Read and Appreciated in 2002
A Year’s Best List
Two Books About The Space Race
Off the Planet, Jerry Linenger. The autobiographical account of an astronaut among cosmonauts on the decaying space station Mir.
Korolev, James Hartford. A mind-blowing account of the Soviet space program, hung on a biography of the mastermind behind it—Sergei Korolev, the father of Sputnik. Four fun facts: A. Jet pilot Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut, was informed of his new duties two days before he went into space. B. The first female cosmonaut, equally well trained, had psychotic episodes in orbit. C. The first three-man space flight was performed in a two-man capsule with the ejector seats removed. It was sort of like stuffing a phone booth. D. Each Soviet capsule included a radio-controlled explosive charge, put there partly to discourage cosmonauts from defecting to the West.
Two Books About Nature
The Solar System, Roman Smoluchowski. Mercury is hot. Mars is windy. The rings of Saturn are made of snow, and there are glaciers on the moons of Jupiter. Who knew?
The Territorial Imperative, Robert Ardrey. A popular science book from the sixties. Animal behavior studies are great reading, but why must they always be freighted with anthropological speculations? Let’s face it: Humans are just too complex for the explanations of normal zoology. Culture changes everything.
Three Biographies
The Life and Work of Harold Pinter, Michael Billington. The master of oblique dialog is still writing plays. (Long pause.)
A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy, Thomas C. Reeves. JFK was a very sick man from a very sick family. His election was a triumph of image over substance. Our first media-manufactured president.
J.M. Barrie & the Lost Boys: The Love Story that Gave Birth to Peter Pan, Andrew Birkin. A sad but true story about the Great War and the five adopted sons of a famous British playwright.
