Too Far From Home: A Story of Life and Death in Space

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This got on my radar because Mary Roach mentions it in Packing for Mars. And I was pleasantly surprised. It was a lot more interesting than I was expecting it to be considering the author wasn't actually there for any of these events. There's a really great mix of background information and forward motion.

At first I really wasn't sure about all the extra information we were given, but I realized when I finished that I really dug it. This was a solid read. Apr 02, Natalie Stagnone rated it really liked it.

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While there was some out-lieing boring information given, the premise and intensity of this book was incredible. It was able to transform space and thoroughly explain the daily life and background of space and each of these men. It was truly an inspirational and compelling novel to read - and listen to! Jun 30, Corbett Buchly rated it liked it. I enjoyed learning about the details of life in space. My only negative would be the book jacket which seemed to oversell the suspense factor in this story.

I didn't need the suspense; it was a well written tale about stranded astronauts. Mar 19, Heath Condiotte rated it liked it. Interesting read, but dragged a bit. Aug 11, Razoor rated it it was amazing Shelves: Hearing the story of expedition 6 was great and getting to know the crew a lot really made it felt you were part of the crew.

Jan 13, Richard rated it liked it. This was an interesting story, but the book was simply too long. I imagine some readers enjoyed the extensive profiles of various individuals; however, for me, they simply went into too much detail, and there were too many of them. Ultimately, I jumped through some of these sections, so I could complete the book. What I enjoyed the most were the various descriptions of the Soviet and then Russian space program. The author covered a good deal of the programs history as well as it present state, This was an interesting story, but the book was simply too long.

The author covered a good deal of the programs history as well as it present state, and I thoroughly enjoyed this. I have seen very little written about the Russian space program, and I think this book showed it is worthy of study by all space enthusiasts. Recommended to rabbitprincess by: CBC Between the Covers. A highly informative look at the story of Expedition 6, a three-man mission to the International Space Station that was stranded temporarily in space when their ride home, the space shuttle Columbia, suffered the tragic accident in This book was a departure from the Between the Covers podcast's usual fare Canadian novels, generally contemporary , but it was an excellent Note: This book was a departure from the Between the Covers podcast's usual fare Canadian novels, generally contemporary , but it was an excellent read all the same.

I learned a lot about the space program and astronauts' day-to-day lives from this book. For example, a space suit weighs 86 pounds BEFORE the helmet, and food tastes blander in space than it does on Earth, because astronauts' faces and sinuses get swollen probably from the lack of gravity. One of the astronauts in the book sprinkled green chilies on everything he ate, and the sinus thing is probably why. Actually, the parts about the effects of space on the human body were very interesting in a gross kind of way. The author's description of the astronauts' insides floating around was rather nausea-inducing, and the thought that 8 Gs will almost pinch your lungs shut is terrifying.

Vivid details like these really capture the reader's interest. The book was also amusing in places, with quotes such as "weightlessness makes for some terrific air guitar", and the astronaut's prayer of sorts: Davis, aka "The Smoking Man" from The X-Files, narrates the minute episodes very well, speaking at a natural pace and adding some emotion where warranted, especially when the book uses direct speech. He also got me all choked up when the book discussed the history of manned space missions and in particular the Challenger disaster.

That was a terrible tragedy, as was Columbia. Space travel is a very dangerous job! Overall I would definitely recommend this book to people interested in Columbia and the space shuttle program in general. The part where the author discusses the history of manned space missions kind of lags, but the rest of the book is very interesting and may inspire you to do further research on the subject. Feb 12, Matthew Ciarvella rated it really liked it Shelves: While the surprisingly light focus on the science of life in space might be discouraging for fans of this topic, for me the focus on how it actually feels to live and work on the International Space Station was a breath of fresh air.

Jones relates the story of two astronauts and one cosmonaut in a way that is deeply personal and filled with the details and care that could only come from long hours of personal interviews. Jones relates their story with careful attention to detail; little things l While the surprisingly light focus on the science of life in space might be discouraging for fans of this topic, for me the focus on how it actually feels to live and work on the International Space Station was a breath of fresh air.

Jones relates their story with careful attention to detail; little things like "the blue shorts incident" really make the story of Expedition 6 come alive off the page. For me, space travel represents the next wilderness and it's great to hear some of the stories from the men who've traveled that wilderness and returned. Other books might be more technical, more focused on the hard facts, the engineering, the physics. The book also earns a nod of recognition for its depiction of the dangers of EVA extra-vehicular activity in Jones' description of "how an astronaut dies.

May 02, Neil Cake rated it liked it Shelves: I don't have too much to add to what other reviewers have revealed about this. It seems to me that it could have been improved by being a history of space stations. Instead it purports to be about one particular mission, but gets there by way of a history of space travel and various specific missions along the way. Other reviewers have pointed out that there clearly wasn't enough content in the main story, so it needed to be padded out. Why bother padding it out when you could just make it about I don't have too much to add to what other reviewers have revealed about this.

Why bother padding it out when you could just make it about the whole subject and not pretend otherwise? Presumably a publisher asked Chris Jones for this, so a more detailed tome entitled "Station" was out of the question. Overall though, there were lots of interesting details and a lot of stories I didn't know anything about until now. There was also a bit too much astronaut hero-worship and, despite this being quite short in terms of pages, it just seemed to go on and on.

It was also confusing at times and the structure often irrational. It starts giving introductory information about Bowersox and Pettit nearly halfway through the story, for instance. Jan 06, Kathleen Hagen added it Shelves: This is the story of the three men who left for the international space station in November, , and expected to be home in 14 weeks. The crew consisted of two Americans and a Russian. Then, in January, , the Columbia space shuttle exploded just sixteen minutes from landing, killing all aboard and destroying the shuttle.

The difficulty Too Far From Home: The difficulty now was that there was no shuttle waiting in the wings to go back and get the three left on the space station. This is the story of their adventure, as well as the dangers they faced everyday on the station if just one little thing went wrong. They had only themselves to fix it. Houston and Moscow were very worried about getting them home, and of course their families were worried. Ultimately, they had to depend upon Russian rockets, more like the initial ones used by Mercury, to take replacement people up to the station and bring the three home.

The book documents the lives of the three men aboard the International Space Station around the time of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. It is a fascinating and chilling account of what it is like to live in space - 'the best part of lonely'.


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To live in complete seclusion with mother earth as a backdrop; no traffic to get stuck in, no rain to soak you, no hustle and bustle; to be away from all that is familiar and taken for granted: To discover what it is like to be truly alone with one's thoughts: Mar 24, Victor T. The book is not easy to review. Too much detail in some sections, too "florid" as said by another reviewer in others, but at the same time a really useful, comprehensive history of efforts to learn the survivability of space in long-term missions. Interesting in contrasting the fatalism of the Russian space programme to the blind optimism of the American, where the Challenger and Columbia disasters threatened the public support of the programme.

Un-put-downable for about the last third of the The book is not easy to review.

Un-put-downable for about the last third of the book. The author also raises the nice question of how will spacemen be able to survive on other worlds as close as Mars, if a six-month mission leaves them so deconditioned that after they land back on Earth they mostly stay flat on their backs on the ground awaiting recovery. No match for little green men. Sep 20, Shannon rated it it was ok Shelves: I was a little disappointed in this book. I really wanted to like it, and was excited to read it after having read the initial article in Esquire magazine which can be found online here. The book started out strong, and I liked the historical information about the American and Russian space programs, but I felt there was too much inferences drawn from the personal lives of the three men.

It was strange to read of their thoughts and feelings when the book was written by a third party; it just d I was a little disappointed in this book. It was strange to read of their thoughts and feelings when the book was written by a third party; it just didn't feel sincere and a lot of it seemed to be filler.

Particularly annoying to me was the emphasis on the drama of relying on the Russian Soyuz vehicles, when these days that's all NASA has for the moment. It's not a bad book, but the Esquire article was excellent; I'd recommend the article to everyone and the book just to those who are really interested in low-earth orbit exploration.

After pages I just had to throw in the towel on this one. I am very interested in learning more about the story of the three astronauts who were on the space station when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated, but this book just is not very good.

Book Review: Too Far From Home

There is a lot of unnecessary filler and just over the top descriptive passages that sometimes just don't make any sense. There are also some just preposterous statements that are stated as unquestionable facts--like 'city kids don't have th DNF. There are also some just preposterous statements that are stated as unquestionable facts--like 'city kids don't have the room nor any need to dream'. Who in their right mind would say that? At any rate, I just got fed up with how much muck there was to wade through to get to the real story.

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Apparently the book is an elaboration of an article Chris Jones wrote for Esquire magazine. It may be worth searching this out to see if it is more succinct Mar 17, Earlwalkinkle rated it it was amazing Shelves: A story about life and death in space, if you've ever wondered what it's like to be an astronaut, to live at Station for a day, this is one of the most in-depth books I've ever read about day-to-day life for an astronaut, what it's like to float in their moon boots, both physically and mentally.

This book completely changed the way I thought about the space program, I have nothing but respect for NASA and their endeavors into space! I strongly recommend listening to these songs while reading: Lau A story about life and death in space, if you've ever wondered what it's like to be an astronaut, to live at Station for a day, this is one of the most in-depth books I've ever read about day-to-day life for an astronaut, what it's like to float in their moon boots, both physically and mentally.

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. For example, many early astronauts aboard space stations felt lonely and depressed and longed for home. All the earlier astronauts retired from NASA soon after their return from space! Two astronauts actually went on strike for a whole day while on a space station, and refused to continue their mission. They too retired from NASA on their return. However, the Russian cosmonauts fared much better.

They adapted well to the loneliness and confines of space, unlike their American counterparts. According to the author, this is due to the simple life of the Russians as compared to the luxurious and comfortable life Americans lead and are used to. You will learn a lot about the amazing beauty of a space walk, and how astronauts are so mesmerized by the beauty that they forget themselves, floating as in a trance towards Earth.

One astronaut almost was lost in this way if it wasn't for another astronaut pulling him back! I actually went to my video store and bought an Imax DVD of a spacewalk! On the funny side, you'll learn how astronauts "take a crap" in zero gravity, and some quite embarrassing situations! Here's some negative criticism from other reviewers on amazon. Everything seems a little too exaggerated -- the spicy language, the icy fear, the burning decisions. Maybe this style would have held up without question in a magazine, but at the novel's length, I kept wondering, "How do you know?

Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I always wanted to be an astronaut. But being born legally blind, that was not to be. So I pursued a degree in aerospace engineering, and for years, focused on the technical side of spaceflight. I've read many articles and books about how the shuttle, Soyuz, and the ISS work.

This book is really not about that, and that is why I enjoyed it so much. This book is about the people involved in a very dramatic story. It's about the three men who were left stranded aboard the International Space Station when Columbia was lost, and the men and women whose lives and decisions surrounded theirs. Each man's character comes through clearly over the course of the book, as if you're getting to know them in person, and you come to appreciate the story more because of what you have been shown of these men.

When the book ends, you want to hear Ken Bowersox give a quiet, thoughtful, and introspective lecture. You want to have Don Pettit teach you something--anything! And you want to give Nikolai Budarin a big hug and have a drink with him, just because that man seems that cool. Bowersox was probably a great mission commander, but I'd fly anywhere with Budarin.

He seems the sort who could land a washing machine. If Hemingway had created Budarin, I doubt I'd have found him believable.

A look at people killed during space missions

These characters--and the others, especially Anne Bowersox and Micki Pettit--make this a very different sort of space book than those so full of technical details and explanations. As a result, this book captivated me in a way the more technical books never could, and I suspect that readers without any background or previous knowledge of the space program would find it very accessible and captivating.

I recommend this book very highly. Chris Jones rules the nonfiction world. This is a very telling version of what actually happens in our space program.

A look at people killed during space missions

While we desperately need the space program, it is scary how easily our very dedicated and talented astronauts can be harmed or killed in their jobs. My commendations to them for their courage and pride in their work. I very much enjoyed this book. It is an easy read. I really enjoyed this book. I have always had an interest in the space program since I grew up in Florida and would watch most launches when I was in grade school. There were just a few parts of the book that might not be totally accurate due to the writers background as a sports writer and that is why I gave 4 stars.

One of the astronauts in the book is a personal friend.. Don Pettit so fascinating to read this story. See all 29 reviews. Most recent customer reviews.


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