Christopher Riley (1) (1967–)

This book has the appearance of one of those automotive repair manuals, leading the reader to expect some kind of faux do-it-yourself guide to servicing your vintage Apollo spacecraft, an idea whose charm is truly irresistible. Alas, though, it's not really anything of the kind. Inside, it's a perfectly ordinary book, albeit one with a lot of pictures and diagrams. I found the first section, which gives an okay but unremarkable history of the space program and introduction to the people show more involved in the moon landing project, downright disappointing. However, once it gets into a discussion of the mission hardware, which is the main focus of the book, things improve significantly. It covers every system involved, including the Saturn V rocket, the communications setup, and the spacesuits. The level of detail is good and pretty thorough, without being so technical that you need to be an engineer to understand it. I wouldn't call it an essential book for the space travel enthusiast, but it's probably worth a look if you're interested in the hardware. show less

When I saw the cover to this Apollo 11 Haynes manual, I expected it to contain exploded diagrams and cutaways of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, "including Saturn V, CM-107, SM-107, LM-5". The subtitle, "an insight into the hardware from the first manned mission to land on the Moon", only further suggested this.

So imagine my disappointment when the book proved to contain nothing like this.

However, as I read the book my opinion changed. No, Apollo 11 Owners' Workshop Manual does not contain the show more detailed exploded diagrams typical of Haynes car manuals; but it is a readable and detailed introduction to Apollo 11, the people involved and the hardware used. In eight copiously-illustrated chapters, the two authors cover everything from "the dawn of Apollo" to "misconceptions and conspiracy theories".

See the rest of the review at http://spacebookspace.blogspot.com/2009/07/apollo-11-owners-workshop-manual.html show less