Rating: 
Summary: Worth Reading For The Details
Review: This book covers events leading up to, and after, that glorious mid-summer day in 1969 when, as a species, we briefly transcended our problems on earth and rose above ourselves, a time long gone. It is true that Neil Armstrong, for the most part I understand, rarely gives interviews, so this book has been written from information from other sources. Leon Wagener portrays Armstrong as a very sociable person, often active in community affairs, but also a man who values his privacy under sometimes overwhelming public scrutiny. A lot of the stories included here are from friends and family, I enjoyed this part probably the most, little treasues about a most private person who has every right to his privacy. But because Wagener could'nt talk directly to Armstrong, this book comes across, to me, as a kind of cookie-cutter book, just not quite as hard-hitting as it could have been had Armstrong talked with Wagener, who surely must have a lot to say!
Overall, though, Wagener did a good job with available resources. There are obvious errors in this book, glaring to those who know much about the space program, but I largely overlooked them in favour of the positive aspects of the book.
Sometimes I find it amazing, that 35 years ago, we landed men on the moon. Not only once, but six times, every time challenging that complex daisy-chain of potential problems, as Wagener phrased it. It is a testament to what dedicated scientists and engineers can accomplish, given enough resources to work with. It is the defining accomplishment of our time, when we became a multi-planet species, to be remembered when everything else from our age is forgotten, and Wagener covers this 'epic' aspect in a superb manner.
The actual flight of Apollo 11 is covered too briefly here, I believe. For a more in-depth coverage of the flight, read CARRYING THE FIRE by Michael Collins. Wagener did, however, cover Armstrong's life before and after Apollo 11 very well. Also, Buzz Aldrin did contribute to this book, and very interesting it was. In spite of the shortcomings of this book, it is nevertheless fascinating reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Major disappointment
Review: This book was really disappointing. Not only is it written with flowery language and dramatic hyperbole, it presents a very unsatisfying profile of a man that the world deserves to know as something other than the myth. The author gives us almost no personal insights into Armstrong, at least none that come off as reliable. I couldn't even finish the book. My guess is that the author really has no clue who or what Armstrong is all about.
Rating:
Summary: Not so stellar
Review: This book will only satisfy those who are happy with the "mythical Armstrong." It does not show the real man behind the myth. Wagener repeats every urban legend ever related about Armstrong as if they are all true. What's worse, the reader gets no idea where the author gets his information. There is the claim that he interviewed "hundreds" of people (his publisher's website says that he interviewed "thousands"!). But in his acknowledgements, the author thanks about a dozen people for talking to him, including one astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, who talks to everybody. Most of the quotes come from old newspaper and magazine articles. There are no notes, references, or bibliography to check the guy's sources. One wonders what "the man" himself (Armstrong) thinks of this book? Hopefully, some reviewers will ask him before they publish their reviews! Also, about two-thirds of the less than 300 pages of text concerns Neil's eight years as an astronaut, which we already know the most about. The other third covers the other 65-plus years of his life that we know little about. Also, the photographs reproduced for the book are very poor quality. And what's this putting a picture of Buzz Aldrin on the cover!
Rating:
Summary: Avoid This Book/Many Factual Errors & Inaccuracies
Review: This is a painful book to read. The author attempts to use every word in his thesaurus, and the proofing is terrible. But what is most upsetting is the many factual errors in this book. What really makes me wonder is I know how many I caught, how many am I not aware of? I have been waiting for THE book to be written on Armstrong. I am still waiting. I should have been warned when I saw the cover with Buzz Aldrin pictured (true, that is Neil's reflection in Buzz's faceplate). Save yout time and money. This is perhaps the poorest bio on any astronaut I have ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Bio
Review: This is really a terrific biography. I was fascinated by the way Neil Armstrong seemed to know he was going to go to the moon from the time he was a child. Over the years he did everything right to get there. He got a pilot's license, graduated from the right engineering school, flew the first combat jets in Korea, then flew the X-15 and made it to the ranks of astronauts. It's a great American story. I think Armstrong should be a role model for young people, and this very well-written, exciting book should be taught in the schools. It deserves to be a best seller.
Rating:
Summary: An Admirable Account Of A Stellar Life
Review: This summer will mark the 35th anniversary of the first moon landing and Neil Armstrong's famous "one small step." Journalist Leon Wagener does an admirable job of presenting Armstrong's life story in this first-ever biography. At first glance, it may seem surprising that three and a half-decades have passed since that historic journey without a book-length account of Armstrong's life; but given the former astronaut's well-known reticence, it's more easily understood. Wagener has mined official sources and conducted more than 100 interviews in putting together this account; but sadly, Armstrong was not among those who chose to participate. Wagener has apparently managed to track down just about everyone who has known or worked with Armstrong, including his brother, classmates, fellow soldiers and aviation pioneers, business associates and others.The Neil Armstrong who emerges in these pages is a remarkably driven person, who, growing up in the Ohio of the 1930s, dared to dream the seemingly impossible dream: that he would one day set foot on the moon. Armstrong's love of flying developed at an early age and was nurtured in college, during his service in the Korean War, his work as a test pilot in the 1950s, and his enrollment as one of the second generation of astronauts in the early 1960s. Wagener's account begins with the launch of Apollo 11, then follows Armstrong through the years leading up to that defining journey. He also offers a throughout account of the aftermath of the flight, when Armstrong and his fellow shipmates Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins spent months journeying the globe as good-will ambassadors for NASA and their country. Also recounted here is the ironic fact that even at the space agency's moment of ultimate triumph, its base of political support was eroding; this saw the start of the budget cuts and shifting of priorities that have left the post-Apollo NASA a shadow of the proud agency of the 1960s. Although the primary focus of this work is on the decades leading up to Apollo 11, Wagener also provides a good synopsis of Armstrong's post-astronaut career, including his decade as a university professor, his work as a pitchman for Chrysler, and his sometimes uncomfortable role as a living legend. Wagener's text is well-organized, and his prose is vivid and engaging, though it does become a bit purple at times. But perhaps that's to be understood, and forgiven. It was President Nixon, who, upon Apollo 11's return, proclaimed that week the greatest in history since the creation. Wagener has managed to re-create the awe and majesty of that moment, and for that, he deserves thanks.--William C. Hall
Rating:
Summary: An Admirable Account Of A Stellar Life
Review: This summer will mark the 35th anniversary of the first moon landing and Neil Armstrong's famous "one small step." Journalist Leon Wagener does an admirable job of presenting Armstrong's life story in this first-ever biography. At first glance, it may seem surprising that three and a half-decades have passed since that historic journey without a book-length account of Armstrong's life; but given the former astronaut's well-known reticence, it's more easily understood. Wagener has mined official sources and conducted more than 100 interviews in putting together this account; but sadly, Armstrong was not among those who chose to participate. Wagener has apparently managed to track down just about everyone who has known or worked with Armstrong, including his brother, classmates, fellow soldiers and aviation pioneers, business associates and others. The Neil Armstrong who emerges in these pages is a remarkably driven person, who, growing up in the Ohio of the 1930s, dared to dream the seemingly impossible dream: that he would one day set foot on the moon. Armstrong's love of flying developed at an early age and was nurtured in college, during his service in the Korean War, his work as a test pilot in the 1950s, and his enrollment as one of the second generation of astronauts in the early 1960s. Wagener's account begins with the launch of Apollo 11, then follows Armstrong through the years leading up to that defining journey. He also offers a throughout account of the aftermath of the flight, when Armstrong and his fellow shipmates Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins spent months journeying the globe as good-will ambassadors for NASA and their country. Also recounted here is the ironic fact that even at the space agency's moment of ultimate triumph, its base of political support was eroding; this saw the start of the budget cuts and shifting of priorities that have left the post-Apollo NASA a shadow of the proud agency of the 1960s. Although the primary focus of this work is on the decades leading up to Apollo 11, Wagener also provides a good synopsis of Armstrong's post-astronaut career, including his decade as a university professor, his work as a pitchman for Chrysler, and his sometimes uncomfortable role as a living legend. Wagener's text is well-organized, and his prose is vivid and engaging, though it does become a bit purple at times. But perhaps that's to be understood, and forgiven. It was President Nixon, who, upon Apollo 11's return, proclaimed that week the greatest in history since the creation. Wagener has managed to re-create the awe and majesty of that moment, and for that, he deserves thanks.--William C. Hall
Rating: 
Summary: Small step, not giant leap
Review: What a shame. This is one of the most amazing subjects in -- and out of -- this world, but this book is bland and sometimes wrong. What a waste. It's another tale of the X-15 and moon program, thinly told through Armstrong's resume. Yes there is some neat and new stuff here, but not much. It is all overshadowed by the errors and omisions. Yes, that is Buzz on the cover. The quote as Armstrong walked on the moon is wrong. Neil was not an 'ace' in Korea. In describing an Earth orbit docking, Wagener talks of 'twinkling' navigation lights -- but I thought the twinkling we see is an atmospheric effect. What did it really look like in orbit? I don't trust this book to tell me. There are many great books on Armstrong's times and events, I'd buy many of them before this one. And wait for someone like Jeffrey Kluger, Neil Thomson or Andrew Chaikin to get us close to Armstrong.
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