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Author
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Topic: We Seven: By The Astronauts Themselves
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mzieg
Member Posts: 72
From: Seneca, PA USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted January 09, 2001 06:33 PM
   
I have a book club edition of "We Seven" with a 1962 copyright, but no mention of which edition or printing it is. I'd assume it's probably a first printing given the fact there's no other designation, or one of those "countdown" string of numbers or letters to indicate such, but can someone confirm? |
astronut
Member Posts: 964
From: South Fork, CO
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted January 09, 2001 09:05 PM
Book Club editions in my experience don't mark what edition, what printing, etc. It's just "Book Club Edition". |
Russ Still
Member Posts: 414
From: Atlanta, GA USA
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted January 10, 2001 08:41 AM
Actually, there were no less than two different book club editions of "We Seven." If you have a copy of "Relics of the Space Race" (Edition 2), take a look on page 140. That should help you ID which one you have. The grey one had a particularly crappy binding job and they frequently split at the spine. Both editions are fairly common at used book stores and generally sell for $5-$10. The first edition sells for about $25. |
Rick Boos
Member Posts: 745
From: Celina,Ohio U.S.A.
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted June 27, 2007 08:53 AM
We Seven has always been one of my favorite books. Having said that I have often wondered why the publishers didn't hold off publishing it until the flights of Sigma and Faith 7 were completed? I always meant to ask Wally and Gordo about it but never got around to it. |
spaceman48263
Member Posts: 75
From: Michigan
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted June 27, 2007 03:39 PM
I bought the book a few weeks back and just finished it. I was surprised that the other flights were not included too. I thought the book was a very good read and am glad that I added it to my collection. |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 708
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted June 27, 2007 04:59 PM
I surmise that they thought that there would be more Mercury missions and that they would come out with another volume later.It was the result of the Life Magazine deal and I have always been surprised that more articles "by the Astronauts themselves" came out. |
KC Stoever
Member Posts: 1008
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted June 27, 2007 07:59 PM
My sense of the book, which I have read, is that the volume editor (working with the publisher) was focused on covering and explaining pioneering U.S. spaceflight. Project Mercury. All the guys submitted chapters on various subjects. The chapters covered most major aspects of the program, from the selection process to training to hardware development (the capsule) to the spacesuit, etc. But covering each Mercury mission? The publishers didn't have to. Project Mercury was officially a success with MA-7 (a mission described as "The Confirmation" [of MA-6] in the book). And readers were clamoring for a good contemporaneous account. Longer-duration missions were deemed necessary by NASA but not by the publisher. |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 2919
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted June 28, 2007 10:18 AM
Plus, I expect the popularity of the space program after Glenn's flight was at a real high, so the publishers wanted to act sooner instead of later. Carpenter flew before the book came out, so his mission was included too (and like Kris said, it proved Glenn's mission wasn't a fluke). That's just my guess, at least... |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 19476
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted January 05, 2010 10:20 AM
Thanks for Francis French and Kris Stoever for pointing out that a new paperback edition of We Seven is about to be released: We Seven: By the Astronauts Themselves The pioneer astronauts who took America into space tell their personal stories about the challenges they faced -- their fears, joys, friendships, and successes. Chosen from hundreds of crackerjack pilots for their fitness, intelligence, and courage, the original Mercury Seven astronauts risked their lives to cross the space frontier. In We Seven, they take readers behind the scenes to show them their training, technology, and teamwork, and to share personal stories, including the lighter moments of their mission. They bring readers inside the Mercury program -- even into the space capsules themselves. We Seven straps you in with the astronauts and rockets you along for the ride. Share Alan Shepard's exhilaration as he breaks through the earth's atmosphere. Endure moments of panic with Gus Grissom when his hatch blows, stranding him in the open sea. Race with John Glenn as he makes split-second life-or-death maneuvers during reentry, and feel his relief when he emerges safe but drenched with sweat. Despite such heroism, Project Mercury was more than the story of individual missions. It defined the manned space flight program to come, from Gemini through Apollo. In We Seven, America's original astronauts tell us firsthand -- as only they can -- about the space program they pioneered, and share with us the hopes and dreams of the U.S. at the dawn of a new era. - Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (January 12, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1439181039
- ISBN-13: 978-1439181034
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albatron
Member Posts: 1729
From: Stuart, Florida, USA
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted January 05, 2010 10:41 AM
This is good news. I wonder what's prompted this? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 19476
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted January 05, 2010 11:04 AM
It is only a guess (and not a great one at that), but with the 50th anniversary of Shepard's and Grissom's Mercury flights on tap for next year, I suspect publishers may be gearing up as they did starting about a year before the 50th anniversaries of Sputnik and NASA (and the more recent 40th anniversary of Apollo 11). |
Gilbert
Member Posts: 536
From: Carrollton, GA USA
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted January 05, 2010 06:06 PM
That is good news. One can't have too many different editions of We Seven. The cover looks great! |
contra
Member Posts: 254
From: Kiel, Germany
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted January 06, 2010 04:03 AM
I can not wait. Great news. |
cspg
Member Posts: 2502
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted January 06, 2010 08:16 AM
I had seen that new edition but didn't post because I didn't know what was the big deal about it. Is it because it has been out-of-print for a while? Or something else? |
moorouge
Member Posts: 460
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted January 07, 2010 04:39 PM
Unless I'm suffering from a 'senior moment' I'm sure that "We Seven" was also published as "Into Orbit". Was one for the US market and one for the UK?As I recall one chapter was "Seven miles of wire and a swizzle stick". Did any of the '7' ever use the swizzle stick? |
Mike Z
Member Posts: 316
From: Ellicott City, Maryland
Registered: Dec 2005
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posted January 07, 2010 06:23 PM
My father was a book rep. and his company published "We Seven" I have the original with the promo poster and the Mercury Capsule bank they sent him. Those were the very 1st space items I ever got. |
ColinBurgess
Member Posts: 1275
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted January 08, 2010 12:47 AM
Yes, "Into Orbit" was/is the same book. In March 1963 my parents gave me "Into Orbit" for my sixteenth birthday, and within days I had written off to Cassell & Company in Melbourne (Australia) to complain about incorrect captions on two of their photos - one supposedly of John Glenn showing his son David an "Atlas engine" (in fact it was a Titan engine) and "Scott Carpenter" being winched aboard a helicopter "after his three-orbit flight" which in fact was Alan Shepard after his flight in "Freedom 7." They forwarded my letter to the parent company in London who thanked me for my letter and said they would ensure corrections were made in any subsequent editions of the book. I still have both letters in the front of my cherished copy of "Into Orbit." I may have only been sixteen years old, but it shows how passionate I was about the subject way back then. |
DChudwin
Member Posts: 566
From: Lincolnshire IL USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted January 08, 2010 05:53 PM
I have an April, 1963 1st printing of the paperback (price then 75 cents) which I bought at the time.I have heard that the book was extensively ghost-written for the guys based on interviews with them by Life magazine staff members. The Mercury 7 had signed an exclusive contract with Life for their personal stories. The introduction is written by John Dille for Life. Does anyone know whether he was the principal ghost-writer for "We Seven?" |
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