Pleased to discover Norman Mailer wrote this book. I had been recommended his works and was intrigued by this investigative journalistic writings following the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. N. M. uses the technique of placing himself in the documentary, describing himself as "Aquarius", referring to himself in the second person, describing how he is jealous of the three men chosen for the mission, and refers to the moon as the "death planet". I felt he was mostly pessimistic about the whole expedition. However, I liked the way the book was written in the moment at each stage, as it gave a unique perspective of following the mission in America on TV sets and at Houston Texas. The brilliant illustrations in this Taschen book really added to the text giving a broader feel to the late 1960s USA. I learned in the last few pages that N.M. was at the time experiencing a breakdown in his seven year personal relationship which perhaps explained his pessimism throughout the book. ( )

I'm not a fan of Mailer's writing. At all. I have to admit I skimmed his text, only reading the occasional paragraph, until I couldn't take his style anymore and went back to skimming. The reason I continued to read this book is how gorgeously it is illustrated. It is full of beautiful, large rare and rare-ish photos from the history of spaceflight. The photos were delightful, and frankly, the only reason why I enjoyed this book. ( )

Extraordinary, I am so glad to have read this. Mailer's use of the third person 'Aquarius' is awkward, but works once you get the hang of it. As someone that isn't old enough to remember this (I was born during the last Apollo Mission, 17), this really brought home the experience, especially in dealing with the astronauts as men doing an incredibly tough job. Mailer, writing in 1970, also successfully anticipates the 70s: 'Yet even this model of the future was too simple. For the society of the rational and the world of the irrational would be without boundaries... Sex would be a new form of currency in both worlds - on that you could count. The planner and the swinger were the necessary extremes of the computer city, and both would meet in the orgies of the suburbs." ( )

LIFE hired writer Norman Mailer to cover the Apollo 11 Moon shot; his three-part feature was the longest non-fiction piece ever published by the magazine. That piece, enhanced and extended, became “Of a Fire on the Moon,” in which Mailer examined both the science of space travel and the psychology of those involved.

“Moonfire” contains excerpts from that book, documenting the development of NASA and the Apollo 11 mission, looking at life inside the command module and on the lunar surface. Hundreds of photographs from NASA archives, private collections, and magazine archives accompany the text. There is also a short bibliographical piece on Norman Mailer, written by J. Michael Lennon.

Highly recommended. ( )

Part historical account, part survey of the zeitgeist, part early Apollo myth-making, Mailer's "Of a Fire on the Moon" is presented here in a glossy, chunky edition full of crisp historical photographs that pair well with Mailer's contemplative, wide-ranging prose. There's probably as much Mailer here as there is Apollo but what's the point in art if you can't recognise the artist?