posted 10-07-2007 09:47 PM            

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Originally posted by Mike:
Usually in a bookshop I sign every copy of my book I can get my hands on so that the bookseller can't return them to the publisher.

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Further to this discussion, I stopped in at my local (Oceanside) Barnes & Noble today, and was delighted to see, at last, four copies of "In The Shadow of the Moon" for sale and on prominent display. When I asked the store staff if I could sign them, they said they'd very much like me to, and that they also had 'signed by the author' stickers that they would add to them... so it seems that both major book chains welcome the practice.

I'm just delighted to see that we have copies in both Borders and Barnes & Noble.

And, for those of you in the Chicago area, if this is of interest, I signed a good number of copies of both books for the Adler Planetarium store following the talks I gave there.

posted 10-15-2007 12:31 AM            

Thanks, too, Simon, for letting people here know that the books are also on Canadian store shelves. It's great to hear news like this. I spotted (and signed) some this weekend at a Barnes & Noble which I had once visited for a Wally Schirra book signing - that felt very special.

posted 10-19-2007 01:12 PM            

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Originally posted by mdmyer:
Maybe a future edition? I too wish I could have thought of it earlier. It just came to me when I was writing that paragraph.

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posted 10-19-2007 02:37 PM            

For what it's worth, here's the review I posted on Amazon:

It has been almost 50 years since mankind first slipped the bonds of earth to explore the heavens. Since then, space exploration has given us some of the most spectacular and memorable moments in history from the first moon-landing on Apollo 11 to the drama of Apollo 13 and the devastation of the Challenger and Columbia disasters. The material already written on these programmes would likely stretch from here to the moon, and many would be forgiven for assuming that there's nothing new to write on the subject. However, authors Francis French and Colin Burgess have found a new angle and made a most worthy contribution to the history of our greatest adventure.

What separates "Into that Silent Sea" and "In the Shadow of the Moon" from many other books on the space programme is that they focus on the men and women who made it all possible. This is a people's history of space and examines that magnificent race from the perspective of those who lived it and did it: whether running the programmes or riding the rockets. Through their genuine interest in the subject matter, Burgess and French won the trust of the astronauts, cosmonauts and the lesser-known or forgotten space pioneers who toiled behind the scenes. The reward for their dedication and sincerity were stories that in many cases have never been told before and provide a fresh perspective on the early days of spaceflight. The end result are two books that rank amongst the very best written on the subject.

Not only do these books provide a most welcome and new perspective on a truly remarkable endeavour, but they are also extremely well written and thoroughly readable. These books transport you to a time when the two great superpowers were competing for control of the ultimate high ground while the rest of the world watched in awe and perhaps bewilderment. It proves that while the men and women who rode these rockets were indeed the best, bravest and brightest of that or any other time, they were also mere humans with their own foibles, insecurities, peculiarities and curiosities.

posted 10-19-2007 07:50 PM               

I just posted my review of the documentary but to the matter at hand -- another superb publication by Francis and Colin. The best treat of all was halfway through reading it I had the opportunity to meet Francis and hear him speak on Yuri Gagarin.

I enjoyed the chapters that covered the Gemini Missions including Gemini 3 -- Grissom & Young, Gemini7 -- Lovell & Borman, Gemini 12 -- Lovell & Aldrin. John Young continues to amaze me with all that I learn about him. Jim Lovell's missions before Apollo 13 accomplished quite a bit more than I had realized.

Learning more about Apollo1 and the fire gave me some more insight on my fellow Michigander Roger Chaffee. Someday I hope that NASA and the families of the Apollo 1 astronauts will allow the Apollo 1 Command Module to be brought out of hiding and put on public display as a fitting tribute to them and the sacrifice they made.

I learned quite a bit about Donn Eisele, one of the lesser known Apollo astronauts. Francis and Colin's interviews with those that knew him helped to provide an insight that I had not known before.

Although I will never be able to properly pronounce or even spell the Cosmonauts names I am glad that their side of what they were doing was interspersed with the Astronauts. Their triumphs and tragedies equal ours in joy and sadness.

Finally, the chapters that added insight on Bill Anders, Rusty Schweickart and others provided me with their perspective on their often overlooked accomplishments. Rusty's spacewalk to test the Apollo spacesuit deserves much more recognition than he ever received.

posted 10-20-2007 05:30 AM               

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Originally posted by FFrench:
You'll be pleased to know, Mike, that after we shared the modified quote you e-mailed to us with the publishers, it now appears on this page

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posted 10-21-2007 01:44 AM            

Brad, I'm so pleased to hear you enjoyed the second book so much.

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Originally posted by BMacKinnon:
I learned quite a bit about Donn Eisele, one of the lesser known Apollo astronauts...

...Although I will never be able to properly pronounce or even spell the Cosmonauts' names

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If you can spell and pronounce Donn Eisele correctly, you are doing better than most people...

posted 11-02-2007 02:09 PM            

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Originally posted by WAWalsh:
...the first two books are outstanding.

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quote:

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...did "In the Shadow of the Moon" only provide a brief cover of Apollo XI because you intend to write a third book that covers the lunar missions, Skylab and ASTP?

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The other side of your question is - we made a deliberate decision in our book to showcase Apollo 10, which normally gets overlooked in space histories, and concentrate only on the first part of Apollo 11 that was new - the descent to landing. We also took the aviator-viewpoint of those heavily involved in the mission - that the landing was the important moment - rather than the outside-world / media viewpoint, which concentrated more on the first step on the moon. It does lead to somewhat of a tease, but makes an important point about how those in the program saw it.

The other missions in the book (Gemini, early Apollo especially) have been leading up to that moment of landing - of reaching a destination. The next step - exploring that destination - was almost a new kind of space program, and so this seemed to be the perfect place to sign off and allow another book to tell that story.

It's an unorthodox approach, but a fresh one, and also how many in the program saw the events.

posted 11-06-2007 11:59 AM            

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Originally posted by DChudwin:
Copies of "In the Shadow of the Moon" were prominently on display in the "science" section of both the local Barnes & Noble and Borders booskstores. Half the battle with a new book is to get good distribution (there are over 10,000 bookstores in the U.S.). This appears to be happening, so congrats to Francis and Colin.

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Thanks so much for that info., David - that's great to hear that at least one of the books was on display in both stores. You're quite correct, it's hard to sell a book if nobody knows about it - and with a small university press, publicity and promotion cannot match the big commercial publishers.

That's why Colin and I have been so grateful to those of you here who have been talking the book up to bookstores, museum and science center stores, posting reviews here, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble websites and elsewhere - E-mailing friends and book reviewers about it - the only way to spread the word is grassroots, and this website has been wonderful for that. Thank you!

posted 11-13-2007 08:50 PM               

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Originally posted by FFrench:
The other missions in the book (Gemini, early Apollo especially) have been leading up to that moment of landing - of reaching a destination. The next step - exploring that destination - was almost a new kind of space program, and so this seemed to be the perfect place to sign off and allow another book to tell that story.

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posted 11-15-2007 12:35 PM            

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Originally posted by dss65:
I agree that your choice of an ending was perfect. Great book!

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Thanks Don! Glad it worked for you. The more we talked to people in the program, the more we learned that this is how it seems most of them saw the Apollo 11 mission.

posted 11-15-2007 02:55 PM               

Fairly average, nothing that really stood out, and a bunch of little errors throughout the book. One that really stands out was the comment that Challenger was lost due to a faulty valve. Huh??

posted 12-05-2007 12:14 AM            

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Originally posted by Bruce:
Just discovered this. More kudos for Colin & Francis!

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posted 12-22-2007 10:06 PM            

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Originally posted by bruce:
Roger Launius, former NASA Chief Historian, currently in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, has added both "In The Shadow of the Moon" and "Into That Silent Sea" to his Essential Reading in the History of Human Spaceflight list on Amazon.com.

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I see that Dr. Launius also has our second book on his Apollo in American Myth and Memory list - an interesting list to look over, that "offers several books that discuss the continuing significance of Apollo as a part of the American psyche."

But my favorite has to be the book's inclusion on a wonderfully eclectic little Amazon list called Dystopia. Pop Culture. Funny Little Mice.