Overall, this was a worthwhile read. As others have noted, the cover is misleading. This book is a detailed chronicle of the manufacture of the Lunar Module, and not a general history of the Apollo program. In fact, given the number of general apollo histories available, I think it would have sold better had it been more aptly titled. Although a tad melodramatic, the authors weave a cohesive narrative and truly convey the enormous complexity of designing and building the LM. It was nice to read a book that was not just about the astronauts but instead about those who actually put them into space. I would reccommend this book for serious space enthusiasts and not the casual reader. The best chapter is the last one, dealing with the end of the LM program and the fate of the lunar modules, both those that went to the moon and those that stayed on the earth.

This book is a pleasant change from the NASA/Astronaut perspective of the 1960's race to the moon. This story is told through the eyes of one supplier, the lunar module designers and engineers. There must be similar untold stories at Rockwell about developing the command and service module for the Apollo program.

There are countless books chronicling the race to the moon and the triumphs of the Apollo program. Most of them are well worth reading too. Chariots sets itself apart though. Rather than celebrating the astronauts, or even the flight controllers and ground crews, Chariots goes behind the scenes at Grumman Aerospace Corporation, the company that won the contract to build the Lunar Module (LM). The reader sees firsthand the technical and engineering mountains that had to be scaled in order to make the moon landing possible. It's an incredible story full of pitfalls, heartbreaks (and a few heart attacks), breakthroughs, divorces and happy endings. Building the first (and so far only) spacecraft designed to land human beings on another world presented engineering challenges that had never been considered before, and Grumman rose to the challenge. An indispensable book for any amateur historian of the space age.

This is one incredible Sci-Fi read . It really can't be absorbed in one reading. It does have some really good Hard Sci-Fi and is thankfully bereft of the "Sexy" implausable starships common to the drivel written by the likes of David Weber, and Gene Rodenberry's Star Trek farce. The characters aren't as strong as they could be. Which is a failing i've noticed in all technical speculative fiction, most recently noted in Jeff Cramer's Einstein's Bridge. I highly recommend it, although better characterization and stronger female characters ( Strong female characters don't have to be vindictive shrews ), would have made it a 9 in my book. I also recommend the sequel "The Killing Star".

The thing I liked best about this was the hard-science take at both parallel universe theory, as well as a practical design for a starship that could reach nearl light speed with technology not to far from where we are today. A fine collection of plausible technical points with a decent story built around it, and while I'm not a big fan of parallel universe stories in general, it wasn't oppressive or cliched. The technical paper at the end of the novel detailing the design of the starship, as well as discussion on abuse of the technology was almost worth the price of purchase. (Reltivisitic bombs, that is an asteroid accelerated to near light speed, make H-Bombs look like wet fire-crackers). A fun hard-science book, and even more enjoyable scientific technical paper about the starship technology described in the novel at the end make this a good read

I have always had an affinity for post-apocalypse novels. This genre has become much less popular since the end of the cold war. But, Dust was really a pleasure to read. It is a story about the fall of civilization due to an ecological breakdown (as opposed to the standard nuclear holocaust). I am not a scientist, nor do I have much interest in that subject - until I read this book.

The author sets forth a compelling thesis that mass extinction on earth is cyclical. Dust is written in a style so that even someone like myself who has little scientific background, can understand the scientific concepts that are put forth.

My only real complaint about Dust is that the author does not fully explain some of the characters and events. For example, I wanted to know more about the worm affliction that one scientists suffered from. I also wanted to know more about society after the fall (perhaps that will be the next book). I do think that the author put in at least one gratuitous scene of attacking bats. I believe that this was done as an homage to Stephen King, since the author also describes a house in Main surrounded by a wrought iron fence that is festooned with bat icons (I read this description of King's house years ago in a magazine). I guess if you're going to write this genre and pay homage to someone, King's the person to do it to.

All in all, Dust is a good book with a few shortcomings, but certainly worth reading. I hope to see more from this author (hopefully, a part 2 to Dust).

What a terrific book. Pellgrinoo is a scientist, and, like Jurassic Park, there's a lot of scientific fact mixed in with thiis excellent fiction. It COULD happen, and it was very frightening! From all insects dying to vsampire bats and swarms of killer dust mites behaving llike piranha, this book is a chilling and easily pictured view of the future. Jakob-Creutzfeld Disease (Mad Cow in humans) plays a big part. People just can't win. Humbling and inspiring I can't recommend this enough! Think Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, with Darwin thrown in for good measure. Extraordinary!

This novel just chilled me to the bare bones. The characters, even those who appeared for just a short while before entering the book's rather extensive obituary, were so fleshed-out that I was sometimes tricked into believing that they were about to become main characters. The evangelistic Jerry Sigmond seemed so real to me that I was certain that Pellegrino was describing something terrible that had really happened to him in life. His co-author on "Chariots for Apollo" (another 5 star book) has told me that an evangelical radio personality, and other anti-Darwin types did indeed send mobs to destroy his two New Zealand laboratories and bring him before "ad hoc committees" during the early 1980's, whereupon he was forced to renounce his theories about oceans under the ice of Jupiter's and Saturn's moons, ancient bacteria reaching Earth from Mars, and what everyone now knows as the "Jurassic Park" theory. Like Galileo, Pellegrino's ideas have turned out to be correct, but that did not stop New Zealand from putting him on trial as some sort of heretic, and passing sentence (Luckilly, he was able to get out of the country in 1982). Commenting on the New Zealand Jerry Sigmonds vs Pellegrino, Sir. Arthur C. Clarke ("2001: A Space Odyssey") has written, "Evidently, some New Zealanders are dumber than the sheep - which outnumber them!" So, this is certainly a scientist who has paid his dues, and it shows in his fiction. He reads like the B.B. King of the eco-thriller. Stephen King's "The Stand," to which this book has been compared, is bright and cheery by comparison. One cannot sing the blues so well if his life has been easy. Perhaps some truths can only be sung as Blues, or written as fiction. Also true to life is the story's failure to select one answer from the many theories about the scientific (and in some cases even theological) causes given for the insect extinction at the root of the Dust crisis. This is exactly how science works - differing from religion in that it is based far more on questions than on answers. In real science, most of the time we just never know. For more than two thousand years of using asprin, no one really knows how it works, and though we now know how to clone people like carrots, we've barely a clue as to how the first diploid cell really becomes a human being. Which brings me to another truth: Dr Charles Drew. The man who developed blood typing but bled to death was, as Pellegrino writes, driven away from a "whites only" hospital after a severe accident. The current "urban myth" seems to arise from recent revisionist historians who (these past two years) have insisted that driving Dr. Drew away from a "Whites only" hospital had something to do with "lack of proper medical facilities" and nothing at all to do with his being a black man in the deep south in 1950. None other than NASA's Jesco von Puttkamer happened to be in the neighborhood when it happened, and the incident became one more reason, on the heels of the still fresh lessons of Auschwitz, that America simply had to wake up, and change its ways. That's just the two cents I have to add, but I'm just an aerospace engineer. What do I know?

Those familiar with the work of Charles Pellegrino know that his writing always drifts from the distant past to the present to the distant future, connecting disparate circumstances together into a coherent "big picture" by way of entertaining discourses on paleontology, archeology, biology, and astrophysics, to name but a few of the fields Mr. Pellegrino has worked in. In "Her Name, Titanic", the disparate events in question are the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic in 1912 and its discovery on the ocean floor in 1985, as well as subsequent missions to document the Titanic's wreckage more fully. "Her Name, Titanic" presents previously unpublished information about the sinking of the Titanic in the form of fictionalized narratives and direct quotes from survivors, based on newly discovered (at the time of writing) diaries and communication logs. There is much discussion of the technology and accomplishments of deep sea exploration, including interviews with Bob Ballard and other members of the teams that discovered and explored the Titanic wreckage. I didn't like "Her Name, Titanic" as much as I usually like Charles Pellegrino's books. This book actually focuses on one subject more than most of his books do, which turned out not to be a good thing. I found Pellegrino's enthusiasm to be somewhat less infectious than usual, as the middle portion of the book bogged down with too much talk about deep sea submersibles. Of course, if this is your field of interest, you may find that part of the book fascinating. Titanic aficionados will be thrilled to read new accounts of what happened that night in April 1912. I give the new information 5 stars and the more tedious aspects of the book 3 stars, so 4 stars as a whole.

"Her Name, Titanic" is an incredible tale of the Titanic, and Her tragic misfortune. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the ship's past, crew, passengers, story, myths, route, disaster, and capivating spells. People also interested in space exploration will find this book fascinating. Charles Pellegrino did a phenomenal job in paralleling inner space, and outer space.

In "Her Name, Titanic" we are invited onboard, to explore the ship at our leisure, on the surface, as well as on the ocean floor. We share the passenger's experiences during the time of disaster, and are able to envision the Titanic's last few minutes during her maiden voyage.

It is a well written piece, and contains the ability to take the reader into a lifeboat, granting us permission to hear the cries of disbelief, fear, and shock, over the ocean's surface that dreadful night. With Pellegrino's descriptive words, and use of metaphors, the readers are able to observe the bodies floating helplessly in the North Atlantic, and feel the life-saving grips of survivors on the edges of lifeboats pulling them to safety. Readers can feel the ice-chilled water temperatures, and the chill in the air biting at their bodies, while turning from page to page.

This book envelopes the reader completely, as the ocean enveloped the Titanic itself. I found it an entertaining peice, as well as a tragic peice. A piece written in truth, as well as misery.

The Titanic has held thousands of people under Her spell, for almost a hundred years, myself included. Reading this book, you will discover some of the reasons why, if you have not encountered them yet. Run, don't walk, to the nearest bookstore, or library, and read this story. Enjoy...

This unique and fascinating book goes beyond any TITANIC bookthat has ever been written. It is perhaps the most dramatic account of the sinking of the legendary "unsinkable" Cunard liner -- and of the incredible, science fiction-like finding of the ship.

"As ropes were unhooked and boat number fourteen struck out, portholes still glowed below the surface. From five feet under, in a room that was still unflooded, a man was peering out into the ocean. Adjacent portholes illumunated the white bottom of a lifeboat. Looking up, he watched it cast away..."

Time seemed to have come unstuck the day the TITANIC's grave was discovered. An empty lifeboat davit turned up on the robot ARGO's tv screens, and suddenly it was 1912 again, suddenly the horrors came spewing out like a nightmare from the past. Scientiests burst into tears, and many who saw those first pictures suffered what they later called minor nervous breakdowns. The world looked on, dumbfounded by the fallibility of man's suppsedly most invincible creations.

HER NAME, TITANIC includes a vivid portrait of explorer Robert Ballard, the brilliant leader of the expedition that discovered the TITANIC's remains. The author portrays Ballard and his crew in a compelling style unlike that of any other book on the subject. Charles Pellegrino is a scientist as well as an author, and he describes in riveting detail the scientific aspects of the machines and the processes involved in the expeditions.

But more than that, this is the first book to go beyond the headlines. By delving deep into the meaning of the TITANIC, which has evolved slowly from tragedy to symbol, and by putting himself into the minds of the people who play the characters in the drama. Charles Pellegrino has created a spellbinding work of oceanography that succeeds in illuminating new truths about the meaning of science -- and about the tragedies and joys of the human adventure.

Star Trek-The Next Generation: Dyson Sphere written by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski is a good adveture story but has a few leaps in logic.

When I read this story about a Dyson Sphere... for those of you who don't know what a Dyson Sphere is it's a Ringworld, which is only a ribbon cut out of the equator of a sphere. It gets it's name from Freeman Dyson who first came up with the idea and effectively uses all of the energy from it's central star. There are Type I, II, and III versions where a Type III is a total sphere and incorporates a huge land mass, approximately two hundred million kilometers across, with a surface area that would exceed that of a quarter-billion worlds.

I know that this sounds like a farfetched idea, but it could be plausible, but I wonder about the mass of the sphere affecting the mass of the sun which is at the central core. Enough of this posturing, this iss a story about one of the most astounding discoveries in the Federation. If I'm not mistaken Montgomery Scott crash landed on it and was later found caught up in a transporter loop.

This book seems to have bits and pieces cut out of the story as there are leaps in logic, but the hardcore Trekker will over look some of these discretions, but it seems irritating. I liked the story as a neutron star approaches on a collision course and Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise crew are there to save the Dyson Sphere and the many sentient species from total destruction.

The only reason I gave this book a 3 star rating was because I felt that there were missing parts that needed to be present to make a better continuity otherwise the story was excellent and the ending is something to behold.

No doubt about it...this is the only star trek book I've read where I've needed to actually think more than usual. If you're looking for the action, humor, and suspense that many of the other books have, go get another novel because you won't find any of that in here.

I'm very surprised that nobody in any of the reviews I've read so far mentioned the Afterword section of this book, which is an intriguing explanation of the science needed to actually build spaceships that can get close to warp speed (specifically, 92 percent of lightspeed). Pellegrino does a very good job of addressing many of the design technicalities in layman's terms as to why space travel might actually BE possible based on Gene Roddenberry's original vision of the Wagon Train in space.

If you find the science of space travel intriguing, this book does a very good job of tying those concepts into a star trek scenario. If you're out for entertainment, look elsewhere. Definitely more for the scientific minded than the sci-fi minded.

I liked this book a lot as it had the real feel of what Star Trek is all about... This was an exciting adventure as it led to the further exploration of the mysterious Dyson Sphere.. Dyson Sphere is an unknown construct of very advanced technological proportions that is left deserted by its creators... The Enterprise along with a group of Horta Scientists (Silicon Rock creatures from the original star trek show that are long lived) are sent to explore and possibly unlock the Dyson Sphere's secrets...This book had a real feel of awe and mystery that makes for good science fiction.. Dyson Sphere has been a construct that has been thought of theoretically today but not to the great extent and standards used in this book... An object so large as to encircle a sun is mind shattering to say the least... That is what is so exciting about this novel... The writer takes us into this mammoth object where the reader finds danger and mystery lurking everywhere...I also like how the authors left the Dyson Sphere remain a mystery at the conclusion of this book... After all if we still have mysteries on Earth today such as "The Pyramids" or "The Bermuda triangle" why can't the same be said for Dyson's Sphere... The only drawback I can say with this book is that I felt it should have included Mr. Scott... After all in the sttng TV episode he was the person that made the discovery of Dyson Sphere known and he also lost his space ship in saving the crew of the Enterprise...You would also think that because he is an engineer and the Dyson Sphere being a technological mystery of such exorbitant proportions he would be the first person to sign up for the Dyson Sphere research project...