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    Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History
    Unavailable
    Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History
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    Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History
    Audiobook8 hours

    Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History

    Written by Ben Mezrich

    Narrated by Casey Affleck

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Thad Roberts, a fellow in a prestigious NASA program had an idea-a romantic, albeit crazy, idea. He wanted to give his girlfriend the moon. Literally.

    Thad convinced his girlfriend and another female accomplice, both NASA interns, to break into an impregnable laboratory at NASA-past security checkpoints, an electronically locked door with cipher security codes, and camera-lined hallways-and help him steal the most precious objects in the world: the moon rocks.

    But what does one do with an item so valuable that it's illegal even to own? And was Thad Roberts-undeniably gifted, picked for one of the most competitive scientific posts imaginable, a possible astronaut-really what he seemed?

    Mezrich has pored over thousands of pages of court records, FBI transcripts, and NASA documents and has interviewed most of the participants in the crime to reconstruct this Ocean's Eleven-style heist, a madcap story of genius, love, and duplicity that reads like a Hollywood thrill ride.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 12, 2011
    ISBN9780307750778
    Unavailable
    Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History
    Author

    Ben Mezrich

    Ben Mezrich graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991. He has published twelve books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Accidental Billionaires, which was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network, and Bringing Down the House, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies in twelve languages and became the basis for the Kevin Spacey movie 21. Mezrich has also published the national bestsellers Sex on the Moon, Ugly Americans, Rigged, and Busting Vegas. He lives in Boston.

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    Reviews for Sex on the Moon

    3.5/5

    192 ratings40 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A bit too sympathetic toward a brazen thief, and must needs be taken with a healthy pinch of salt given the recreated dialogue, changed names, &c. But certainly a crazy story, engagingly told ...
    • 3/5
      As I read this book, I simply couldn’t shake the feeling that the story of Thad Roberts—an excommunicated Mormon college student who landed an internship at NASA, fell madly in love with a fellow intern, and somehow managed to steal a bunch of moon rocks from an as-it-turns-out-not-so-secure-lab at the Johnson Space Center—just wasn’t as intriguing as the author seemed to think it was.The story is certainly unique and mildly interesting, but this 300+ page book probably would have worked a lot better as a feature article in The New Yorker or The Atlantic. A mildly interesting read, but really just a change of pace—unless you’re a NASA or astronomy enthusiast.
    • 3/5
      A very interesting read, but I still can't believe that he threw away a chance to work for NASA by committing this crime. I can't decide if its just being too smart for your own good, or just plain stupidity.
    • 5/5
      Unbelievable story shot the theft of moon rocks from NASA
    • 2/5
      Read this one for my non-fiction book club. It was not bad.
    • 3/5
      Certainly well written from the perspective of creating a page-turner and keeping me interested in what happens next. Utterly disappointing in not following through on Thad and his accomplices after he is released from prison. We never learn what makes a high-functioning, intelligent young man throw everything away for no explicable reason, in fact, we never learn very much about Thad at all. The book keeps us too far away from him, not so much third person as cousins twice-removed.
    • 3/5
      I had two major problems with this book. The first was that Thad, as a protagonist, was entirely too inconsistent. He's smart enough to pull himself out of a family tail-spin (i.e., disowned by) and get himself into a highly coveted NASA internship by sheer hardwork and a little audacity, but dumb enough to try to sell stolen moon rocks over the internet? Throws away 10 years of his life over the love he feels for a girl he just met, yet he's charismatic enough to become the cornerstone of the interns' social scene? And what the hell was with that "sex on the moon rocks" scene? Was that real, or just something the author invented to sell the title of this book? Either way, highly unimpressive. But admittedly, it's what helped me pull the book off the shelf at the local Barnes & Noble and (in part) got me to read it. Well played, Ben Mezrich. My hat off to you, sir.Second problem was the length. While this is an interesting story, it certainly didn't need to be a full blown novel. Entire chapters (in a row) feel stretched to the breaking point just to make this book "novel length." I think this could have been nicely fleshed out in a decent length magazine article, easily read in about 15 minutes. Everything else is fluff and padding.Skip this one. My advice.
    • 3/5
      Thad Roberts has smarts, charisma and a dream spot working in the cooperative program at the Johnson Space Center -- NASA. He has ambitions of one day becoming an astronaut and going to Mars. Despite all this, he devises a plan to steal NASA's lunar samples -- moon rocks -- and sell them to a rock collector from Belgium. Ultimately the plan falls apart and he is caught in an FBI sting.Who is Thad Roberts? What motivated him? How exactly did he manage to get into a highly secure facility and make off with these lunar samples? How did the FBI mange to bring the plan crashing down? These questions form the bulk of the book. Ben Mezrich is known to readers from his prior book on Matt Zuckerberg, The Accidental Billionaires which was ultimately made into the movie, The Social Network. This current tale often reads like a screenplay. It will surprise no one that it has been optioned by Sony Pictures, and is 'in development.' If you hanker to toss off the phrase "I liked the book better", run out to grab this one before it comes to a theater near you. I was intrigued by the tale enough to be drawn in. However, I felt the story was far too sympathetic to young Mr. Roberts. His planning is so amateurish in spots that one practically shrieks, "How do you think you won't get caught?" Interspersed throughout are excerpts of overwrought letters sent by this lovesick puppy. This is NOT the grand romance Thad or his biographer thinks it is. More reprehensible to me is that very little attention is given to the heinousness of the crime committed, to its assault on America's patrinomy, nor to the damage to science itself.
    • 2/5
      The premise was interesting, but the writing was muddy and confused. Not going to finish this one.
    • 3/5
      Thad Roberts was extremely driven. After deciding to return to school and become an astronaut he was accepted to the NASA intern program. Together with his girlfriend and another intern, they decided to steal the moon rocks from a highly secured lab.
    • 2/5
      I had a major issue with this, mainly how the few female characters are portrayed. Basically as hot pieces of ass. I mean that seriously. It was really off putting. Also there was a lack of discussion about consequences and mortality of the whole undertaking which made me very unsympathetic to the moon rock thief.
    • 4/5
      Interesting true story - the human interest side definetly keeps this book moving along quickly but the human psyche is such an interesting place too! How he thought what he did was justified is just amazing! Good story, interesting details, super quick read!
    • 4/5
      Where's a good dope slap when you need one?And Thad Roberts really needed one. He is one of those poor slobs for whom the magnetic pull of self-destruction is as irresistible as a Siren's song. (Darwin would have had a field day with that.). At least Odysseus had the smarts to order his sailors to lash him to the mast and stuff wax in their ears. Roberts wasn't nearly as prudent, though he was certainly smart.Booted from the family fold for the unforgivable sin of engaging in pre-marital sex, Roberts claws his way up from the depths of despair to earn a prestigious internship at NASA only to blow it trying to pull off one of the most cockamamie scams in modern history; stealing moon rocks.Really?That Roberts even got to NASA in the first place was something of a miracle. How a broke, disenfranchised kid managed to rack up the pre-recs for a shot at the big time is one question I still had at the end of the book. Roberts takes courses in physics, geology, anthropology, Russian and Japanese. He obtains a pilot's license. He learns to scuba dive. He completes a charity bike ride for cystic fibrosis and raises $10,000. That accomplishment seems to be what cinches his entry into the Johnson Space Center at Houston, where he spends three semesters glad-handing his fellow interns and trolling in and out of various labs and simulators with the James Bond theme song playing in his head.Ego issues? Possibly.Roberts also has a wife back in Utah. Something he doesn't hide, but doesn't exactly advertise. It wouldn't mesh with the ultra-cool, geek-meets-Mission Impossible persona he's created, the same persona that attempts a ridiculous, bumbling moon rock heist that ultimately does earn him a dope slap from the universe in the form of an eight year prison sentence.Writer Ben Mezrich does an nice job nailing the zeitgeist of NASA, at least from Roberts' perspective, which brings me to the big question I had with this book. Are the thoughts in Roberts' head, his, or Mezrich's "interpretation" of them? There is a sort of contrived feel to expressions like "Thad swelled with pride", etc. The third person narration makes this book read like a hybrid of memoir, biography and creative non-fiction. My rat-like mind was scrabbling for a label(still is) and I had to push that aside (as best I could) in order to just enjoy the story.Sex On The Moon is an enjoyable read. Having grown up in the era of space exploration, it was interesting to get an "insider's" view into one facet of NASA. As for Thad Roberts, hopefully he's learned a lesson and been able to piece his life back together.But moon rocks?Thad, what the heck were ya' thinkin'?!
    • 2/5
      I have to echo what another reviewer said about Thad not being very likable. I wanted to finish the book, but had to force myself to read through the last third of it. The story is interesting, but selling it as an Ocean's Eleven/"most audacious heist in history" story is clearly false advertising at best and just plain arrogant.The book reads like a continuous pity party for Thad. Even after reading about his (tough? More like strict) upbringing in a Mormon family, I cannot feel sorry, bad or any empathy for him. He cheated on his wife with a girl he barely knew and did something really stupid.
    • 4/5
      It’s an interesting story but…I was left a little puzzled. Not about how they pulled off the heist. But about Thad Roberts. I wanted to like this guy, but I didn’t. And if I couldn’t like him I wanted to at least understand him, but I didn’t. His backstory about his hard life growing up and how he overcame everything to get a job at NASA was inspiring but made what he did even harder for me to understand. His motives remain murky. The book did try to explain them but I was left at a loss as to how he made the jump from dedicated employee to thief. I don’t know if you were supposed to feel sorry for Thad or not. But I was left unmoved. I wanted him to get caught for thinking he could get away with it, for throwing away all that he had worked for and that other people would die to have, for not thinking about who would be hurt by his actions. I found the idea of the crime interesting and it does read like a crime thriller. It manages to have a certain sense of suspense even though you know what is going to happen. I also liked that you got an inside look at NASA to some extent. But I found myself frustrated at the characters here so at times reading this book was almost aggravating. I wanted to shout at these people and often found myself more interested in the secondary characters than I was in Thad. I like Mezrich’s writing, I just wish I liked the story better. But this being non-fiction I really can’t blame Mezrich for the actions of the characters. It reads quickly and is interesting in parts so it is worth reading if you are interested in true crime stories but I don’t think it is something that will stick with you too long after you finish reading the book.
    • 2/5
      I received this book as part of LibraryThing's early review program.It's taken me this long to write the review because it took me this long to plow my way through the book. There was absolutely nothing really enjoyable at all about it for me. First of all is the title. I mean seriously, this is supposed to be the most audacious heist in history? I mean if he was writing about the theft of the Mona Lisa then sure. But this? Not hardly.And then we move onto the hero/criminal of the story, Thad Roberts. I think that we're supposed to be able to relate to him, to see him as just a misunderstood guy who comes from a less than normal background. But instead he comes across as a completely unlikable person that is so obsessed with making his mark on history that he does anything to get there, including some dangerous events. He's boorish, crude, ill mannered, and a complete ass. If this how he behaved in real life I'd have walked away from him after two minutes. In the book he seemingly has no redeeming qualities at all, even when he agrees to take the blame for his two helpers. He seemingly does it, not to spare them of having to serve jail time, but so that he can continue having a girl friend.And then the writing. When I read a book that's talking about a true life event, such as this one, I want to hear the different characters voices. I want to know that its them talking to me and that I get a sense of what they really felt and who they are. Instead, all I hear is the voice of Thad/Ben whining about how no one understands him, no one likes him, his wife doesn't really understand him, and how great/intelligent he is. It feels like we're listening to a movie and Thad/Ben have dubbed their voices over everyone else's.I just can't recommend this book at all and I feel like I'm being nice by giving it two stars.
    • 1/5
      First, some advice: do not be attracted to this book because you care about the space program, NASA, astronauts, or astronomy; you will certainly be disappointed. Thad Roberts (the real- life protagonist in this dubious work) is no brilliant hero; in fact, his actions are downright stupid,and ethically beyond contempt. As an undergraduate intern at the Johnson Space Center, Roberts violated the trust placed in him by NASA and destroyed a budding career by stealing a quarter pound of moon rocks for personal gain. What’s more, he devastated the career of his kindly mentor, space scientist Dr. Everett K. Gibson, by trashing 30 years worth of carefully- collected analytical data that span the history of the space program. The data were literally irreplaceable and their loss to science incalculable. Roberts did not just steal from Gibson or NASA or even the USA– he stole from the scientific community and the world at large. But to pop author Ben Mezrich, Thad Roberts is a madcap James Bond- like adventurer who is worth a book; and with a movie deal now pending, he and Roberts will laugh all the way to the bank. It may even turn out to be worth the >8 years that Roberts spent in prison, and the lives of the four people (his wife, his lover, and two friends) that he devastated by his criminal activity. This is at best a work of historical fiction, and a badly written one at that. Mezrich presents the tale with what he calls “re-created dialogue.” That means that in describing events that took place as much as 15 years ago, Mezrich makes up words and puts them into the mouths of the various characters (most of whose names he admits that he's changed). He also reports their alleged thoughts, feelings, and physiological states, routinely in the first person. But Mezrich’s omniscience does not stop there. He also knows the psychological causes of his characters’ aberrant behavior: Roberts is a Mormon; his parents had disowned him for having sex with his girlfriend; his wife didn’t understand him; he wanted to be cool and attract “chicks” ( yes, “chicks,” in a book written in 2011); and so on. All this is done for the sake of a story, sensationalized on the book cover as “the amazing story of the most audacious heist in history.” Under the circumstances, how reliable is the book from a factual standpoint? Not very, because we have nothing but the author’s own conjectures that events happened as he claims, and much is clearly invented and exaggerated for effect. Was the theft really “from an impregnable high tech vault”? Certainly not; it was a simple combination safe in a scientist’s lab, one that Roberts picked up on a dolly and took away by jeep. (The college students were able to remove the safe's door with simple power tools). What about the millions of dollars worth of moon rocks? In fact, they stole 1/5 of a pound (100 grams) in tiny pieces, and the illegal booty was only worth what someone might be induced to pay (which turned out to be nothing). How about the “sex on the moon” line? Supposedly Thad Roberts stuffed a bit under a hotel room mattress before he and his girlfriend went at it – get it? (Did anything like that ever happen? Not likely, given Mezrich's reputation for making things up in his books). And then there's the criminal genius, Thad Roberts: the boy advertises the moon rocks on the internet, falls for a transparent FBI sting operation, and gets carted off to prison along with his accomplices. Sorry, I gave this book a fair shot. The story doesn’t come close to matching the hype, and the writing is terrible. Further, I cringe to consider that the perpetrator now gets to profit from his crime.
    • 4/5
      This book is about Thad Roberts, a young man who decided to steal some moon rocks from NASA. Most of the book focuses on the path that led Thad Williams to NASA and then to making the decision to steal the moon rocks, rather than on the heist itself. However, based on the portrayal in this book, Thad is a fascinating if not very likeable person, and that combined with prose that reads like fiction, keeps the story from dragging. I found it be an entertaining read.
    • 3/5
      This was mildly diverting, but I have never liked smarty-pants college kids who think it is okay to do something just because they can. The author tries to treat Thad Roberts, the brilliant university student who stole lunar rock samples from NASA (and yes, had sex with his girlfriend on top of them), in a balanced way, but seriously? I’m sorry his home life was messed up and that he was shy and socially awkward, but I have no sympathy for this guy who threw away amazing opportunities and turned his back on people who believed in him. His enormous ego and sense of entitlement landed him exactly where he deserved – federal prison. Some people really are too smart for their own good.
    • 2/5
      Ben Mezrich’s “Sex on the Moon” manages to take a true-life story of the “most audacious heist in history” and turn it into a boring, slow-going drag. The title itself was clearly chosen for its shock value – promising excitement but instead delivering story in a diary-esque manner. The story is of a young man, Thad Roberts, and his voyage from repressed Mormon youth to NASA co-op with an eye for adventure. The author attempts to delve into Roberts’ mindset and motivations, yet the characterization remains superficial at best – negating any chance of establishing attachment or sympathy. Nearly any time female characters are described it creates an awkward and uncomfortable feeling of inappropriateness. The story drags slowly forward only to suddenly accelerate at the end, where it finally seems to settle into the tempo that would have served well for the entire novel. When you consider that the events of the story really took place, it is fairly amazing. However, I would recommend simply reading about the event on Wikipedia, rather than buying this book.
    • 4/5
      Sex on the Moon held my attention as a fascinating character study, but it was not the Right Stuff/Ocean's Eleven style thriller it was marketed to be on the book jacket. Mezrich laid solid groundwork for Thad Roberts's character flaws, showing the heartbreaking rejection he received from his Mormon parents for having an intimate relationship with his girlfriend. His whole life can thus be understood as an effort to compensate for this rejection through the creation of a larger-than-life persona and the relentless pursuit of a nearly unobattainable goal -- to become an astronaut.While the moon rock caper is captivating in its audacity and execution, it comprises a relative small portion of the narrative. For that reason, readers expecting a non-stop thrill ride will likely be disappointed. Other, more patient and thoughtful readers, will find a lot to appreciate in this thoroughly-researched and psychologically-astute study of a young man who flies much too close to the sun.-Kevin Joseph, author of The Champion Maker
    • 4/5
      I found Sex on the Moon to be a thoroughly enjoyable read, but I admit that I was somewhat annoyed by the title of the book. Sure, it’s a cool title and all, but having sex on the moon, or having sex in general, is NOT what this book is about or what the main character desires – the sex on the moon reference is about half a page long, and Thad's motivations are far more complex than just a desire to get laid. A blatantly transparent ploy on the part of the publisher’s to pander to the public in order to get them to read this book, because apparently having a juicy story and a well-known author isn’t enough. Mezrich does a really great job painting Thad as a highly sympathetic and nuanced character; he really gets into Thad’s motivations, thought process and family background. Although some may argue that Mezrich does his job too well and sugarcoats the fact that Thad committed a crime, let’s face it, would you want to read a book from the POV of an unsympathetic SOB? Funny enough, for the majority of the book, nothing really happens - the actual theft takes place a good 2/3 in. But Mezrich is such an excellent writer that he really draws you into the story,and it's fun getting a look into the world of NASA. The book totally feels like it’s just waiting to be adapted into a movie script with scenes that read like they’re from a screenplay, but this is a good thing - there’s a lot of great imagery and visual descriptions. Don't read this book if you're looking for a great plot; rather, read this book if you're looking to get into the head space of a troubled and brilliant young man looking to find his place in the world and screwing up in the most spectacular way possible. I wouldn’t necessarily take this book too seriously as a piece of non-fiction, but as a piece of fiction inspired by a true story, it’s a fabulous read.
    • 4/5
      Even though a lot of reviews are less than stellar I found the story interesting. Thad Roberts is a highly motivated and intelligent young man who worked hard and got his foot into NASA. However, his new found personna seemed to force him to do crazier thing all the time. As in many cases the love of a woman helped motivate him to actually go thru with stealing the moon rocks. SInce this is a true story it's really hard to believe that someone could throw away their entire future for only $100k. If he would have continued on and became an astronaut he would have earned far more money than that. Even to this day he can't explain why he actually pulled the heist. I haven't read any of Mezrich's other books but I could see this becoming a movie as well.
    • 4/5
      This is an amazing story of how 3 kids managed to pull off a robbery of an unbelievable magnitude. These college interns managed to earn the trust of some of the brightest minds in the country and steal moon rocks from the Johnson Space Center and NASA. The tale unfolds much like a movie which makes sense since the author also penned The Accidental Billionaires and made it to the big screen under the name The Social Network. Thad Roberts has a brilliant mind and once he puts it to use, no one can stop him. Again, the story seems like fiction but has all of the elements of a thriller if you made up all of the characters. It reminded me a bit of Carl Hiaasen since most of his work is based on true facts. The truth is truly stranger than fiction. Thad Roberts has an almost abusive childhood and is always striving for acceptance. He meets up with two girls and becomes a ring leader among the interns taking them on weekend trips that would make a lot of college kids blush. I am still trying to figure out how these kids were able to pull of this heist. The funniest thing about this whole story is that Thad thought he would get away with the whole scam be selling the rocks through the internet. He might have if it wasn't for a collector that helped bring him down. Overall, a great read that will appeal to those fans of Jon Krakauer mixed with Carl Hiaasen
    • 4/5
      Starting with the larger than life title, Sex on the Moon proceeds at a very brisk pace as it unfolds with the story of a bright young man named Thad Roberts. As with all of Mezrich’s books this moves at a fast pace and has a fiction-type dialogue. Mezrich does jump around at times which can be confusing at times especially at the ending, which moves to different plots too quickly. That being said, this is an enjoyable book, which will certainly join his other books on the big screen.
    • 4/5
      If you want to know what it takes to work at NASA, this book is a fascinating insider's view. If the NASA intern hadn't ruined his career with a monumentally foolish act who knows what he might have accomplished. As a former NASA intern myself I admit part of my attraction to this book was nostalgic (though I was at Goddard SFC not Houston). Very well written account and I enjoyed the narration as well despite the rather flat delivery. I only wish the author (or was it the publisher?) had chosen a better title.
    • 3/5
      It's difficult to tell how Thad Roberts got from Point A to Point B. Raised a strict Mormon, presumably with all he constraints of fundamentalist beliefs drilled into him for his entire life, he has sex with his girlfriend in high school. Not the first time that's happened, right? So next he's in the missionary boot camp with ficve other guys is a barracks. One of them confesses he had sex with HIS girlfriend. Turns out all six guys had sex with their girlfriends. So what does Thad do? He confesses and is thrown out of the missionary program as unfit to serve God. Next, his parents kick him out of the house and disown him in a completely savage manner.Before you know it That is married and enrolled at the University. How he managed to pay tuition is unknown. Then he gets accepted to a pretigious NASA program in his goal to be an astronaut.Say what? How did this guy get from Point A to Point B?At NASA Thad is suddenly transformed from a shy little guy into the life of the party. He's doing very well, so very well that he decides to steal moon rocks, which he does without a hitch, right out from under the noses of NASA.Say what?How did this guy get from Point A to Point B?The thing I really don't understand is how his mind went from wanting to be an astronaut to wanting to steal moon rocks seemingly with no hesitation at all. It not only shows a lack of character, of course, but an utterly complete naivite. Of course, there is no "sex on the moon." It's just a catchy title. And the conversations related in the book probably never happened. They have been "re-created" in the style of the author to make it read like a novel. It's an exciting enough read, but I shake my head at the utter stupidity of it all.
    • 4/5
      The true story of a brilliant young NASA co-op intern who steals moon rocks from NASA's Johnson Space Center and then tries to sell them on the internet. The book reads more like a thriller than a narrative based on a true story. While not action-packed or suspenseful (we know he steals the moon rocks), the story is an entertaining adventure and an easy read. It moves along at a medium pace until almost the end when the real action begins. Thad Roberts is not a likable character. What kept me interested in the story was that he is a real person about to do an amazingly stupid thing. Although the book does not analyze Thad's actions I kept asking myself, "why, why, why did he think he could get away with this?". I'm not sure I came away with a good understanding of what made Thad behave the way he did. He threw away a brilliant carrer with NASA to impress his girlfriend. The authors acknowledges that some names and places were changed for privacy reasons and that some conversations were re-created, but essentially the details and the chronology are true. I also found the background information on NASA and NASA Operations to be interesting and insightful.
    • 3/5
      Reading about larger than life characters and larger than life undertakings is fascinating to me. However, while certainly interesting, I didn’t find the story of Thad Roberts fascinating. I suppose it might be because although novel, the story of this part of his life and the story of this crime didn’t ask or answer any big questions for me. I ended up being disappointed not so much in the book, but in the person described in the book.In many stories about true crime, there is a desire to understand “Why?” Why people do such horrific things, what happened in their lives to drive them to commit such crimes? We want to understand “Why?” so that we can identify what it is about these people that makes them not like us, and want to identify ourselves as very much not like them.In “Sex on the Moon”, however, the crime is neither horrific nor particularly clever. It is unique in that moon rocks had never been stolen before…. (I did learn that it was illegal to own moon rocks, which certainly make sense, but was a new fact for me.) One of the major reasons for this, a reason that keeps Thad from committing the crime for a while, is that those people who have access to the rocks, wouldn’t consider doing something that would remove their chance to be a part of one of the greatest undertakings of humankind.Instead, the crime is one committed for most of the usual reasons. Love, money and much too large an ego. This young man sees himself as more important than the program – a star more important than the universe itself. Thad compares himself several times to James Bond and the reader is made very aware that he thinks of himself as practically a hero.“Steeling himself – without the help of a really good theme song – Thad skirted past the low hedge and across the crowded parking lot.”It’s a shame that a great mind, so in love with learning, goes so wrong. That instead of focusing on the ways that he could move exploration and knowledge forward, that he is deterred by more profitable motives.“Thad has his own word for it: serenity. The moment when the act of science organically shifted into the art of science; when even the most mundane, choreographed procedures achieved such a rhythm that they became invisible chords of a single violin lost in the complexity of a perfect symphony. Minutes shifting into a state of timelessness, where the world seemed frozen but Thad was somehow moving forward: content, fulfilled, free.”For those of us who will only experience the science of space travel through films and television and books – it is very disappointing to read this story of someone who had a chance to get closer to the dream – and who threw it away.At the end of the book, there is a hint that the ego that drove Thad to plan and commit this crime may have been humbled a bit. “Thad had always been a quick study. At NASA, being quick to pick up how things worked had been important because it had caught the attention of the people Thad had needed to impress, and it had given him that extra edge so that he could construct the person he wanted to be, right from day one. In county jail, being quick to pick up how things worked as important because it kept Thad alive.”One can only hope that after having been confined to a jail cell, the art of the science can fulfill Roberts mind so that he can indeed, be free.
    • 4/5
      Intriguing story that reads more like a novel than non-fiction. The pacing was great and the story felt suspenseful, even though you pretty much knew how it was going to end. I especially liked how the book also focused on the rock collector in Belgium who tipped off the FBI. It rounded out the story and made it more than just the story of Thad Roberts.My biggest complaint is that I wish the book gave us more insight into the accomplices, especially the fellow NASA interns. It seems clear that the author didn’t have much access to them so they come across as one-dimensional. Looking back, I also am annoyed by a lot of the publicity/press for this book that sort of makes it seem like this was just something Roberts did to impress a girl. The girl doesn't enter the picture until relatively late, by which point Roberts had already headed down his criminal path.