posted January 21, 2011 07:20 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boggs SpaceBooks:
Yes, the books are signed with one of the pens which flew on Skylab with Pogue and Bill is using the original ink which flew inside the pen!

---

posted January 22, 2011 02:41 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boggs SpaceBooks:
Yes, the books are signed with one of the pens which flew on Skylab with Pogue and Bill is using the original ink which flew inside the pen!

---

He already donated all of his personal pens to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation for scholarship auctions. A flown pen with a new filler wasn't acceptable to him nor was a filler flown on later shuttle missions. He eventually tracked one down but was told the filler is "dead". A quick swab of the roller ball freed the 38 year old built up goo and the pen was off and writing smoothly. The pen did last for the full 1,000 book run with ink to spare.

The pen used was not up for only Skylab 4 but was launched with the lab and came down on Skylab 4. One of the duties for the last crew was to scavenge everything they could from the lab and bring it home.

Just another one of those little pieces of space trivia that can fill a brain cell that would otherwise house "useful" information.

posted January 23, 2011 04:46 PM               

The writing style is extremely concise - "I did this, which resulted in that, and later I went there". This is well suited to explaining complex events, whether they be threshing hay, recovering a spinning plane or planning one's life. The writing has an immediacy that makes it seem like Bill is talking directly to the reader - there are no hints of a ghost writer cleaning up things behind the scene. At first the writing seems simple but it soon emerges as a clear and direct way to communicate stories and ideas.

And those stories shine because they talk about everything in this astronaut's life. Whether it's a kid in the depression, studying hard in school, bombing bridges in Korea, endless family moves, flying new aircraft or simply following the feeling in your gut we are given the full story of a military career leading to spaceflight. Enthusiasts will be happy that Bill's training for and time spent flying Skylab are not ignored, but they are treated as one part of his life and the book is better for this.

Finally, and because it's been mentioned here, Bill does explain why the title of the book defines his life so well. It's given in the final sentence of the book and is a terrific way to end a great story.

posted January 25, 2011 08:12 PM            

Here is a photo Jim Vertrees shared with me and asked to be posted here.

posted January 27, 2011 05:12 PM               

But for the Grace of God, my very brief obituary would have been written more than fifty years ago.

The book is an excellent addition to anyone's library or book collection.

posted January 30, 2011 02:33 PM               

I met Bill at the November 2010 Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Autograph and Memorabilia Show and we had a good long conservation (at the cocktail party). My impression of Bill from that conversation fits well with the how he portrays himself in the book.

posted February 08, 2011 07:55 PM               

My parents' families both come from the rural midwest, and Pogue's philosophy and writing style remind me a lot of them and their siblings. As I read his story, I kept thinking about how much he represented everything that is right about America's Heartland.

I, as others have noted, particularly enjoyed the stories of Pogue's childhood and often laughed out loud (sometimes to my wife's distraction). It was arguably my favorite part of the book. However, his firsthand accounts of missions over Korea and flying with the Thunderbirds also made for fascinating reading, especially given that they included many close calls.

I actually found Pogue's passages about Skylab (especially when including his references to it in the portions of the book covering life after Skylab) to be more satisfying than I had expected. I'm certain, however, that my expectations for this had been set rather low by some of the postings in this string.

Might I recommend that people who want to get a full, satisying serving of Skylab read "Homesteading Space" by David Hitt, Owen Garriott, and Joe Kerwin? After that, adding Pogue's experiences is kind of like icing on the cake. At least it was for me.

I believe that Pogue met his objectives in writing this book, and I recommend it to all who enjoy autobiographies of astronauts and aviators. I enjoyed it.

posted February 11, 2011 10:52 PM            

It is not a religious book, although it is clear that Pogue has strong religious beliefs. As Gary Milgrom noted in his earlier post in this thread, the title does derive from the last line of the book, in an expression of amazement, achievement and thanks that he has lived a long, fascinating and often dangerous life, during which he could have been killed at many times.

Initially, I found the long explanatory captions to the photos a bit distracting and annoying, but after finishing the book I went back and re-read them (and in doing so, saw them in a new light), so I am glad these were included. Lots of photos, which is always a good thing in an autobiography.

At first I found the writing style hard to grasp, but it is best remembered that Pogue has written this book for his grandchildren, so the book is deliberately a traverse through his many experiences. Without that in the back of your mind, some anecdotes might seem a bit pointless (with no disrespect intended).

The Skylab section is disappointingly short; conversely the section dealing with his mid-1970s trip through Nepal, India etc with Stu Roosa is disproportionately long and sometimes repetitive, so in some respects I think the right balance hasn't quite been struck between "chapters" in Pogue's life. To me, anyway.

You get the impression Pogue is most proud of his days with the Thunderbirds (1955-7), and this is a truly interesting part of the book.

Throughout, he gives a sense of the dangers he often faced, and how he was lucky to have survived some moments.

He deals sensitively with his divorce and the death of his first wife in 2009, unlike other astronaut bios (no, I won't mention names) where sections about the "new wife" border on being disrespectful to the first wife who lived the astronaut years with the author, and which sometimes make the reader squirm uncomfortably.

Not my favourite astronaut bio of all time (to me, everybody has been attempting catch-up with Collins after Carrying the Fire in '74), but it was certainly an enjoyable book and well worth reading. I am glad I bought it, and the autographed copy will sit proudly amongst my collection.

posted April 04, 2011 12:26 PM               

Currently hardback and e-format copies are not available. Bill is planning on attending the Hall of Fame Induction at Kennedy in May. I currently have no word if he will be available outside of the Induction Ceremony and Formal Dinner.