Rating: 
Summary: Great Read
Review: If anyone has any doubts about this book being worthy of purchasing I assure you that it is a great read. I agree with Bill Pogue's cover blurb that it is a page-turner. I really enjoyed reading about Neil's experiences in the Korean War.
Rating: 
Summary: Still waiting for the good stuff !
Review: If you're like me and most Apollo spaceflight fans, you're still wondering what Neil was thinking and feeling as he and his crewmates trained for, prepared and executed that most amazing feat - the first lunar landing.
This book does provide some great insights into many aspects of Neil's life and career. Many times I expected and found myself getting ready for quote or comment from Armstrong himself. It never happens, which is the ultimate disappointment I have with this book. As others have said, there are some errors and omissions. But, if you're starving for some good background on things surrounding Armstrong's life, this book is good. There are no direct quotes or contributions from Neil himself. I still enjoyed the read, and I'm still waiting for Neil to tell it like it was.
Rating:
Summary: Neil's Excellent Adventure
Review: Mr. Wagener's book is more than conventional biography. Wagener allows the people who have shared Neil's adventures, heroics, triumphs, near tragedies and sorrows tell his story in their own words. The time and effort the author put forth is commendable.
Rating:
Summary: Joyful wonder about space over time
Review: Neil Armstrong learned to fly before he was old enough to get a driver's
license. The kid was obsessed with sky, speed, space and stars. Leon Wagener's
"One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong's Stellar American Journey" refreshes my own
memories of those childish wonderments. At 5, in 1957, I was charmed by the
celebrated event of the Russian dog shot into space in "their" Sputnik, and tickled
again by the US launching "our" chimp in 1961. This international-space-program kiddie-party of lab animals (actually, what
the grownups called "the space race") captured the imagination of my
generation, in what we now look back on as a relatively innocent time. I did an
elementary school science fair project on "Animals Used in Space Experimentation."
Posterboard and magic marker were involved. In the idyllic earliest 1960s, JFK (seemingly a hero to all of creation save
for my staunch Republican parents) spoke passionately of striving for the stars, putting a man on the moon. Some say the assassination of JFK in 1963 was
the end of that innocent era. We who were alive then will always remember where
we were at the shattering moment we heard about that. Time stood still. Things
were never the same. They basically went to hell in a handbag. By 1969, six years past that assassination, the US was politically and
socially divided over a range of incendiary issues, and cynicism was gradually
seeping into the viewpoints of a substantial segment of society (not yet to the
full ripening of the post-Watergate era). But, that year, as we simultaneously
watched in awe, the "one giant step" that Neil Armstrong finally planted on the
lunar surface was an ultimately memorable, timestopping moment of wonder. But
this time it was a joyous one. My cynical hippie friends and I reverted to innocent kids watching the
impossible happen before our very eyes, enjoying a respite from that era's corrosive
malaise with its toxic evening news. I will never forget where I was or who I
was with in that much happier, timeless moment. We jumped up and down on the
bed with genuine excitement. We had grown somewhat jaded toward spacemen
in capsules now--but this was so much cooler that dogs or chimps or any
of the other men who had gone up in space. Armstrong got out, took his giant
step, and said The Words. The spirit generated by the climax of Armstrong's
mission was "One Giant Leap" in itself, an event that could somehow bridge the
chasm from the giddiness of Sputnik, over the national post-JFK-traumatic
syndrome, to a unified national invigoration. Experienced if even for a twinkling in
time, Armstrong's mission was also a leap of good will. Wagener's background as an investigative journalist served him well for this
painstakingly-researched, highly-detailed biography. He combines that
information with some historic images and includes his own recent photo of Armstrong. Taking us nonjudgementally through trends and events of the day, Wagener
provides readers with crucial, colorful context. The book should appeal to a
variety of readers as it covers the man himself, the evolution of the space program,
as well as its inside politics and its setting against the social and
political contexts. Wagener also recounts some very exciting test pilot and air
combat experiences, thrilling tales that could be truthfully told only about a decorated
war hero such as Armstrong. "One Giant Leap" tells a dramatic, colorful, exciting story that is an
engaging, thought-provoking read for adults, but also could inspire girls and boys
to adventures and careers in various roles: scientists, aerodynamics engineers,
pilots and astronauts. I am glad for Wagener's graceful, yet vigorous reminder of the possibility of
wonderment.
Rating:
Summary: NEIL ARMSTRONG - Will you ever tell us the real story?
Review: Neil Armstrong may indeed have the biggest balls when it comes to performing daring macho stunts. Landing on the moon was humankind's grandest achievement...that and inventing computers.
Armstrong got to be where he is TODAY becuase of his cool head, and ability to problem-solve when solutions seemed nonexistent.
His upbringing in a small farm with no electricity and loads of religious influence had alot to do with the man today.
What is truly shocking is that Mr. Armstrong is DIVORCED.
What lead to the big D is not explained at all....but still -- this is an excellent biography about a man who refuses to discuss what really happend up there in our number one natural satellite.
Why won't Armstrong come forward and pen his own story?
Of all the astronaughts that landed on the moon, he's the first one and he is the ONLY one who has not written his account of it.
My GOD! That outrages me and everybody in this great nation of ours. WHY he remains silent is a mystery - the author attributes his silence to a severe case of modesty, but I ain't buying that version of the story.
WHY does Armstrong remain silent on what is considered man's hugest technical achievment in history?
THe psychology on that alone could fill 800 pages.
I still rate "One Giant Leap" 5 stars because it's about a man who won't talk.
Read this book and pay attention to what is said between the lines.
He won't talk about it...the author resorts to interrogating everybody in Armstrong's universe, not him nor his ex-wife.
YES - Armstrong did remarry --- but what does it all mean?
The woman who stood by his side during those frantic space shot years will forever be his life mate and soul mate.
GOSH - the stories she must have heard.
Or maybe Armstrong clammed up too long about it with her, which would explain the divorce proceedings.
My opinion is that I am happy to read ANYTHING about this important man and his gigantic leap into the scientific discovery of the moon, life supporting necessities of deep space, and interpersonal relationships that he had with his 2 other space buddies and his immediate family.
ALl those people could tell us more about this fantastic journey.
THe cover photo is one that Armstrong took of his buddy, BUZZ ALDRIN, (The second man on the moon - he HATES when people point that out.)
Buzz was too PO'd about being number 2, so he never did decide to be nice and snap a pix of Neil for posterity.
So - Aldrin is the snapshot space man on the cover of this interesting book....every picture tells a story.
Think of how mad you had to be if you REFUSED to take somebody's picture, and NASA was on your can to DO it now, but you refused over and over.
That must have frustrated Ground Control immensely.
Again - the psychology of inter space travel is something that has not really been much elaborated on.
I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to everybody, especially Mr. Neil Armstrong.
He'd surely want to set some records straight after reading this book, and I agree with him.
It's HIGH TIME that the people of the world read his personal account of what happened up there on the Moon.
After all, we prayed for him and held our collective breaths with each step he took up there, in that gravity-less environment that could have taken him to an early and unexpected grave had one little problem occured.
Prayers helped his mission to be 1,000% successful....and it's been 35 years since this happened.
Time is running out on old Neil --- I hope he doesn't go to his grave with all his wonderous tails of awesome space experience.
Now is the time to share this marvelous achievement.
The world would like to hear from the man himself, in his own thoughts and words.
It's too important an achievement for Armstrong to keep for himself totally.
I sometimes wonder if things would be different in the respects of Buzz Aldrin being number one on the Moon.
He'd spill his gutts all over the place, I have a hunch.
Or maybe he'd off made an error and never landed at all.
One never can test fate.
It was Armstrong as our Number One Space Man in 1969 - I sure would LOVE to hear his words on this story.
For now, this book will suffice.
Rating: 
Summary: not worth reading it
Review: save your money on this one and wait for "First Man" by James Hansen which might be comming by the end of the year. In contrast to Wagener, Hansen knows Armstrong personally and has a history of writing great books on technology and spaceflight.
"One giant leap" is really not worth the time one would need to read it and apart from the errors in there it doesn't capture his great personallity i was fortunate enough to get to know myself.
Rating:
Summary: not worth reading it
Review: save your money on this one and wait for "First Man" by James Hansen which might be comming by the end of the year. In contrast to Wagener, Hansen knows Armstrong personally and has a history of writing great books on technology and spaceflight.
"One giant leap" is really not worth the time one would need to read it and apart from the errors in there it doesn't capture his great personallity i was fortunate enough to get to know myself.
Rating:
Summary: One Inaccuracy after Another
Review: The book cover tells us that Wagener was a journalist for 30 years. This book makes me wonder what kind of journalist he was. The book is full of inaccuracies. Some examples: he calls cosmonaut Alexi Leonov Alexi Leonor; he states that Christa McAuliffe was selected as the Teacher in Space because she won a "Why I Want to Go Into Space" essay. (cheapening her hard work and ultimate sacrifice); he writes the shuttle's solid rocket boosters fall into the ocean and are never used again even though they are recovered, refurbished, and reused. There is no documentation for statements he makes that contradict other records. This is poorly written and researched book. I have told my wife, who is the director of our local library, not to waste money buying the book. I won't donate my copy to the library. Ignore the book and read the books written by those who were a part of the effort of going to the moon.
Rating:
Summary: One of the worst biographies ever!
Review: The lack of a good biography of Neil Armstrong, that is one that deals with more than just his space work, has been long anticipated. It seemed that this one, considering the dedication to Armstrong's Korean War squadron mates in VF-51, might fill the bill. Not so.
To catalog all the errors in this book -- at least in the hundred or so pages I read before quitting in disgust -- would take more time and patience than I have. The errors about the aircraft alone are staggering. And sadly, dedication aside, the combat and carrier flying section are replete with errors as well.
It seems that this whole effort was cobbled together with no input from Armstrong at all. The author interviewed, it seemed, anyone he could find who might have had even a passing contact with the aviator/astronaut. Given how it was written I really expected, "Joe Smith, who ate at a McDonald's once frequented by Armstrong, said..."
Save your money, save your time, and hope for a better book on this famous and quiet man.
Note to Amazon: Is there nothing we can give lower than a 1?! This book would qualify as a "no grade."
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book, Bad Cover
Review: The marriage between author and publisher can be a chancy thing. Here we have a good biography of Neil Armstrong, first man to set foot on the moon. The book appears to be well-researched and credited. Unfortunately, the publisher did not do as much work as the author. This is immediately obvious by the photo of Buzz Aldrin on the cover. There is a tiny image of Neil Armstrong reflected in the faceplate, but the main image is Aldrin. Aldrin's name tag is clearly visible through the "A" in the word GIANT. But if you can ignore having the wrong man on the cover, the insides are worth reading. Neil's adventure is one of the great achievements of the last fifty years and has had far too little actually written about the men themselves. This is a wonderful addition to the library of any fan of the space race.
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