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First Man
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On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket. The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia.
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Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down.
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Publisher's Summary
Soon to be a major motion picture, this is the first - and only - definitive authorized account of Neil Armstrong, the man whose “one small step” changed history.
When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over 50 hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private documents and family sources, this "magnificent panorama of the second half of the American twentieth century" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) is an unparalleled biography of an American icon.
In this “compelling and nuanced portrait” (Chicago Tribune) filled with revelations, Hansen vividly recreates Armstrong’s career in flying, from his 78 combat missions as a naval aviator flying over North Korea to his formative trans-atmospheric flights in the rocket-powered X-15 to his piloting Gemini VIII to the first-ever docking in space. For a pilot who cared more about flying to the Moon than he did about walking on it, Hansen asserts, Armstrong’s storied vocation exacted a dear personal toll, paid in kind by his wife and children. For the near-50 years since the Moon landing, rumors have swirled around Armstrong concerning his dreams of space travel, his religious beliefs, and his private life.
A penetrating exploration of American hero worship, Hansen addresses the complex legacy of the First Man, as an astronaut and as an individual. “First Man burrows deep into Armstrong’s past and present.... What emerges is an earnest and brave man” (Houston Chronicle) who will forever be known as history’s most famous space traveler.
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What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
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4 out of 5 stars
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5 Stars3
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5 out of 5 stars
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5 Stars3
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4 Stars1
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3 Stars0
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4 out of 5 stars
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5 Stars2
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4 Stars1
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3 Stars1
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2 Stars0
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1 Stars0
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Langer
- 2019-03-22
Good Biography
This book is very well researched. Much of the narrative is based on recorded interviews and documents, some of which are pretty dry. War records and stuff you could get from the IMDB. Pays some lip service to controversies...Aldrin's personality, Aliens, "Faking" the landing, but doesnt really confront the issues. Very accurate but does little to explain who this man was. Still, fascinating guy and an enjoyable book
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2018-11-04
Armstrong is historical
Armstrong is historical. His life story very exciting and rich with flavour.
I’m glad to have learned more about his life and will probably go see the museum about him with my family sometime in the future.
Thanks for creating this book.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- A Reader
- 2018-06-06
Not really 'unabridged'
I own the original hardcover book, for which Audible had previously offered only an abridged version.
I've been eagerly awaiting this "unabridged" version for several months, and downloaded it immediately when it became available. What a disappointment to learn that this audiobook is based on a new, abridged paperback version, published in preparation for the release of the "First Man" film later this year.
Drastic surgery has been done on the original. Chapters have been rearranged and entire passages eliminated. As a point of comparison, the original hardcover length is 784 pages; the new paperback is just 464 pages.
The Armstrong story is fascinating, but this audio production doesn't do it justice. Jeremy Bobb, the narrator, is monotonic, and between his reading style and the butchered editing of the original book, the chapters on Armstrong's early years in the Navy and as a test pilot sound like a resume recitation, full of numbers and obscure abbreviations.
I just finished the audio version of Michael Collins's "Carrying the Fire," which I found to be a better written story with a much more evocative narrator (David Colacci).
69 of 69 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M. Watson
- Texas
- 2018-09-02
First Man
The first half is full of names and dates but your patience will be greatly rewarded with the second half.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Josh Boyle
- 2018-10-26
As always, the book is better than the movie
This was a very well written and interesting book from start to finish. So much so, that almost any time I could listen to a few minutes, I would pop in my earphones. While it provides many facts and details about Neil Armstrong, I still left not feeling as though I knew him as a friend would know him, as I sometimes feel with other biographies. However, given Armstrong's very private nature, I think that is what he would have preferred, and in that sense I feel the author spectacularly succeeded.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Patrick Jennings
- 2018-06-12
Insightful Biography
Thought this was going to be a dry recital of facts about a very interesting person. However, once I got into this book it was hard to put down. Very much appreciate the writing and telling of this book. Also, it is ended in a very wonderful way!!
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Melissa
- 2019-01-10
You need an Aeronautical Engineering degree to sta
I truly don't understand the positive reviews of this book. I have never had a book make me feel as though I needed a degree in aeronautical engineering to understand. I felt like the author merely documented Neil Armstrong's flight log. There were so many acronyms that I couldn't follow, so many flight stats that I was profoundly bored listening to and the book bounced back and forth in a way that made you crave a more chronological order of events. Neil's 2nd son was already 3 years old before he was even mentioned as being born. I feel as though this book is strictly for astronauts, pilots, engineers and possibly a small section of scientists and mathematicians. I would like to say that I did finish the book. It was like that marathon that you so badly wanted to quit and give up and cried the last 10 miles of......but I forced myself to stick with it. I should have just watched the movie.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David Darrough
- Silicon Valley, Calif.
- 2018-07-17
Best overall book on Neil Armstrong!
A significant amount of detailed information relating to Apollo 11 mission and how difficult it was in order to be successful. Most people think about Armstrong as a lucky person to be chosen as the first man to set foot on the moon. None of this would’ve been possible if it were not for the following three attributes of Armstrong.
1- excellent pilot
2- ability to deal with stress during emergency procedures
3- very mechanically knowledgeable with engineering background.
4-Ability to work with different type of people under all kinds of conditions
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Arthur M. Rittenberg
- 2018-06-07
Volume of speaker too low even at max. Reads more like a textbook
Voice too low even at highest setting. Preview keeps playing and will not allow book to play
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- David Robertson
- 2019-03-13
good story
It was a good story just a little bit dry at times. There was a good reader create
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Andrew Z Meyer
- 2019-03-07
If you're an aviation nerd you'll love this book.
loved how techie it was. beginning started a little dry but it got exciting quickly. Neil had a life of dangerous jobs but was always cool as a cucumber. he was a pro.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Linda
- 2019-02-27
good read
I was surprised by this history. I could not believe he just couldn't put his wife first after retiring, that was selfish on his part. To hear that he begged her to come back after treating her that way. Sad for such a smart man to be so dumb.