THIS HIGH MAN

by Milton Lehman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 25, 1963

The life story of Robert H. Goddard, the American scientist who fully deserves his title of ""the father of the rocket"", could probably have been told in many ways. Mr. Lehman's way is methodical and dull, but it does have the virtue of being extremely thorough. Goddard was a sickly and lonely child, a shy and secretive man with few pleasures or public triumphs in his lifetime. In his own expression, he was a ""one-dream man""; but he pursued that dream of the conquest of space not only as the cautiously dogged scientist who ""makes haste slowly"", but also at the same time as the naive dreamer who never recovered from the impression which H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds made on him when he was a boy. Goddard reread Wells' novel at least once a year until he died still largely unknown, in 1945. No one will be tempted to do the same with This High Man, but still, we should be grateful to Mr. Lehman for making available to us the inner thoughts and doubts of a man who, despite pathetic successes and dismal failures, went on with his work to make the conquest of space a reality.

Pub Date: Nov. 25, 1963

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Co.

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1963

Categories: NONFICTION