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The Right Stuff
by
Tom Wolfe
From "America’s nerviest journalist" (Newsweek)--a breath-taking epic, a magnificent adventure story, and an investigation into the true heroism and courage of the first Americans to conquer space. "Tom Wolfe at his very best" (The New York Times Book Review)
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
March 4th 2008
by Picador
(first published 1979)
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Jan 22, 2008
Richard
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Space Buffs, Aviation Buffs, Cold War Buffs, Dudes in General
This would have been a superb book but for Wolfe's puzzling decision to libel astronaut Gus Grissom. Sadly, between the book and its movie adaptation, Wolfe's distortions are probably all that most people know about Grissom (assuming of course that they remember any astronaut other than Neil Armstrong in the first place).
Grissom was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, and the second to go into space. After his capsule splashed down, its hatch blew before the recovery helicopter arrived...more
Grissom was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, and the second to go into space. After his capsule splashed down, its hatch blew before the recovery helicopter arrived...more
Sep 01, 2008
Traci
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
Shelves:
one-book-one-chicago,
non-fiction
9.1.08 I wish I could give half stars because then I would give this book four and half. I absolutely loved it, the half star deduction from five is only because I had a really hard time finishing the last 40 pages or so. They seemed to drag a little. Otherwise, this was a fantastic book. As I mentioned before, I really thought it would be dry (perhaps that was my issue with those stubborn last pages) but it wasn't. Tom Wolfe's narrative was funny and straightforward and I breezed through comple...more
Jun 22, 2007
John Wiswell
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Literary readers, fans of non-fiction and biography, and readers who are jaded towards heroism
Easily one of the best books I've read this year, and one of those books I kick myself for having put off for so long. It possesses the very best of Wolfe; Kesey-like humor, Heller-like shrewdness and Steinbeck-like depth. Unlike so many biographical or journalistic books, it managed to make me feel for these people as well as inform me about them. He grabs the possibiltiy of their heroism and absoluteness of their cultural importance like the two horns of a bull, and wrestles the creature down...more
This book genuinely gets the adrenaline pumping. There's a scene where Chuck Yeager takes an NF-104 up to 110,000 feet (about 10 miles into "space"), then looses control and goes into a spin, plummeting to 20,000 feet before regaining enough control to safely eject. Then the seat gets tangled in the parachute lines and spills corrosive fuel (why was there corrosive fuel in the chair?) on his face and hand. He fights through the intense pain of melting eyeball to free up the parachute and land sa...more
Always been somewhat fascinated by space travel, so this may be a little more in my wheelhouse than for others. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anybody. Whether the subject is the genesis of NASA and the Mercury Program, the individual sub-orbital and orbital missions, or broader discussion of the space race with the Soviet Union, the writing moves at a breakneck pace and captivated me from open to close. There is some especially great stuff about the dangers faced by th...more
"Breathtaking...epic...There are images and ideas in the Right Stuff that glisten like a rocket screaming to the heavens." - Los Angeles Times
The Right Stuff deals with test pilots who establish a sound barrier in space. This story is divided among the seven main astronauts, and the test pilot Chuck Yeager.
This is not only an inspiring tale of astronauts and test pilots, but also an extremely suspenseful story as well. Every second of the way, Tom Wolfe sparked readers' contemplation within the...more
The Right Stuff deals with test pilots who establish a sound barrier in space. This story is divided among the seven main astronauts, and the test pilot Chuck Yeager.
This is not only an inspiring tale of astronauts and test pilots, but also an extremely suspenseful story as well. Every second of the way, Tom Wolfe sparked readers' contemplation within the...more
When I was a kid (thanks to my attendance at several military-funded elementary schools), I had the opportunity to meet Alan Shepard. I got to try on John Glenn’s spacesuit. I knew who these guys were in the second grade, but I never really knew the full story behind America’s first forays into space until I read “The Right Stuff” several years ago.
Wolfe takes us through the inception and development of the United States Space program, and into the lives of the original Mercury Seven astronauts...more
Wolfe takes us through the inception and development of the United States Space program, and into the lives of the original Mercury Seven astronauts...more
This is a really good book. A great author with a really interesting subject. The book is about the Mercury Space Program, and does a great job of recounting the history of America's first manned space program. The story skews to the personal stories of the astronauts and major NASA personnel versus the technical side, but Wolfe is a good enough writer to merge the personal and technical and keep the story moving the entire time. Throughout the book the idea of "the right stuff" permeates. This...more
"The Right Stuff" is a fantastic account of the Mercury astronaut program, but it's also a window into American culture in the early 1960s.
Tom Wolfe's writing is second to none, and the story unfolds like a good novel (though it factually covers a fascinating part of American history). The space program wasn't just about flying into space -- it was about the United States competing with the Soviets, Americans rallying around a new breed of "Single Combat Warriors" who enjoyed a form of celebrit...more
Tom Wolfe's writing is second to none, and the story unfolds like a good novel (though it factually covers a fascinating part of American history). The space program wasn't just about flying into space -- it was about the United States competing with the Soviets, Americans rallying around a new breed of "Single Combat Warriors" who enjoyed a form of celebrit...more
Good GRIEF, somebody please remind me about this the next time I think I will read a Tom Wolfe book. I seem to read one about every 15 years and in between I forget what an unpleasant experience I find it. I cannot! Take! The exclamation points! I'm one of those people who, constitutionally, cannot ignore an exclamation point on the printed page, so reading this was like being shouted at for great lengths of time. As everyone in the free world already knows, this is Tom Wolfe's book about the Me...more
Wolfe's story of the U.S. supersonic test flight and early space programs transports you back to a bygone American era when pilots were heroes, scientific advance seemed endless, and the quest for higher, faster, first ruled the news. To Wolfe's credit, he paints real portraits of these guys&mdashthey're drunks, adulterers, bad fathers, arrogant pricks—but ultimately, he loves them. They have it! They have the right stuff. Wolfe is a powerful writer. Reading about a test flight gone wrong as...more
This book is just great!! This is a must read for football fans. Why? Because we have transferred that idea of the "right stuff" from our fighter pilots/astronauts to our sports heroes...particularly football. The idea of the man who is above other men, because of his innate ability to continually face danger (granted you don't normally die in sports) and by his own innate devices return unscathed ("the right stuff") is still alive in our society...we have just transferred it to sports. Ever wat...more
While I am not a fan of Wolfe's writing style (wasn't that impressed with 'Bonfire of the Vanities' either) I do acknowledge that he is a keen observer and makes some astute observations about the space program and the country's relationship with it in the early days.
I have seen the movie many times - and enjoy it, probably more than the book - but reading the book I found that an important part of the narrative had been grossly underplayed in the movie. In the movie, it's implied but not very f...more
I have seen the movie many times - and enjoy it, probably more than the book - but reading the book I found that an important part of the narrative had been grossly underplayed in the movie. In the movie, it's implied but not very f...more
This is a very good book about the space race from 1957 to about 1964. It seems everyone knows who the first men on the moon were, but who were the first seven astronauts designated to go into space? Thomas Wolfe does a great job telling the courageous stories of those astronauts, along with the story of Chuck Yeager, who basically started it all. Wolfe does a great job telling how these men didn't panic in a tough situation, even though sometimes the situation may have called for a panic. I als...more
I learned a lot about the Space Race and about the early NASA program in this book. I didn't really know I was that interested in the topic until I read the book. Might be hard to get through for some people though....
Feb 19, 2012
Steve
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Steve by:
Referenced in NYT
This book was referenced in a NY Times article "50 Years Later, Celebrating John Glenn's Feat" of the astronaut's first orbit of Earth. John Glenn is one of the pilots characterized in the novel.
My brother Dave had these insights on the book and its subject. Yes. I strongly recommend it. Tom Wolfe has a great ability to get behind the scenes and tell all the stories covered up by the government and the media. You know it has to be good if I rush through a long non-fiction book. The astronauts w...more
My brother Dave had these insights on the book and its subject. Yes. I strongly recommend it. Tom Wolfe has a great ability to get behind the scenes and tell all the stories covered up by the government and the media. You know it has to be good if I rush through a long non-fiction book. The astronauts w...more
Having just about got over I Am Charlotte Simmons, I wanted to remind myself why Tom Wolfe was once considered an important writer. And my faith was restored. While his style is still a little too jarring with its vernacular stylings, here it is put to good use. Wolfe does a brilliant job of conveying the culture of elite military pilots. Having established the fighter-jock spirit he shows how it was undermined in the early days of the space programme, and then how it was gradually restored so t...more
What a fantastic book! I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book was unputdownable. I thought that I would be able to read a chapter here and there leisurely making my way through. However as soon as I read the first chapter about Jane and Pete Conrad, I was hooked. I needed to know more about these test pilots and what possesses someone to have such a career. Tom Wolfe writes in such a way that you can feel the emotions of these test pilots and astronauts. I could imagine the panic that...more
Has it really been 40 years since humans first walked on the moon? Four decades. Will it ever happen again? What courage.
Yet, before there was Apollo 11, before there were even the Gemini space missions, there were the original Mercury seven astronauts: Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Carpenter, Cooper, Schirra, Slayton. We all knew their names; knew what they looked like in their shiny, silver space suits; knew they had true grit.
Like every red-bloodied boy growing up in this country, I dreamed of b...more
Yet, before there was Apollo 11, before there were even the Gemini space missions, there were the original Mercury seven astronauts: Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Carpenter, Cooper, Schirra, Slayton. We all knew their names; knew what they looked like in their shiny, silver space suits; knew they had true grit.
Like every red-bloodied boy growing up in this country, I dreamed of b...more
I didn't like this book. Picked it up because it's the "One Book, One Chicago" pick. I really disliked the style of writing. He is writing non-fiction but does so in this joking, conversational style with works against the topic of men who choose to be test pilots and risk their lives on a daily basis. I kept reading because I wanted to see how it turned out and it wasn't worth it!
Jan 18, 2010
J.C.
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
best-non-fiction
It has been a long time since I read the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and I really don't remember Wolfe's style. I remember liking Acid Test (mainly because I was into the 60's west coast scene) and remember liking the movie version of The Right Stuff to warrant me spending $1.50 on the mass market at a book sale in College. Unfortunately I didn't care enough to go out and start reading it that day. As a result, I had been sitting with this book on random shelves for over ten years now and I figu...more
Jan 08, 2008
Angela
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
adventure lovers, history buffs, thrill-seekers
Recommended to Angela by:
It happened to be on my sister's shelf - Carol
This is true history in an action-packed, exciting novel form. I learned so much about aviation history - heck - U.S. history, plus Tom Wolfe had a lot of insight into the daredevil mindset. I loved the movie, too, but the book was so much more complex... And the "natural born stick-and-rudder man" comes through in the book and not the movie.
What I really enjoyed about Tom Wolfe's book chronicling the life and times of early test pilots and astronauts were the stories about the people involved. I also found Wolfe's entire premise interesting -- that the early astronauts were looked down upon by test pilots as lacking that mythical "right stuff" quality. The nation's embrace of the early astronauts was therefore surprising as the line between pilot and test subject became increasingly blurred.
What I didn't like is Wolfe's writing sty...more
What I didn't like is Wolfe's writing sty...more
My friend Ty is a big fan of both the movie and the book. When I happened to mention that I hadn't seen or read either, he was aghast. I enjoyed the film quite a bit, and so he insisted I read the book. The stories themselves and the people involved are quite interesting, and make for compelling reading. Wolfe's style is a bit grating at times - he picks a few themes and then mentions them and points them out OVER and OVER ad nauseum, as if the reader might not be able to connect the dots withou...more
It's non-fiction, but it doesn't read like it. Gripping, exciting, a fascinating insight into the courage - or foolishness - of people on the cutting edge of science and technology. I picked this up because I was writing a character who was a test pilot, and this seemed like a good resource. I got so much more than that. Tom Wolfe creates his world so well, I really felt like I was there at the beginning of the space program, feeling the national fear and excitement and awe. I lived in Houston a...more
Tom Wolfe blazed an original trail, writing news as fiction. That and his powerful, poetic voice make this book worth reading. He plays with rhythm like a jazz musician. But the RIGHT STUFF tells a great story, nicely mixing adventure with research.
Being from Houston, I particularly liked the various anecdotal stories about the Houston of the 1960s--including the Astronaut parade ending at the old Sam Houston Coliseum (now home to Bar Houston and etc.). Best of all was the discussion of the gre...more
Being from Houston, I particularly liked the various anecdotal stories about the Houston of the 1960s--including the Astronaut parade ending at the old Sam Houston Coliseum (now home to Bar Houston and etc.). Best of all was the discussion of the gre...more
The fact that I have not read this book until now is an odd omission to my shelves. I started reading it once when I was in middle school, but it just didn't stick that time through, and I abandoned it only a few chapters in. I'm very glad to have returned to it, as this truly is a wonderful book. A fascinating look into the people behind the history of the rise of NASA and the fall of test pilot culture. I'm guessing there was a fair bit of fictionalization of the characters and occurrences (he...more
It pains me to give any Wolfe book less than a 3, but I can't in good conscience give a book I couldn't even finish more than a 2. The parts I read were a 3, I swear!
This started out aMAZingly - archly observing the proud little world Airforce pilots live in where you either have the right stuff or don't, with wives who grow used to the fact that you may die doing something stupid like chasing another plane in practice when you shouldn't have been (which only goes towards proving you have the Ri...more
This started out aMAZingly - archly observing the proud little world Airforce pilots live in where you either have the right stuff or don't, with wives who grow used to the fact that you may die doing something stupid like chasing another plane in practice when you shouldn't have been (which only goes towards proving you have the Ri...more
I managed to read this in a single "gulp" over the holidays. I guess I finally see why Tom Wolf is considered one of the best modern American writers. I got into it for the space exploration part, but the personal journey into the lives of test pilots, astronauts and the 1960s ended up being far more interesting then anything else. It made me realize just how little I actually know about the era beyond a thin veneer of popular mythos that is easy to take for granted, not having actually grown up...more
An interesting and fascinating look at the dawn of the space age, but more importantly, the bonds between the original pilots. Wolfe explores what was so special about the men, why they did what they did, and what was their role in the larger American narrative.
The book is best summed up by this telling quote: " No, the idea here (in the all-enclosing fraternity) seemed to be that a man should have the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery and put his hide on the line and then have t...more
The book is best summed up by this telling quote: " No, the idea here (in the all-enclosing fraternity) seemed to be that a man should have the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery and put his hide on the line and then have t...more
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Wolfe was educated at Washington and Lee Universities and also at Yale, where he received a PhD in American studies.
Tom Wolfe spent his early days as a Washington Post beat reporter, where his free-association, onomatopoetic style would later become the trademark of New Journalism. In books such as The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe delves into...more
More about Tom Wolfe...
Tom Wolfe spent his early days as a Washington Post beat reporter, where his free-association, onomatopoetic style would later become the trademark of New Journalism. In books such as The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe delves into...more
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Mar 28, 2012 10:16am