Too Far From Home
A Story of Life and Death in Space
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Narrated by:
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Erik Davies
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By:
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Chris Jones
About this listen
An incredible true-life adventure set on the most dangerous frontier of all - outer space
For a special breed of individual, the call of space is worth the risk it entails: men such as US astronauts Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox, and Russian flight engineer Nikolai Budarin, who in November 2002 left on what was to be a routine 14-week mission maintaining the International Space Station.
But then, on February 1, 2003, the Columbia exploded beneath them. With the launch program suspended indefinitely, these astronauts had suddenly lost their ride home.
Too Far from Home chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and Moscow as they work frantically against the clock to bring their men safely back to Earth.
Chris Jones writes beautifully of the majesty and mystique of space travel, while reminding us all how perilous it is to soar beyond the sky.
©2007 Chris Jones (P)2007 Random House Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- The Mira Slovak Story
- By: David Williams
- Narrated by: Brian Callanan
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Mira Slovak was born in Czechoslovakia and endured both the Nazi occupation and the brutal Russian liberation. He joined the Czech Air Force, rising to captain by the age of 21. When he could no longer tolerate life under the Communists, he hijacked an airliner and flew across the Iron Curtain to freedom. He outlasted communism, and when it collapsed in 1990, he returned to his home, only to realize his true home was and always would be the US.
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Free to live as an American.
- By cosmitron on 06-08-18
By: David Williams
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Marsbound
- By: Joe Haldeman
- Narrated by: Liza Kaplan
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Young Carmen Dula and her family are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime - they're going to Mars. Once on the Red Planet, however, Carmen realizes things are not so different from Earth. There are chores to do, lessons to learn, and oppressive authority figures to rebel against.
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Meh.
- By Wes Parker on 03-19-09
By: Joe Haldeman
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Moon Shot
- The Inside Story of Man's Greatest Adventure
- By: Dan Parry
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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‘It didn’t matter that they were now three miles beyond their target site, that communications were dropping out and that they were running low on fuel. All that mattered to Neil as he searched for a safe spot to land was that boulders littered the surface below. “Thirty seconds,” called mission control. In truth, the flight controllers were now no more than spectators, just like everybody else. No more needed to be said. It was down to Armstrong
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Wow.
- By Shellbin on 02-04-12
By: Dan Parry
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The Engines of God
- By: Jack McDevitt
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Humans call them Monument-Makers. An unknown race, they left stunning alien statues scattered on distant planets throughout the galaxy, encoded with strange inscriptions that defy translation. Searching for clues about the Monument-Makers, teams of 23rd century linguists, historians, engineers and archaeologists have been excavating the enigmatic alien ruins on a number of planets, uncovering strange, massive false cities made of solid rock. But their time is running out.
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Conceptually intriguing, but uneven writing style
- By Michael G Kurilla on 05-12-11
By: Jack McDevitt
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Flight 232
- A Story of Disaster and Survival
- By: Laurence Gonzales
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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As hundreds of rescue workers waited on the ground, United Airlines Flight 232 wallowed drunkenly over the bluffs northwest of Sioux City. The plane slammed onto the runway and burst into a vast fireball. The rescuers didn't move at first: nobody could possibly survive that crash. And then people began emerging from the summer corn that lined the runways. Miraculously, 184 of 296 passengers lived. No one has ever attempted the complete reconstruction of a crash of this magnitude.
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Therapeutic
- By Quiltedwings on 05-07-15
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Man Plus
- By: Frederik Pohl
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris, Robert J. Sawyer
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Roger Torraway watched in horror as the monster lurched, toppled over and died. Project Man Plus had gone suddenly and drastically wrong. The race to colonize Mars was too important, too costly, and America was already too committed, for plans to be scrapped. They would have to make a new Martian. And Roger Torraway was it, candidate for the endless surgery, operation after painful operation, that would enable him to survive on that faraway planet.
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More timely now than ever
- By Sandy R on 06-28-10
By: Frederik Pohl
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The Enceladus Mission
- Ice Moon 1
- By: Brandon Q. Morris
- Narrated by: Doug Tisdale Jr.
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In the year 2031, a robot probe detects traces of biological activity on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. This sensational discovery shows that there is indeed evidence of extraterrestrial life. Fifteen years later, a hurriedly built spacecraft sets out on the long journey to the ringed planet and its moon. The international crew is not just facing a difficult twenty-seven months: if the spacecraft manages to make it to Enceladus without incident it must use a drillship to penetrate the kilometer-thick sheet of ice that entombs the moon.
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Robotic performance, potentially interesting story
- By Opa on 02-21-19
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81 Days Below Zero
- The Incredible Survival Story of a World War II Pilot in Alaska's Frozen Wilderness
- By: Brian Murphy, Toula Vlahou
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The untold story of Leon Crane, the only surviving crew member of a World War II B-24 crash on a remote mountain near the Arctic Circle, who managed to stay alive 81 days in sub-zero temperature by making peace with nature, and end his ordeal by walking along a river to safety. Part World War II story, part Alaskan adventure story, part survival story, and even part inspirational story, this is what we call " a good listen".
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Diluted and Distracted
- By C. Howe on 09-27-15
By: Brian Murphy, and others
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The Event
- By: Nathan Hystad
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Cities all around the world reported strange alien vessels descending. Some saw them as the heralds of a new age; others fired everything they had at them. All were taken as the beams lashed down and drew them into the sky. Dean was left behind, seemingly the last man on Earth. A trail of clues left by his dead wife guides Dean on a perilous journey across America and beyond to learn the truth behind the mysterious ships and save humanity from its doom.
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Did not inspire me to get the next book.
- By MD on 12-13-18
By: Nathan Hystad
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Independence Day: Resurgence
- The Official Movie Novelization
- By: Alex Irvine
- Narrated by: William Hope
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Hybrid fighters merging human and alien technology. Massive cannon emplacements on the moon and Mars. A planetary defense force with the finest military personnel ever trained. For two decades we've known the enemy would return. The nations of Earth have collaborated on a unified defense program designed to defend the planet.
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Excellent audiobook.
- By Jackson C. Frazier on 06-06-16
By: Alex Irvine
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Orbital Decay
- By: Allen Steele
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The award-winning, bestselling author's first novel. The beamjacks work in zero-gravity constructing satellites in the vacuum of deepest space. And they're not going to let the military control them anymore.
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Hard to follow
- By Don on 12-27-16
By: Allen Steele
What listeners say about Too Far From Home
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Landon Wilson
- 08-24-17
Great read!
A little confusing going back and forth but there is so much info so i understand..
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- TAL
- 05-28-22
Metaphorical Nightmare
The idea of this story seemed very interesting. What happens to the astronauts that are on the International Space Station when their main form of transport has been grounded? Unfortunately, Mr. Jones writing leaves something to be desired. Like others have said in their reviews, his constant use of metaphors in describing EVERYTHING became exhausting and distracting. I found myself skipping ahead just to bypass these eye roll moments. I am not saying the usage of metaphors is a bad thing, just that the frequency and sometimes ridiculousness of Jones' usage became too much.
Also, and this could just be me, Jones did not shine a particularly great light on the two American Astronauts, Pettit and Bowersox. The more the story progressed, the less I liked these individuals and found their selfishness and lack of consideration for their wives and children frustrating. To be fair, this could have been the way the author portrayed them in the book and not who they are in real life. But, this book in my opinion did them (especially Pettit) no favors.
I will say there were some good moments. I did like the back stories of the astronauts and how they each came to the Space Program. And, for me, the best moments of the book were at the end when they were on their way back to earth. I found that part of the story to be the most gripping.
If you can sift through all the metaphors there is an interesting story here. Just know what you are getting into before you start. I thought I knew what I was getting into by reading the reviews. But, honestly, until I read/listened to the book I did not realize how many analogies I would be subjected to and how frustrating that would become.
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- Jim In Texas!
- 11-19-13
A look behind the scences
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This is a good book for people interested in the details of what it might be like to be an astronaut or cosmonaut assigned to a long duration space station mission.
The book has an emotional, flowery tone that can be just a bit cloying, but the level of real detail and fascinating detail make up for that.
The audio book production quality is excellent, the narrator does a great job.
Recommended for readers interested in the American and Russian space programs.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Susan Gardner Bowers
- 03-30-07
I LIKED it.
Some of this book's tone may be described as overwrought - but in a good way. I just plain loved it. The stories, the descriptions and even all the adjectives took me back to the heady excitement and drama of the early days of the "space race," even with the steely-eyed, too-good-to-be-true astronauts. The book was diverting, thought-provoking (I loved the idea of the large and larger concepts of home), exciting and well narrated. If you remember Apollo and Mercury, you will like this book. And if you don't remember them, you need to read this book!
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Mrs. T
- 02-17-11
I found it difficult to take off my headphones
Chris Jones draws you into the current space program in ways that bring the events of Columbia's tragedy, current work aboard the ISS as well as the history of space exploration to life. Although some reviews have criticized his overly dramatic style, they forget that NASA teemed with Disney to make the Apollo program more accessible and exciting to people in the 1960s. I loved the artistic flair...it helped me 'see' and relate better to the events he unfolded.
Obviously, I enjoyed listening to this book immensely. More than just listening, I found that I would look up dates, events, people as the chapters went along to learn more about the details behind some of the stories presented. I don't think you even have to be that interested in the space program to find Too Far from Home captivating....but you will finish it wanting to know what happens next. I hope Chris Jones writes more! Erik Davies did a superb narration as well!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Alan Burchill
- 12-13-09
Spaceflight fans must listen to this
Very details history of the US astronauts and go throught the whole history of the US and USSR space program... also has a really great cliff hanger ending...
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- Josiah
- 10-10-16
A peek into the mind of Don Pettit
I really appreciate the peek into the curious mind of Don Pettit. He's a national asset.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Robin
- 09-30-07
Almost too far from delightful
This book is factual, well-meaning... and ultimately a bit dry. I recommend this for anyone with an interest in the space program, but don't expect it to be riveting or have much emotional impact. A review in the NY Times (which was how I came upon this) indicated it was a fabulous long article that was now expanded into a book. I can certainly believe that it was a brilliant article- the book has good sources and details, and loses its way in presenting them. I had read Challenger Park earlier and it was fun seeing the amount of "fiction" in that book was actually truth.
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- Patricia L Hall
- 11-12-16
Pretty Good...
I thought this book was pretty good. The story was interesting at times, especially at the end. But I felt like it jumped around too much. I still liked it, though!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Lloyd
- 11-18-07
Book 5, narrator 1
...equals a review of 3 stars for this book. Good story, and the detail on the Russian space program is key as the tale progresses - the ending is so fascinating that you'll be hard-pressed to remember it's fact, not fiction. Some of the writing was mushy and over-the-top theatrical, but I was willing to overlook that. The narrator did his best to put me to sleep, however, so get yourself a good Starbucks and settle down for a story as compelling as "Apollo 13".
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