Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

MUCH ON THE PLUS SIDE. This book more than lives up to its title – “A true story of summits, space, and speed.” The personal and team adventures, inner and outer, of astronaut Scott Parazynski go beyond just space travel. We go to the top of the world twice, for Scott also takes us along on his two Mt. Everest climbs, harrowing and wondrous. He did his successful climb in his older years. How he relates the challenges with his earlier space travel brings out many insights into human endurance and “true grit.” Adventures like this told in first person make me feel I WAS THERE! To add to the strong, straightforward story telling is co-writer Susy Flory, a New York Times #1 bestseller of 11 books. You get descriptions that appeal to our senses. Example: “I breathe in the scent of sunbaked rock and pines trees while my hands sweat through the chalk.” No bragging, just telling in a humble and personal style, Scott relates his five Shuttle flights, first in 1994, last in 2007. Before that, he tells of his education in biology, medicine and Olympic try-outs. Much humor, too, in such stories as his experience with John Glenn on a flight, carrying toadfish for experiments. He also shares his wonder on big things such as seeing an orbital sunrise from space and one from the top of Mt. Everest. His greatest wonders, he admits, are first the love of his parents toward him and how they encouraged him to aim high. Then there’s the love of his wife and his two children. Next all the adventures and explorations that still await him and other people. There are so many insights through Parazynski’s life which I’m sure will help me explore my life anew. This book is definitely worth a second read—and much thought. Sure, between all the high adventures there are rather mundane events—just like regular life. Sometimes the authors, I feel, make too much of those regular events. But overall this book is a welcome read among all the fiction books, and so much more than most books of any kind. The “Show Media” episodes and photos are a good beginning but not enough of them. I’m sure more of this technique will be used in future Kindle books. But it's worth a look at in this book.