A fabulous and insightful book from an American Hero. A true example of quiet inspiration. Very well written and understandable for the layman (me!)

An amazing story, told with wry wit and deep insight. The final chapter especially should be required reading.

6 stars out of a possible 5. Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins' book on his time as a test pilot and astronaut is perhaps the best astronaut biography, certainly the best from the Apollo era. He provides an engaging, honest and humble accounting of his career and of the first lunar landing mission.

I first read this as a kid when it was published in the 1970s. It was a great pleasure to read it again with this edition that was published for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Just amazing. This is THE book to read on the early days of the Apollo program, hands down. Collins states up front that he doesn't believe in ghost-writers, and his intention is to spell out the science involved in getting man into orbit and to the moon and back in terms that a layman can understand, and furthermore, in such a way that there would be enough of interest on every page to keep the reader going forward. He did just that, and more. An amazing read that I cannot recommend enough.

I was expecting to enjoy this book much more than I did. It was interesting to hear the back stories behind the Space programs but I found the book to be pretty long and not always that engaging or with the self reflection I would expect from such a career.

Finished "Carrying the Fire" an autobiography by Michael Collins, one of the astronauts to travel to the moon for the first moon landing (Apollo 11). Space travel is amazing, but let's take care of this Earth so that we always have a home to come back to

The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing was this summer, so I read a few books about the event to celebrate!

You hear a lot about Neil and Buzz, but a lot less about Michael - the guy that was a huge part of the mission, but didn't get to actually land on the moon.  Personally, I can't imagine coming so close and never actually reaching the surface - especially when he says he was told he could be assigned another mission and end up stepping on the moon himself.  I can appreciate wanting to take more time for family, and I can only guess how stressful it was to be the one at home dealing with everything so your husband could spend years of overtime training, to then be put on an incredibly dangerous mission - and not see him at all for the few weeks before, the time of the mission, and the few weeks after.  

While the book was interesting, I will say it's taken me about as long to write this review as it did to read the book.  While the early astronauts were all known to be totally cocky men, and Michael was supposedly a little better, I still think he was (and still seems to be?) a little full of himself.  But...if I was brilliant enough to be an astronaut with the equivalent of multiple degrees in difficult engineering and science, test pilot experience, and to get to orbit the moon, I'd probably feel a little entitled to some cockiness myself.  

An interesting look at the lunar landing...although not the most fluid read.  I think I read this book over the course of about 6 weeks I'll go 7 of 10 overall and 2 of 5 for readability.  

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-Holly

I thought this book was a bit too technical for the average reader. Some parts were pretty boring and Collins tended to drone on in some places. I found the chapters when he was in flight to be most interesting. Some people said they didn't think the last chapter was necessary but I actually enjoyed the insights he shared at the end.

I did find Collins to have a bit of a male-chauvinistic tone. He does have a deprecating sense of humor, but as a female reader, some of his comments didn't sit right with me.