Armstrong's moonwalk, Challenger's fiery death and Sojourner's Martian road trip, he captures both the gee-whiz technological accomplishment and the very human emotions of the men and women involved. --Therese Littleton, Amazon.com

Review
"The most successful general survey of space history yet to appear."
--The New York Times
"The most comprehensive history of humanity's efforts to explore space ever to be crammed into a single volume."
--The Washington Post
Leaving Earth for the first time was the single greatest achievement of the twentieth century. It was also an adventure of Homeric proportions. This is the story, vividly told, of how it happened. Here are American and Soviet politicians, scientists, engineers, generals, and astronauts, dueling for prestige and supremacy from within Earth's orbit to the Sea of Tranquility to the beautiful but deadly plateaus of Venus. This New Ocean is the first full account of how the Soviet space program really worked, revealing why it was doomed to fall short of the Moon; why NASA has always been driven by public relations; how science fiction provided the blueprint for reality; what the military really has in store for space; and how the migration of humans to Mars and beyond has already begun.
A Notable Book of the Year --St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A Best Sci-Tech Book of the Year --Library Journal
"Burrows offers a complete, authoritative history of the technology that allowed us to explore space and the people who created and managed that technology. . . . For those who struggle to understand the nature of humanity, it offers new insights into old paradoxes. For those who ask where we are going, it offers hope."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[An] all-encompassing and splendidly written account."
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Synopsis
This is the first book to narrate the whole adventure story of man's attempt to reach out for the stars. From politics and technology to the highly emotional human dimension, this is a beautifully written major history of the space age.

Customer Reviews

US Focused History
This is an entertaining and obviously well researched book. The Author provides a lot of detail on the background and politics to the US space program and it's missions.

It's weakness though is that while it claims to be a history of the whole first space age it is mostly a US based view. There is considerably less material on the Soviet/Russian program, and all the material on other nations such as Europe, Japan and China amounts to only a few scattered references.

Good general summary but too broad to gain true insight
Burrows tries to give the reader a general understanding of what went on in the ENTIRE space program. He should be commended for trying to cover all aspects (manned, planetary, US and Soviet) but because the subject matter is so vast, he is only able to cover stories at a top level. The detail is not as great as in Deep Black which was limited to a much smaller, specific subject. Nevertheless the book is of historical value for those who are interested in a broad brush, top level summary of the space program.

Politically focused
The first half of this book was excellent, as the pioneers of rocketry were introduced and their passions described. However, the second half was much more focused on the politics of the space race and NASA's relationship with the Government - which it is obviously linked. However, I found that there was not enough of the science of getting into space, and the descriptions of the first flight and first moon landing lacked wonder.