Boom! This is Books & Biceps #401!

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After watching the live stream of the Artemis II astronauts swooping behind the moon and becoming the furthest traveled humans from earth of all time, I decided to dedicated this issue of Books & Biceps to my favorite books about space. We’ll do one non-fiction book about space travel. One non-fiction book about Apollo 8. And then one alternate history thriller about the U.S., Russia, the moon and murder. Let’s go:

The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth by Michio Kaku

Forget exploring the Metaverse. VR and virtual worlds do nothing for me… I want to know when and how we’ll be exploring the universe! When are we going to travel through time? How are we going to engineer atmospheres on other planets? How can the human body adapt to space travel? How long can we extend life to explore the cosmos???

If you’ve ever thought about any of these things (and how haven’t you?) I can’t recommend this book enough. Dr. Kaku writes about incredibly complex topics in simple, casual terms… He uses movie references, pop fiction references and more to explain what’s possible, what’s impossible, and what’s kinda sorta possible with a little innovation. You’ll even find yourself understanding worm holes and how they work.

Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon by Robert Kurson

Last year, the legendary American and astronaut, Jim Lovell, passed away at 97-years-old. Most of you remember his name because Tom Hanks played him in the awesome movie, Apollo 13. But what you probably don’t know is that Lovell’s most daring mission, and the one that had the least probability of success and survival, was actually Apollo 8, which was the first crewed spacecraft to attempt to orbit the moon, meaning they were the first humans to leave earth’s orbit - ever. While NASA had done as much math and calculations ahead of time as they could, the idea of human beings attaining lunar orbit in a manmade space craft was only a theory. Thousands of things could go wrong and if it failed, the entire idea of landing on the moon would have likely fallen with it.

This entire mission is chronicled in one of the best books ever written on mankind’s quest to travel amongst the stars, Rocket Men by the great Robert Kurson.

While the story is ultimately about NASA’s triumph, it is set against the backdrop of epic and almost cataclysmic failures. In a frantic, pressure filled race to meet President Kennedy’s milestone to put humans on the moon before 1970, mistakes were made and lives were lost.

The book chronicles extraordinary men trying to do an extraordinary thing and overcoming disaster after disaster along the way. Matched up against Russia’s successful Sputnik launch, the real-time mocking of the program in the news was brutal. The press even began to nickname the failed rocket launches one by one: Kaputnik… Flopnik… Dudnik…

And yet, through guts and perseverance, Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders spent 20 hours in lunar orbit, setting the stage for the United States to put astronauts on the moon before Russia. This is an educational, action-packed, amazing read.

The Apollo Murders by Colonel Chris Hadfield

First, you need to know that the author of this space thriller, Colonel Chris Hadfield, is an incredibly impressive guy and knows what he’s talking about in terms of space travel. He was the top test pilot in both the US Air Force and the US Navy, and a Cold War fighter pilot intercepting armed Soviet bombers in North American airspace. A veteran of three spaceflights, he crewed the US Space Shuttle twice, piloted the Russian Soyuz, helped build space station Mir, conducted two space walks, and served as Commander of the International Space Station. Yeah, he’s the man. And he’s a great writer.

The details of space flight and the moon in this novel are obviously terrific…and the plot is as well: What if in the 1970s Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts had a confrontation…in space? And what if that lead to a gunfight on the moon? Sound crazy? It is, but based on facts and rumors from each space program at the time, Hadfield creates a “could have happened” book that moves fast and reads like an action movie.

If you watched any of the Artemis II mission you know that the four astronauts have spent nearly 10 days in a very small space. One thing that is extremely important for humans in space is that they keep exercising or they suffer from severe muscle loss and atrophy.

Check out astronaut Victor Glover getting in a little leg day on the flywheel in the Orion capsule:

And, as we approach WrestleMania week and the two-year anniversary of my Macho Man biography, this video of the astronauts wrestling and hitting each other with body slams and moonsaults while preparing for the Artemis mission is awesome. This is literally the first thing I’d do if I was in zero gravity (I love how they sell each other’s moves):

If you’re a guy over 40 and you’ve been looking for a new digital magazine that’s written for midlife men, by midlife men, on the topics that actually matter to us: family, fitness, fashion, finance, food & fun, then join us at Midlife Male.

I write a column every Tuesday called The Manologue. This week, in keeping with my space theme, I wrote about one the most amazing guys ever: astronaut Ronald McNair. If you haven’t read about this genius in about three fields, do it now:

The ‘Read More, Lift More’ 30-Day Brain & Body Endurance Challenge

The Flex Factory Garage Gym Muscle Manual: 90 Days to Meathead Nirvana

P.S. We’re currently working on the cover for my upcoming, massive thriller, Bear Brawl. I love this part of the book publishing process. It’s when you first get to envision what the book will look and feel like.

I shared a post on the three thriller covers that we’re using for inspiration. Can you guess which books they are? All three are Hall of Fame B&B recs, so if you missed it, you can read it here.

And while the cover reveal is coming soon, you can always pre-order your book right now. We have a TON of cool giveaways coming, so just screenshot your order and you’ll be able to take advantage of every single one:

Jon Finkel is the award-winning author of Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage, 1996: A Biography, Hoops Heist, The Life of Dad, Jocks In Chief, The Athlete, Heart Over Height, “Mean” Joe Greene and more. His books have been endorsed by everyone from Mark Cuban, John Cena and Tony Dungy to Spike Lee, Kevin Durant and Chef Robert Irvine. He has written for GQ, Men’s Health, Yahoo! Sports, The New York Times and has appeared on CBS: This Morning, Good Morning Texas, Good Morning Chicago, and hundreds of radio shows, podcasts and streams. Jon was recently profiled in The New Yorker about the awesome community he’s built around his Books & Biceps newsletter. They describe him as “a gym rat’s Reese Witherspoon”. Reply to this email for any media requests.

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