I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot.

Space Oddities by Joe Cuhaj was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. Since my days as a wee lad I have been interested in space, "the final frontier." This book shares many different true stories about the space program, most are known, some maybe not, such as the earliest known person to die due to the space program. Depending on your age, you may remember the space race between the US and the USSR, this book expounds on that with a military man leaking secrets to the Soviets regarding US rockets and how the USSR failed to beat the US to the moon. The author also tells of musical playlists, Space pens (as seen on TV) and Tang (again, as seen on TV). If you or someone you buy gifts for is interested in the mostly defunct Space Program, give this book a read.

4 Stars

I was really looking forward to reading “Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space” by Joe Cuhaj, since I (like many) have been fascinated with our exploration of space; the science, engineering, and even politics of “putting a man on the moon” and all that has followed since.

And Mr. Cuhaj delivers some interesting stories and perspectives from the people who lived through this exciting time. We learn about the successes and failures (on both sides of the cold war) mostly from the early years but also what has happened since. From the first rockets failing in spectacular fashion, to the animals that were sacrificed for science, to the first humans who followed, culminating in Apollo 11 in 1969: Mr. Cuhaj tells us the forgotten histories (Laika!) and captures the competition that drove the US and the USSR to take risks to prove the superiority of their political systems. We also hear about the forgotten contributors who had to overcome great obstacles due to treatment of their race or gender to still triumph and make a significant contribution to the successes we achieved. Once the race was finished, we hear about the results: the pranks, the defunding and changes of direction, even the commercialization of space that we see today.

I found this book to be interesting, but maybe a bit disappointing in that nothing was tremendously revealing, breathtaking, or truly hidden, most of these stories were available to anyone interested in space before this collection. But still a pleasant way to recollect what the history of exploring the unknown involved in our recent past.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Rowman & Littlefield, Prometheus via NetGalley. Thank you!

Thank you to Rowman and Littlefield as well as NetGalley for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. Space holds me captive, and gazing out to the skies, knowing that others have done so for centuries is something that never gets old. This book does a wonderful job of bringing stories of every kind to life. There is trivia, humor, history and information...all put together in one book. I adored this book, and I highly recommend it for any age.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book!

More in depth than I expected this book spans a lot of the American experience of space exploration. The book shares stories from the international space race, the role of civil rights in getting Americans into space, and other small details about space I hadn't heard before.

There's a lot of different stories and the writing approaches each in a way that isn't too technical and is enjoyable to read. It was fun to learn more about behind the scenes of how these stories shaped the knowledge of the universe that we have today.