A Man on the Moon - The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts - Chaikin, Andrew

I picked up an old Penguin paperback of this book I've been wanting for several months at Wolfmueller's (very excellent) bookstore in Kerrville, Texas two weeks ago, and have been devouring it in large chunks ever since.  This book was the basis for the Tom Hanks-produced HBO series From the Earth To The Moon, and I decided was probably the comprehensive history of the Apollo program that I'd been looking for.  I now think that's not correct - it's a history of the astronauts that actually flew the missions, not the program, but who cares - this is one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read.  I can't say enough about how interesting it is, or how much I learned.  You really get the sense that Chaikin did an outstanding job of recognizing that the astronauts were not going to do a very good job telling their own stories of what they saw and experienced, and coaxing it out of them.  Really great book - now I have to locate a hardback copy - preferably signed by the author - and then start working through other books on th history of the program and with more photos - the 17 pages on black & white on cheap paper in this edition were woefully inadequate for my curiosity.