Type of bind: Audio Cassette
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780736654883
Format: Unabridged
ISBN number: 0736654887
Label: Books on Tape
Manufacturer: Books on Tape
Quantity: 5
Printing Date: 2000-07
Publishing house: Books on Tape
Sale Popularity Level: 3795470
Studio: Books on Tape
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin, along with crewmate Neil Armstrong, made history as they placed humankind's very first steps on the moon.
Now, in The Return, written by award winning novelist John Barnes, Aldrin offers a compelling novel about the opportunities and dangers that confront us today-and shows why we must, and will, seize the challenges before us.
When a tragic Shuttle accident kills a world-famous basketball player on his trip into space, a trip that had been planned as a PR coup for the space program, former astronaut Scott Blackstone is out of a job. Worse, he and his 'Citizen Observer' program are vilified in the media, and he's being sued for a billion dollars. His older brother, Nick, research chief for a major aerospace firm, persuades Scott's estranged ex-wife, Thalia-a top-ranked attorney-to take on Scott's defense. Gradually, it begins to appear that the 'accident' might not have been an accident at all.
Meanwhile, as long feared, India and Pakistan go to war-and, worse, Pakistan deploys a nuclear device high in the upper atmosphere, putting the crew of the orbiting International Space Station in iminent danger of destruction by radiation exposure. While the world's space vehicles are grounded by the radiation storm set off by the detonation, only a few weeks remain to rescue the crew, and there's no known way to do it. Save, perhaps, for a secret project of Nick's...
The Return is a story of outsized characters, global crises, and big, daring ideas...and-as told by Buzz Aldrin-it carries a ring of truth. He's been there. He's done that. And he's already helped change the world.
Amazon.com Review:
Old-school moonwalker Buzz Aldrin teams up again with former Hugo and Nebula Awards nominee John Barnes to pen another near-future SF tale focused on the fate of the U.S. space program. But as with the duo's previous effort, 1996's Encounter with Tiber, Aldrin's ideas can take center stage a little too conspicuously, which, regardless of your own views on the subject, doesn't always make for the best story. Part thriller, part infomercial for the Aldrin space manifesto, The Return fumbles only in its lack of subtlety: The book's protagonist, Scott Blackstone, is a technically accomplished and charismatic retired astronaut who runs a foundation called ShareSpace, whose mission is to send everyday citizens into outer space. And what do you know--in real life Aldrin is a technically accomplished and charismatic retired astronaut who runs a foundation called ShareSpace, whose mission is to send everyday citizens into outer space. (Talk about your expert author.)
Of course you read Aldrin not because you think he's the subsequent Ben Bova but because he's a space-race winner, a bright man with inspiring ideas. And Barnes, who's already proven himself with topnotch titles like Mother of Storms, helps Aldrin get his point across admirably, spinning a tale that begins with ShareSpace's third Citizen Observer to accompany a space shuttle mission: a legendary, recently retired basketball hero known around the globe as simply 'MJ.' Disaster strikes, though, while the beloved MJ is airborne, and Blackstone soon finds himself relying on his lawyer ex-wife to come to ShareSpace's defense. Was the disaster an accident? Don't count on it. --Paul Hughes
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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The story, clearly fiction, partially quaint, provides insight into important aspects of the space industry and the thought processes needed to develop and prepare for future exploration. It a nice set-up story for the future settlement by humans on places like Mars. The technological story line in The Return gives the hint on how this is actually all going to happen within the nearer future (2019 was mentioned, even though, in my personal opinion, 2033 is more likely). It doesn't matter that MJ is a lightly veiled caricature of a well-known superstar, or that a country and a person are identified as evil. It is important that the issues are identified; family relationship are inextricably intertwined into every reality, private versus public funding of space tourism needs to be carried out, space law and liability issues do need to be addressed, public relations needs to be handled, the dreams of youngsters need to be re-established. This is a story whose technical tidbits become fun and, upon reflection, important for open discussion.
Rated by buyers -
I picked up Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes' _The Return_ from a remainder table for $.99. It deserves a better fate than that!
Aldrin, a famed astronaut, and Barnes, an established writer, team up here for the second time to tell a story that is interesting, entertaining, important and timely. As I write this, NASA has announced yet another delay in getting our patched-up space shuttles flying again. While robotic spacecraft are sending back new discoveries from Saturn every day, our ability to send humans into space is languishing. Aldrin, of course, is a strong advocate for the human exploration of space, and _The Return_ is an enjoyable way to follow his thinking in the form of a reasonably dramatic, fun-to-read story. It's a quick read, it makes you think, and it has a happy ending. What more could you ask for?
Robert Adler, author of _Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation_, and _Medical Firsts: From Hippocrates to the Human Genome_.
Rated by buyers 
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"The Return', the second colaboration between John Barnes and Buzz Aldrin doesn't quite work as well as the first. This one is more of a thriller than a sci-fi book. In this book, a former astronaut named Scott Blackstone heads up a company trying to make space more accessable to everyone. He sends up a celebrity named Michael James, who is really a Jordan with a name change and a height change. James is killed by a freak accident, or so everyone thinks. Back on earth, Scott is sued by the family of the basketball star, and he ends up being defended by his ex-wife, who is the only one willing to take up his case. Meanwhile, his brother tries to finish a new type of rocket that doesn't need those detachable boosters. Soon, they all find themselves in the midst of an international plot, as a powerful nuclear bomb is set off in the atmosphere, and it is up to the Blackstones to rescue some astronauts stranded in the I.S.S(International Space Station). O.K read.
Rated by buyers -
This story from Buzz Aldrin reads almost like an alternate US space history - one in which the government allowed private business to take up the space tourist business. What makes this story a little more poignant is that the space shuttle Columbia places a significant role in the story. The pace keeps the reader flipping from page to page, and the storyline makes you want to believe that this type of R&D is really happening in the private sector. My only gripe is that Aldrin could have been a little more creative in creating one of the main civilian characters instead of simply using a caricature of Michael Jordan.
Rated by buyers 
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Although somewhat light in detail of characters and plot, "The Return" is a fine read of what the U.S. Space Program COULD be leading to. The ideas and dreams of one of America's Finest show, in a well thought out, suspenseful tale of International intrigue that leads from Low Earth Orbit through the morass of the Media and the National legal system, to the intricate spiderweb of Worldwide interagency espionage and skullduggery!
An excellent means of entertaining oneself on a weekend away from it all, at home or on vacation, or sending self off to one's own Dreamland!
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