OK, so I was casting about for a topic for my next Toastmasters speech and somehow the 1959 book You Will Go To The Moon popped into my head. I had a copy of this when I was a wee lad, and it (as it did thousands of other kids my age) scarred me for life with the promises of the wonders we would see out in space. To the budding reader in the early 60's, this book was a covenant that Kennedy-era Science was making with us ... that as we grew up, we'd be part of an amazing expansion out to the moon, and beyond. As the years rolled by, it became clear that the promises made here were hollow at best, cynical at worst, and perhaps (through the filter of nearly a half century) merely delusional.Where was my moon house? When do I get to take that vacation to Mars? What happened to that groovy space suit I was going to get to wear? To this day, the thought of this book leaves a strange bitter-sweet taste in my mouth, the lingering traces of dreams decayed. And don't get me started on The Jetsons!
Anyway, I figured I'd do a speech about how we fucked up the visions of the 50's and 60's based on this book ... but I wanted to be able to use quotes and/or pictures from it to "anchor" my talk. My copy had long since disappeared (it is possible that it still exists in my Brother's basement out east, as they took all the stuff that my Mom had in storage at one point), and so I went to see if there might be a site where somebody had scanned this in. Well, there were some sites with bits and pieces, but while poking around I found a copy on eBay for a very cheap "buy it now" and ordered it! I will now be able to walk