Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight Hardcover – July 8, 2014

This is a testament to Neil Armstrong life, This man dedicated his life to flight and space. Neil is an American and NASA hero. He dedicated his life to making earth go to space. If you want to learn about the American and NASA hero this is for you. RIP Neil you will be missed.

Highly recommend. Hard to put down. Good writing makes it for a wonderful read. Joy to relearn about the first man on the moon and a window into a bit of history of the U.S. space program, with its trials and tribulations. Barbree’s writing is simply superb!

More than just a biography about the First Man, this is a terrific overview of the entirety of NASA's Moonshot, from the Mercury astronauts through Skylab. Written incisively by one of journalism's space program insiders, the book reads like a great news story, and brings even the most avid NASA nerd one small step closer to an intimate knowledge of the reasons why Armstrong was fated to be the commander to land.

Neil grew up to be an even greater hero than the fictional Jack Armstrong of his childhood days.It is national disgrace that we lack the vision and political courage to build on what this hero and his courageous fellow astronauts risk their lives to give the human race: the opportunity to survive as race on another earth after this one can no longer sustain life.Jay Barbree has done an outstanding job of telling Neil's story without letting their friendship cloud his perspective too much. Armstrong had his faults, as we all do, but it is clear that he was one of the better angels among us. Otherwise he would have not been as universally well respected and well liked as he was by his peers and those who knew him best.All in all an outstanding read that told me more about the man than I knew before. Well worth the time.Rob McKinley

Outstanding narrative capture of a great American. This is a well told review of Neil Armstrong's life and his incredible achievements, from a close friend and accomplished author. Easy to read, entertaining with dramatic situations, humorous antics and very sad events that deeply effected Neil's life. Although Neil 's "first step on the moon is well known, much of his private thoughts were not known to the public.Jay was in the unique position of being a friend allowing him to gather personal thoughts and feelings from Neil that others would never obtain. The real story of a man whose name will still be recognized a five hundred years in the future. Possibly the only name from my lifetime that will survive the years.Another aspect that I did not expect was the accounting of the Russian efforts and the kinship the Cosmonauts and our astronauts.Real history told in a classic way.

It's a wonderful account of the life of a man who by shear hard work, acquired the skills and knowledge. which gave him the right to be the first man to try a landing on the moon. As the book highlights it was only through his skill and coolness in dangerous situations that he rose to this position. Even in landing on the moon, it was his skill as a pilot, which made success of the project. His dedication to every thing he did was renowned throughout the Astronaut corps such that no one would have disputed he had earned the right to be the first man on the moon. The author knew Armstrong for many years and this shows in text which I consider to be first class and an accurate telling of the life of a shy man upon who fame was thrust. It should be an inspiration to others on how to succeed in life.

The author could not have chosen a better topic for current americans to read and to understand why men such as Neil Armstrong give selflessly to their country and this also includes his wife as she was as much this project as Neil was. They both gave and kept giving. This is what it means to be an American. The book is well written and describes all aspects of Neil's professional life exceptionally well. I can just imagine what it would have been like piloting the X-15. He was truly an exceptional American.

This book was something of a disappointment to me. As mentioned by another reviewer, considering the apparently close friendship the author had with Neil Armstrong, very little new information is revealed here. In fact, some issues, known to be somewhat controversial, seemed glossed over. For example, the question of who would be first on the moon, discussed in detail in James Hansen’s authorized biography, reportedly included high-level meetings at NASA and lobbying by Buzz Aldrin, but none of this is mentioned here. Occasionally the author lapses into cliché (e.g. we are told Christa McAuliffe had “a smile as wide as her New England roots” and Armstrong’s second wife, Carol Knight, “has a smile as wide as Ohio...”)