_Almost Heaven_ review

Found this on the "New Arrivals" shelf in my local library last week.
Nonfiction book about women in space, written by Bettyan Holtzmann Kevles.
Extensively researched, it presented a great deal about spaceflight in
general that I'd not heard before, whether the astronauts were women or not.
With over 270 pages, there's a lot to learn from it.

However, there are many errors in this book, some of which are so darned
glaring that I have to wonder how accurate some other items are. I just did
a quick web search and found that others have already caught perhaps the
biggest blunder:

pg. 46: "Skylab, with 17 cubic feet divided into two levels, had a dining
table, three tiny bedrooms for the three resident astronauts, a shower and
bathroom."

Skylab was far roomier than 17 cubic feet! My bathroom is bigger than that.
William Pogue, one of the Skylab astronauts, wrote in his book that the
space inside was about the same as a three-bedroom house -- 12,500 cubic
feet.

Another one:

pg. 28: "By the time the women arrived in Star City, John Glenn had become
the first American in space."

For five points, what's wrong with that statement?

This one's probably just a typo:

pg. 98: "That was the summer of 1977. . That summer, Resnik investigated
NASA and the astronaut corps with the same thoroughness she applied to
everything in her life. She decided it was what she wanted to do, and
determined to become an astronaut, she went to Washington where everyone was
celebrating the bicentennial. One of the festivities was the opening of the
National Air and Space Museum on the Mall."

I'm old enough to have experienced America's bicentennial in 1976 myself,
and I've read elsewhere that the National Air and Space Museum opened on
July 1st, 1976.

There are a few other errors, but they're so miniscule I won't bore anyone
with them. To Ms. Kevles' credit, I really found the comments from female
astronauts she interviewed to be very interesting. Much of the book is a
detailed description of spaceflight since the _Challenger_ disaster. It
covers what it's like inside a space station that's been lived in by several
people over many months (stuff stuck to the walls everywhere, lots of dust
and crumbs floating around, de-facto rules of etiquette agreed upon); how
leadership is different between men and women; how astronauts are selected
(then and now); and how the Russians felt about women cosmonauts.

For all of the work involved in researching and writing this book (which I
do recommend; it's a good read), it's a shame so many errors crept into it
and I hope they get corrected for the next edition.

Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 05:46:58 GMT, "Matt J. McCullar"
wrote:

pg. 28: "By the time the women arrived in Star City, John Glenn had become
the first American in space."

For five points, what's wrong with that statement?

....We let them back in the country?

[ducks]

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

"Matt J. McCullar" wrote in message
. com...
Skylab was far roomier than 17 cubic feet!

Another example of innumeracy. Had the author and the editor known what a
"cubic foot" was, they would have known better.

"OM" om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy_NASA_researc h_facility.org wrote
in message ...
On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 05:46:58 GMT, "Matt J. McCullar"
wrote:

pg. 28: "By the time the women arrived in Star City, John Glenn had
become
the first American in space."

For five points, what's wrong with that statement?

...We let them back in the country?


Can you spell S-H-E-P-A-R-D??

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 05:46:58 GMT, "Matt J. McCullar"
wrote:

Found this on the "New Arrivals" shelf in my local library last week.
Nonfiction book about women in space,

Oh, I thought it was a history of West Virginia... :-)

Brian

"Matt J. McCullar" wrote in message .com...
Found this on the "New Arrivals" shelf in my local library last week.
Nonfiction book about women in space, written by Bettyan Holtzmann Kevles.
Extensively researched, it presented a great deal about spaceflight in
general that I'd not heard before, whether the astronauts were women or not.
With over 270 pages, there's a lot to learn from it.


Matt

I've been toying with buying this book, mainly because I'm interested
in the Soviet side of things.

How deeply does Kelves cover the 1962 female cosmonaut group, the
flight of Tereshkova, and the 1980's selections ?

Thanks

Tony

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 16:43:42 GMT, "JimO"
wrote:

"OM" om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy_NASA_researc h_facility.org wrote
in message ...
On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 05:46:58 GMT, "Matt J. McCullar"
wrote:

pg. 28: "By the time the women arrived in Star City, John Glenn had
become
the first American in space."

For five points, what's wrong with that statement?

...We let them back in the country?

Can you spell S-H-E-P-A-R-D??

....Next time you're in Texas, Dim and I must have lunch with you and
the missus and explain satire to you again, O Clonal Progenitor :-P

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

I've been toying with buying this book, mainly because I'm interested
in the Soviet side of things.

How deeply does Kelves cover the 1962 female cosmonaut group, the
flight of Tereshkova, and the 1980's selections ?

Quite deeply. You won't be disappointed.