Esquire Presents: What It Feels Like

To Walk on the Moon, etc.

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This is one of the books I own that I don't remember when, why, or how it was obtained. It has a copyright of 2003, so after that sometime. And I put it in my cyber-to-be-read list at some point. And it popped up. So…

Esquire magazine ran this "What It Feels Like" feature for a while. (I don't know—or care—if they do any more.) Each was a first-person account from someone who underwent a situation in which most of us will never find ourselves. This book collects those, and adds in a bunch more, a total of somewhere around 60. Each is just a page or two, which makes the book very short, 143 pages.

People in dire situations tend to drop the f-bomb a lot.

The most famous person: Buzz Aldrin, who contributes "What it Feels Like to Walk on the Moon". No f-bombs from Buzz.

Also semi-famous: Barry Rosen, Iranian hostage. "What it Feels Like to be Held Hostage". Almost 40 years later, I still got a little pissed at Iran.

Some people are eloquent, like Jenny Lundy: "What it Feels Like to be 105 Years Old".

And some are just interesting. "What it Feels Like to Win the Lottery" by Washington Iowa's Ed Brown, for example. Unlike the infamous lottery winners who crash and burn, Ed seems to have been remarkably level-headed. Bottom line: "I guess I liked who I was before I won the lottery and I decided not to change."

But it's a hodgepodge, with all that implies. I suggest you look at the table of contents at Amazon to see if there's anything in here you really want to know about. You can pick up a used copy for about $5 at Amazon.


Last Modified 2024-01-26 6:16 AM EDT