I long have been a huge fan of Wally Schirra. I have always adored his keen sense of humor and wit. Furthermore, his impeccable aviator and astronaut careers always made me feel awe struck. Therefore, I greatly looked forward to reading Mr. Schirra's account of his career. My main interest was to get a real insiders look into the space program - which I believe the book did successfully on some major points. Mr. Schirra's wit pleasantly shined throughout the book - this made the reading more pallatable. Regretfully, the reason for my three star rating is the fact that the book would ramble. Without a moments notice, it would jump ahead in time and backward in time. I found this fact to be very irritating as I tried to stay focused and gain as much information as I could from my reading. I thought that maybe I was being too critical, but this sore spot was evident throughout the book. By the time that I had finished the book, I felt exaspirated from the time warps. Do not get me wrong, Mr. Wally Schirra is still a brilliant man in my eyes - I just found that the book was not a good representation of the the true great man that he is. All in all, for the average reader, I feel that this book has many good bits of information - as long as you are willing to sift through the minutia of time jumps.

Wally Schirra does an excellent job in giving his first hand account of the NASA program, missions, and astronauts. His opinions really open you up to some insightful thoughts about the space program and those who were involved in it. The book is a quick read and feels as if Wally is talking right to you as he bounces forward and backward in history through his numerous stories. And a plus, the book came autographed from Wally himself!

It seems bewildering to me that so few books written by or about the great space pioneers display anything resembling spirit. Wally Schirra's, on the contrary, is a triumph. For starters, he delivers (with the help of Richard Billings) the pace and flair of a thriller, and tops it off with a humanness you can touch. Above all there is brilliant wit and the blend of admirable self-possession and panache that got those heroes out beyond the frontiers in the first place. Schirra is solid role model stuff. He did it (Mercury's Sigma 7, then Gemini and Apollo) - inspired by the daring individualists like Lindbergh who went before him - and implores all independent-thinking readers to take the torch. Our future hopes, the hopes for humanity, he contends, rest not with politicans but with the drive of free spirits. A pilot and a pirate, God bless his socks!

Blackley worked for the cia for 20 years. He's telling the truth on this one . Debucks Jim Garrisson and the gov. role in the assassanation. Direct contacts to the mafia but none to the gov. I doubt he'd qualify for Jim Garrissons staff. Remember the same people that killed Kennedy hire thier own to cover it up.

This book has such a broad view of every aspect of the conspiracy theory behind the crime. From Castro to the Mob to Hoffa, it covers everything. I really enjoyed this book, it is easy to follow and I learned alot. It is a good history lesson!