Review of 'Calculated risk : the supersonic life and times of Gus Grissom' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
The author gave a keynote at a tech conference I attended, focusing on the aspect of Gus Grissom, engineer. Had this book focused on that topic, it would have been better - and quite a bit shorter. Instead, this scrambled biography is poorly edited.
Problems with editing include the order of events and repetition of phrases. The author has gathered a lot of information about Grissom's life and work, and it deserves a better treatment. Were I to recommend this book to anyone, I would recommend they jump to chapter 6.
The author shines in certain sections - describing the Mercury and Gemini programs. The text is concise and hits all the important points. Research is another major plus - the author's access to new information and personal interviews gives this text high marks as source material.
The author's talk and slides were good, and I enjoy this author's engineering …
The author gave a keynote at a tech conference I attended, focusing on the aspect of Gus Grissom, engineer. Had this book focused on that topic, it would have been better - and quite a bit shorter. Instead, this scrambled biography is poorly edited.
Problems with editing include the order of events and repetition of phrases. The author has gathered a lot of information about Grissom's life and work, and it deserves a better treatment. Were I to recommend this book to anyone, I would recommend they jump to chapter 6.
The author shines in certain sections - describing the Mercury and Gemini programs. The text is concise and hits all the important points. Research is another major plus - the author's access to new information and personal interviews gives this text high marks as source material.
The author's talk and slides were good, and I enjoy this author's engineering focus. I hope to see something better from him in the future.