David Woods' Book Recommendations

A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
Andrew Chaikin, Viking Penguin Inc., 1994. The best general read about the achievements of the Apollo program. Well balanced, well written and well researched.

Apollo EECOM: Journey of a Lifetime
Sy Liebergot with David M. Harland, Apogee Books, 2003. This was the first biography of the Apollo genre that featured a flight controller. Sy's position in space history was sintered in the crucible of the Apollo 13 explosion as it fell to him to make sense of the sparce information coming down from the newly crippled spacecraft. Unusually, this is a fuller biography than most Apollo accounts in that Sy tells a wide ranging story of his life and the book is better for it. Real rags to riches stuff.

Apollo: The Race to the Moon
Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox, Simon and Schuster, 1989. Unmissable by any student of Apollo, this is a deep though not comprehensive account of the development and success of Apollo as a human achievement. Instead it uses the technique of following a series of threads in detail to illustrate the human involvement in one of history's great megaprojects. It has a dual climax; first in the successful story of Apollo 11, then it peaks again with an utterly gripping account of Apollo 13's travails, showing why this perilous mission came to be known as NASA finest hour. The writers have recently re-published this book as "Apollo", available from their website and it comes very highly recommended.

Atlas of the Moon
Antonín Rükl, edited by Dr. T. W. Rackham, Kalmbach Books, 1990. As far as the near side of the Moon is concerned, this lovingly and skilfully crafted book is a gem. Rükl's painstaking maps have been my companion since I began the Apollo Flight Journal. My only wish is that it would have been extended properly to the far side. However, it is intended as an astronomer's book and its Earth-bound perspective fulfils its role beautifully. Includes good essays on the Moon's movements, surface and observation.

Carrying the Fire
Michael Collins; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1974. Collins came up with the best of all the astronaut biographies. Written without ghost help, it is honest, funny and glorious; and a must for all Apollo students.

Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions
David M. Harland, Springer-Verlag/Praxis Publishing Ltd., 1999. Harland does what should have been done years ago. Mixing a narrative style with solid science, he takes the reader with the crews on their voyages of discovery and all the while informs. Excellent stuff.

Full Moon
Michael Light, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. Unusual and astonishing. This reminds us that the Apollo crews took some of the best cameras in the world to record their explorations. Michael Light gained access to the master transparencies and negatives to produce this glorious imaginary journey to the Moon. After page upon page of stunning pictures, we get an explanation of them all and an essay from Andrew Chaikin. The book is highlighted on the Web at www.projectfullmoon.com and has been extensively translated. An exhibition of large-scale reproductions of the Full Moon images are on show at the Rose Center For Earth and Space, the American Museum of Natural History in New York. I had the pleasure of seeing them in April 2001.

Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8
Robert Zimmerman, Dell Publishing, 1998. Robert takes a parallel track in this account of the first human expedition out of Earth's sphere of influence. On one hand, it is a well-researched description of the flight. Throughout, Robert weaves stories of contemporary world events that set the meaning of this flight in context.

Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13
Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger, Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Lovell's testimony of the harrowing events surrounding Apollo 13 was the foundation for Ron Howard's successful film, Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks.

Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module.
Thomas J. Kelly, Smithsonian, 2001. Tom Kelly was at the helm of the team at Grumman who were responsible for the extraordinary Lunar Module. His book is an enjoyable personal history of how he and his 7,000 co-workers brought their project to a successful conclusion, landing six times on the Moon, and on one occasion, saving the lives of three astronauts.

Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet.
Steve Squyres, Hyperion, 2005. Squyres is a great talker, and just as good when writing about his beloved Rovers. This excellent book is his story of their birth, journey and subsequent exploration of Mars. If anything, this book was published too early as his little roving friends are still sniffing about the Martian surface, adn their story is not yet complete.

The Once and Future Moon
Paul D. Spudis, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. Very readable and authoritative, Spudis picks up on lunar exploration in the generation after Apollo, and in this book, gives the reader a tremendous overview of our current knowledge.

To A Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration
Don E. Wilhelms, University of Arizona Press, 1993. Informative, entertaining and well written, Wilhelms helped train the crews and provides insight into what they found and its context, scientifically and politically.

Tracking Apollo to the Moon
Hamish Lindsay, Springer, 2001. Lavishly illustrated and well presented, this is a detailed telling of the Apollo flights from the point of view of a participant who helped man the Honeysuckle in Australia.

Two Sides of the Moon
David Scott & Alexei Leonov with Christine Toomey, Simon & Schuster, 2004. Scott and Leonov take an unusual line in this excellent dual astronaut biography. Toomey expertly weaves together parallel tales of courage, near-disaster, loss and achievement. These two Cold Warriors have astonishing tales to tell and this book lets them speak.