"" Writer's Wanderings: Books For The Road - Sky Walking by Tom Jones

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Books For The Road - Sky Walking by Tom Jones

Before embarking on our World Cruise next year we are trying to read some of the books by several of the featured speakers who will be aboard throughout the cruise. The first one I finished is Sky Walking, An Astronaut's Memoir by Tom Jones. NASA's space program is something that has occurred during my lifetime and it has been amazing to watch it progress. This memoir is a unique look into some of the shuttle program from an astronaut's point of view.

Jones drove me a little nuts with all the acronyms in the beginning but as I got further along in the book, they began to make more sense and/or were easy to ignore. There are some minor technical places and some references to physics I'm sure readers more learned in those would have no difficulty with. My slight brush with physics leaves a lot to be desired.

Still, the book is fascinating and each time you lift off with him (he was a part of four missions) you can almost feel the Gs and sense the weightlessness. His descriptions of re-entry and the amazing displays of light that accompany it were interesting to see through his eyes. Going through his three space walks with him gave a totally different perspective than anything I ever watched on TV.

This would be a great read for anyone interested in the space program and who has watched some of the missions on television. I missed the one opportunity I had to see a shuttle launch because I was sick but my family was duly impressed. I'm eager to see what my husband says once he's read the memoir. He saw the launch and he took physics and actually learned something.

Can't wait to hear Dr. Tom Jones when he speaks during our cruise. I'm sure it will be fascinating.

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