Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8 Book

Original review, pre-2017:

This is the only book-length account in the mainstream about one of the most audacious missions in space history--the first human flight to the moon's orbit: Apollo 8.

Published in 1998, this finally makes strides to address a mission which will always be in the shadow of one of its successors, Apollo 11--the first lunar landing mission. By undertaking this book, Zimmerman wants to do the right thing for space history, and his sense of mission is clear in many of his descriptions.

Zimmerman gives a good account of the 'earthrise' photo and answers the question of who took the photo which has become one of the most famous images in the history of photography. I won't give it away, but this section is probably the book's highlight.

He also tackles the meaning of the mission in the larger scope of the cold war, and it is here that Zimmerman becomes a little strident. He argues that the freedom of religion was key to the success of Apollo 8, and in doing so, ties that theme into the decision by the Apollo 8 crew to read from the Book of Genesis in lunar orbit on Christmas Eve 1968. I think Zimmerman gets a little carried away with his argument, as religion was only one of a number of key themes of the cold war period. Zimmerman does try to moderate his argument so that it doesn't come across with a heavy hand, but he isn't always successful.

I think Zimmerman's focus on ideology also takes away from his description of the mission itself, which I think needs coverage from a writer with greater technical facility. I wanted more coverage, specifically, of training and pre-flight activities, launch and flight operations, all of which are well accounted for in the public record.

Zimmerman also believes that Apollo 8--and specifically the earthrise photo--provided humankind with its first real awareness of the earth within the context of the larger universe. Our emerging understanding of the earth as a small and fragile place (a 'pale blue dot,' as Carl Sagan would later describe it) helped galvanize a new movement to protect the earth's environment. It's a good argument, and Zimmerman may be right.

At the time of my writing, the Apollo 8 astronauts are all still with us, but we may never see a full account of the flight from any of the crew, and I think that is quite unfortunate. I hope someday an ambitious writer will put together an authoritative account of this spaceflight for the good of the historical record. For now, Zimmerman's book will have to do.

Additional notes on second reading, post-2017:

I reread this immediately after reading Jeffrey Kluger's Apollo 8, which I think is a stronger book in almost every way.

Zimmerman's writing is competent and workmanlike. He frequently commits one of the cardinal sins of narrative writing by using passive voice, telling us things rather than showing us. Even with all air-to-ground and on-board voice transcripts available, Zimmerman still prefers to tell us that an astronaut said something, rather than have the astronaut speak directly to us, as Kluger did in his book. The passive voice makes Zimmerman's writing less involving.

I'm also still disappointed in Zimmerman hammering away at Berlin as his literary touchstone. He tries hard to tie in the symbolism of the Berlin Wall with Borman's brief station there in the 40s and make it into a metaphor for why Apollo 8 was important in a cold war context. On second reading it still doesn't work. Zimmerman also includes a number of side subjects of the era, such as the Prague Spring of 1968, and future space shuttle astronaut Fred Gregory (who really has nothing to do with Apollo 8), and those don't really work, either.

Interestingly, I think the major themes of the book--the explanation of the earthrise photo(s) and the reading from the Book of Genesis--actually read better this time. After my first reading, I thought Zimmerman was a bit melodramatic with his suggestion that the Genesis reading was an expression of cold war patriotism. For whatever reason, it didn't seem as awkward on the second reading. Likewise, Zimmerman's description of the earthrise photo event didn't seem as pedantic as it did the first time.

Finally, my chief criticism of the book is with how the writing is arranged. Zimmerman's timeline jumps around frustratingly, so it's hard for him to build the needed drama of the mission origin, planning, training, and operations as I think they should be told.

Here's a key example. One of the more dramatic moments in the Apollo 8 story is the decision of NASA leadership, including chief astronaut Deke Slayton, to change Apollo 8's mission from an earth orbit mission to a lunar mission--which had never been attempted with a human crew. It would be a quantum leap in ambition and difficulty that would test the best NASA had to offer. For whatever reason, Zimmerman doesn't cover this decision making process until the two-thirds point of his book. Instead, he opens the book on the morning of launch day, something that (in my opinion) really belongs in the second act, not the first. Essentially, Zimmerman decided to open with the visceral event, not the administrative event. But by doing so, he commits two errors. One, by opening with the visceral event and then working backward, he loses linearity that would help set the stage and build tension for the flight. And two, by burying the administrative event in the second half, he misses a chance to show that the decision making process was dramatic and an important supporting act for the mission.

Ultimately, the jumpy narrative is the book's biggest weakness, as it detracts from the natural flow of the story and limits momentum.