One Giant Leap

One Giant Leap is a thought-provoking read about all the inventions that stemmed from the space race to the moon. A good read!

One Giant Leap: Iconic and Sweet Inspiring Space Race Inventions That Shaped History, by Charles Pappas, was received direct from the publisher. Interestingly enough, this is the second book review in a row, by myself, about the US space race with the titles being partially the same. Why is this? This is due to 2019 being the fiftieth anniversary of the first moon walk by Neil Armstrong and crew. Space race based inventions brings to mind, for those of us old enough, things like the drink Tang or those pens that write upside down. This book shows and describes many more items, some you may never have even thought of. The book also is part memoir of the space race history, as would be expected. If you or someone you know is interested in diapers, dust, crumbs, sandwiches or UFO’s, this is a must read.

5 stars

Thanks to the folks at #netgalley, @netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book for a honest review of the book. As a 65-year old male, I grew up during the space race era and watched and read all I could about our space program, so I was super excited to receive this book. I felt the first 2/3 of the book was really super but the end bogged down with a lot if excess information. The book was a revelation to me because it certainly dispelled a lot of urban legends about the space program and gave me a great insight as to how NASA actually adapted prior breakthroughs and blended them into the space program - TANG is a major legend! I got a kick out of the official desire to keep any and all liquids and crumbs out of the space capsule and some of those chapters are the best in the book. When writing about personal bathroom issues, there are both a lot of stories and a lot of chuckles from the anecdotes related herein. It is a good review of the space program and the technology used in all aspects of the competition with the Russians - gotta love the chapter on the Space Pen vs, the Russians cheap 12 cent alternative. We forget how competitive things were back in the 1960's and this book really was a super way to relive a lot of those memories and the stories behind them.