posted 11-29-2014 10:27 AM               

"Dream's Journey" is the story of Franklin R. Chang Diaz, an 18-year-old immigrant from Costa Rica with a dream to fulfill. Embarking in the late 1960s with fifty dollars in his pocket and a one-way ticket to the Land of Opportunity, he begins an extraordinary journey of adventure and discovery that takes him to the pinnacle of achievement and the fulfillment of his dream to become an astronaut and a rocket scientist. A story of personal struggle and perseverance, his American journey unfolds against the backdrop of the tumultuous decade of the 1970s, and proves to be far richer and intricate than he imagined.

posted 01-16-2015 12:48 PM               

"Dream's Journey" is an unusual book for many reasons: It is the second part of an autobiographical trilogy, continuing where his first book, "Los Primeros Años," left off. ("I have chosen to write my memoirs in the language in which I lived them," Chang notes in his introduction. Thus, the first volume is in Spanish, the second in English.) "Dream's Journey" covers his first decade in the United States, from his arrival in 1968 to the day of his NASA recruitment in 1980. These years are an uphill slog, from language acquisition to his eventual divorce, but through it all, Chang sticks to his dream: He yearns to become a rocket scientist, and he wants to spend time in space.

There is only one drawback to "Dream's Journey": as a literary effort, it's not very good. That is, despite his impeccable memory and astonishing command of English, Chang is not a "writer." Like a true engineer, he details events and emotions in a clinical way, like a legal deposition...