Reviews

We Seven: By the Astronauts Themselves by John Glenn, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Wally Schirra, Virgil I. Grissom, Alan Shepard, Scott Carpenter, Donald K. Slayton

mark_lm's review

3.0

A collection of memoirs "by THE ASTRONAUTS themselves" (it says so on the cover) from the original Mercury 7 in 1962. A fascinating historical account of their backgrounds (including John Glenn's Korean war stories), training (including the MASTIF device in Cleveland that spins you on three axes simultaneously - even the expression head over heels doesn't do it justice), technical information about the capsule and boosters (you have to keep reminding yourself what they called a computer was in the early 60s), and tense descriptions of the ballistic and orbital missions with all of the various human and mechanical malfunctions. Not that easy to read since the authors were engineers and all had the same outlook, and the book must have passed through some editor or ghostwriter's hands since there is a slightly numbing uniformity.

trinkers's review

3.0

I read The Right Stuff immediately before reading this book, and the differences between the two are fascinating. The Right Stuff seems to be a much more honest description of the astronauts in the Mercury program and of the program itself, but We Seven is completely sanitized.

allynfolksjr's review

2.0

An astronomy professor once told me that "there's a reason astronauts aren't writers." We Seven feels like a book that was rushed to press to quell an insatiable thirst for knowledge about the Mercury program and the men behind it. Writing styles vary, but generally hue fairly closely to the kind of writing former test pilots would create.

Buried in the book are a few snippets of personality, a modicum of new and interesting facts about Mercury, and a smattering of sentimentality, but it's not a compelling package.

With hindsight, the characters in the book are slightly more interesting. Deke Slayton's grounding is scarcely mentioned. Scott Carpenter is quickly removed from the program. Wally Schirra is denied the moon after an infamous "bitch fest" aboard Apollo 7. Poignantly, Gus Grissom later dies in the Apollo 1 fire.

Michael Collins' [b:Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey|612456|Carrying the Fire An Astronaut's Journey|Michael Collins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347311290s/612456.jpg|598913] is still the only book written by an astronaut of this era worth reading.

cisko's review

3.0

The story of the original seven Mercury astronauts. Published in 1962, shortly after Scott Carpenter’s flight, the second orbital Mercury flight, the book was written by the astronauts themselves, but was put together by Life magazine. Focused on the Mercury program, it includes only a short autobiographical summary of each astronaut, and instead focuses on the development of the Mercury program and the activities the astronauts carried out to prepare for space flight. It’s quite interesting to see the space program from an intimate perspective so early in its development, and the book is at its best when exploring the decisions and details at the beginnings of manned space flight. It is however mixed at how open it can be about such things; the astronauts of course want to put the most positive spin on everything, and the reader feels the presence of public relations participation behind their words. Definitely interesting for readers with a fascination for the early days of spaceflight.

jeffy's review

(June 24, 2001)

uncleflannery's review

4.0

After reading a lot of Carl Sagan it's kind of nice to read a really banal book about outer space.