Reddit reviews Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War
We found 9 Reddit comments about Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Vintage Books USA
There is absolutely no questioning Wernher von Braun's total commitment to manned space flight and the exploration of the cosmos. He was the public face of American space advocacy in the late 1950s and early 1960s (see this for example). He was absolutely instrumental in orchestrating both the Mercury-Redstone and Saturn rocket projects (Mercury was mostly a failure, leading to the infamous description of the project in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff: "Our rockets always blow up and our boys always botch it." (source)). There is likely no Apollo program and no public enthusiasm for NASA without von Braun. Period.
Yes, von Braun's legacy is a tainted one. He almost certainly knew about what was going on in the work camps at Peenemünde and elsewhere, but he also felt powerless to stop it without compromising his own safety. Many argue that von Braun valued his rocket projects over the lives of those who helped build them and perhaps there's a small degree of truth to that. The experience, and his complicity in it, haunted von Braun for the rest of his life.
For more reading on von Braun, I'd strongly recommend Michael Neufeld's Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, which very carefully explains the Faustian bargain that von Braun had to make in order to pursue his dream of space travel.
I recommend this book on Von Braun, it really is a fascinating story:
http://www.amazon.com/Von-Braun-Dreamer-Engineer-Vintage/dp/0307389375
> Russia won the Space Race.
Won the first round, until the mid-60s. Then Korolev died, Khrushchev was ousted, and their space program lost all its initial tremendous energy.
Meanwhile JFK was delivering the "by the end of this decade" speech, the American giant was waking from its slumber and starting to flex its muscles. And then Armstrong set foot on the Moon, and America won round 2.
I speak as a former Eastern Bloc kid.
> Change my mind
Eh, you're not entirely wrong, and not entirely right either. The whole affair is pretty complex. They definitely won the first 10 years.
I recommend these books:
https://www.amazon.com/Korolev-Masterminded-Soviet-Drive-America/dp/0471327212/
https://www.amazon.com/Von-Braun-Dreamer-Space-Engineer/dp/0307389375/
It’s called the Von Braun Ferry Rocket.
If you don’t know much about Wernher von Braun, I highly recommend you read this book. A model of his rocket is featured on the cover of the book.
Okay, for sci-fi, you have to get The Culture series in. Put Player of Games face out.
I don't read a lot of space books, but Asteroid Hunter by Carrie Nugent is awesome. I mostly have recommendations for spaceflight and spaceflight history, and a lot of these come from listeners to my podcast, so all credit to them.
Did I really just write "reading a documentary".
Of course it is a biography...
This one:
http://www.amazon.com/Von-Braun-Dreamer-Engineer-Vintage/dp/0307389375/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394003578&sr=8-1&keywords=wernher+von+braun
Regarded as the most complete biography of Von Braun.
I just finished Space Race by Deborah Cadbury before it, and I highly recommend that too. Might read a book on Korolev next!
As /u/maxxusflamus said, definitely done for engineering purposes. From one of Werner von Brauns many biographies (Von Braun), they began using high definition photography and the familiar black and white checked paint scheme early in the V2 developmental tests to determine the rotational velocity the A-3 rocket had achieved in flight. Bearing in mind the velocities at which rockets travel and the distances over which they operate, it is critical to use the highest definition cameras possible.
A little late on this one. But Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War was a solid read.
Edit: Also, if you are interested in more space race stuff, this book is one of my favorites, Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age
I see your 100% factual comment is being down-voted by those fans of von Braun, who don't really know much about him.
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For those who are at least somewhat interested in what really happened, I recommend the most detailed biography of von Braun, written by the professional historian and one time chairmen of the Space History Division at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Dr. Michael J. Neufeld:
[link] von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War
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It is written with the help from von Braun family and German archives. There is no question that von Braun was complicit in war crimes, and that this part of his biography was intentionally white-washed later by the US military, to make him more palatable for the american public as a prominent figure in the US space program.
There is also an excellent Deutsche Welle documentary: "Wernher von Braun – Rocket Man for War and Peace"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqmlDqiHYWU
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von Braun has achieved much as a brilliant manager of German and then US space programs. But in the process he unscrupulously used Nazis and then Americans as vehicles for furthering his personal interests.
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V-2 has only become possible, because von Braun personally lobbied Hitler to give the program the highest military priority. In America, von Braun equally eagerly presented to the military brass plans to create massive orbital stations armed with nuclear weapons, in the hope that he will be put in charge of another massive project. Killing a lot of people was never a problem for von Braun.