Craig Nelson

That Wonderful Town

Published

on September 23, 2009

. 1 Comment

I love Chicago so much, and getting invited twice, to lecture at the Adler and then host Captain Lovell and Doctor Aldrin at a benefit was a dream come true … and having it all captured on iTunes … including my desperate note-reading on the phone before the legends of aviation talk began … makes it all seem like ten seconds ago …

Legends of Aviation: Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin

The Rocket Men Talk (in the dark)

Balmy Summer Memories

Published

on September 11, 2009

in Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

Hosting Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell at Adler Planetarium’s anniversary benefit on the Northwestern campus:

http://tinyurl.com/m7u5my

Attending the Legacy of Apollo Panel of historians at NASA headquarters:

http://tinyurl.com/n3qxnc

Autographed Copies Now Online

Published

on August 26, 2009

in Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

Premiere Collectibles is now offering autographed copies of Rocket Men through its web site. For those of you who wrote me asking about getting one since you couldn’t make it to my appearances, now the process is simple. Just click here:

Autographed Editions of Rocket Men

After 30 Years, I’m Still Intoxicated

Published

on August 22, 2009

in Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

A 1765 Transcription of the Indians’ Traditional Account of their First Meeting with Henry Hudson and his Crew in Manhattan, 1609, by Moravian missionary John Heckwelder:

The following account of the first arrival of Europeans at York Island, is verbatim as it was related to me by aged and respected Delawares, Momeys, and Mahicaanni, (otherwise called Mohigans, Mahicanders,) near forty years ago. It is copies from notes and manuscripts taken on the spot. They say:

A long time ago, when there was no such thing known to the Indians as people with a white skin, (their expression,) some Indians who had been out a-fishing, and where the sea widens, espied at a great distance something remarkably large swimming, or floating on the water, and such as they had never seen before. They immediately returning to the shore apprised their countrymen of what they had seen, and pressed them to go out with them and discover what it might be. These together hurried out, and saw to their great surprise the phenomenon, but could not agree what it might be; some concluding it either to be an uncommon large fish, or other animal, while others were of opinion it must be some very large house. It was at length agreed among those who were spectators, that as this phenomenon moved towards the land, whether or not it was an animal, or anything that had life in it, it would be well to inform all the Indians on the inhabited islands of what they had seen, and put them on their guard.

Continue reading ‘After 30 Years, I’m Still Intoxicated’

Do You Like to Watch TV?

Published

on July 23, 2009

in Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

ABC Chicago

College Park Aviation Museum - CSPAN - BookTV

Fox

NASA History Panel

When Almost All Your Dreams Come True

Published

on July 22, 2009

in Uncategorized

. 4 Comments

When I was in my 20s and 30s, I fell in love with Zen Buddhism, which, in retrospect, was a perfectly Scandinavian thing to do, and one of the Zen meditations I learned was: Imagine a future, where all your dreams come true. Especially at times when things aren’t going well in your life, spending ten minutes each morning focusing on a tomorrow where every hope is realized can be nourishing and energizing, a powerful salve for wounded souls. So this is a focus meme I’ve used pretty regularly over the past twenty-five years, meaning thousands of times closing my eyes, and imagining a perfect world.

Now that Rocket Men hit the New York Times’ bestseller list the first week it went on sale, and is getting acclaim beyond what anyone ever could have ever guessed, nearly all of my professional dreams have in fact come true … and I can’t believe, after all those times of imagining what it would be like, how absolutely wrong I was in those meditative states.

It turns out that, when almost all your dreams come true, you only get to sleep about four hours a night, but on tour you have to be up and energetic and charming and focused and ready to deliver the right material in the right form on a moment’s notice for hour after hour to nonstop all day. This means you flit back and forth, drunk with exhaustion and ferociously alert, on a personality seesaw, at the same time that you keep forgetting what time zone you’re in. The hotel phone rings, and a voice says, “We’re calling to make sure you’ll be ready for the show,” and you say, “What time is this show?” and the voice says, “It’s a 7:22 show” and you say, “But, what time is it now?” and the voice says, “It’s 7:12, your time,” and you say, “Oh no problem, I’ll be ready.”

Continue reading ‘When Almost All Your Dreams Come True’

“Did you really write this?”

Published

on July 21, 2009

in Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

I’ve noticed, especially when doing an author appearance at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, I spend a lot of time with kids who don’t carry around $27.95 to buy a book. Even so, I have a great time showing them the picture section inside Rocket Men, and explaining how the cover accurately shows the sky on the Moon as being black as velvet, and other things you do to get kids excited about reading.

Yesterday, however, a very serious little boy grabbed the book all by himself. He gave me an eye like some District Attorney and asked, “Did you really write THIS?” He examined every aspect of the book for a VERY long time, and then went to consult with his father, becoming more and more excited about buying Rocket Men and meeting the author, getting so carried away by the whole experience that his little sister started yelling that she needed to get one, too. His father kindly asked if he could take pictures of me with the kids and the book and I said, “You betcha.” Finally, I asked the boy what name he wanted inscribed, and he said: “Mine. Krishna. K-R-I-S-H-N-A.”

The Rising Light at Patuxent

Published

on July 21, 2009

in Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

Even though it’s the dream of anyone who writes about aviation to make an appearance at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space - the Rocket Men table was next to Apollo 11’s Columbia on the floor and The Spirit of St. Louis in the air - I have to say that my favorite D.C. invitation came from the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, where The Right Stuff found its opening chapters. Since another of my books, The First Heroes, tells the story of the birth of the Air Force in World War II with the Doolittle Raid, I’ve done a lot of talks with servicemen. And these audiences always end up surprising me right out of my shoes.

Every time I talk at a military academy or base, I start off dreading that the audience will be be gimlet-eyed and blasé, youths slouched in boredom and impossible to reach. But in fact, every time, the exact opposite happens - the hardcore military pilots are the most enthusiastic audience ever, fans who are super fans. It’s even visible in economic fundamentals: A young aviator, buying three hardcovers at $85 while being paid military grade, is making a serious commitment. Yet, every time this happens, I’m startled all over again, even though I’ve seen it time after time at Wright-Pat, and the Citadel, and numerous base-adjacent flight museums. And it was at Pax River that I finally understood.

When you first meet someone, and the talk goes something like: “You love Korean barbecue? … Bertolucci? … Russian icons? … I can’t believe it! Me too!” - a pretty terrific bond can begin. A form of Communion. And this is what happens with young flyers hearing the stories of their great and brave professional ancestors, their overriding passion pulling them together and making them a part of a remarkable history, that very rare group of men and women who share the exhilarating dream of flying the world’s greatest aircraft. When you’re that age, and you feel that enthusiasm, and you’re engulfed in that mass of focused attention … why, it’s almost like being in love.

Anniversary Blurb Update

Published

on July 20, 2009

in Uncategorized

. 0 Comments

“Spectacular.” — Vanity Fair.

“The Apollo 11 mission has found its historian. Craig Nelson’s Rocket Men supplies a superb survey of the Cold War origins of the space race — and a scintillating, suspenseful and surprising ‘you are there’ account of the ups and downs of the astronauts assigned to the 30-story-high Saturn V spaceship. Forty years later, when the space program has lost its luster, Rocket Men, at least temporarily, returns us to a time of grand dreams and great American achievement.” — NPR.

“Rocket Men places Apollo 11 in a broader narrative of American engineering genius, and captures the drama and chaos of July 1969 and the almost unbearable tension of the moon landing, [the latter] described so vividly that the engrossed reader isn’t sure that Armstrong and crewmate Buzz Aldrin are going to make it.” — The Washington Post.

“Compelling … rich in stories and first-person descriptions … poignant and thought-provoking. In many ways, Nelson’s task in presenting this history is as daunting as NASA’s original challenge. But he rises to the occasion with meticulous research, skillful storytelling rich in detail, and a narrative arc as stimulating and disciplined as Apollo 11’s own trajectory.” — The Dallas Morning News.

A broad and often entertaining account … a fact-junkie’s dream … plenty of historical perspective [and] an often gripping narrative.” — The Wall Street Journal.
Continue reading ‘Anniversary Blurb Update’

Coming out of the Cave

Published

on July 3, 2009

in Uncategorized

. 5 Comments

To spend 4 years researching and writing, day after day in libraries, archives, home alone and staring at screens, and then begin a book tour by doing 70 interviews in 4 days means coming out of a cave and learning all over again that the world exists. Almost all the press has been incredibly informed and enthusiastic, but of course what sticks in the mind is a young radio interviewer from the South who, after I explained the birth of the Moon as a eons-old collision between the Earth and a body the size of Mars which flung debris that coalesced into our silvery light, she paused and said, “But I thought God created the Moon!”