Misc for July 28, 2014

Hi,

I’m starting things this week with a quick expression of gratitude. There’s a “milestone” birthday coming up fast and, as you’ve probably already noticed, it’s got me even more thinky than usual about who I am, where I am, and who’s along for the ride. I’ve been thinking a lot about how lucky I am to have such a kind and supportive audience with whom to share my thoughts. So thank you. Keep me honest and let me know how I can do better, but thank you for all the incredibly encouraging notes you’ve sent so far.

Moon pie

Though I missed writing about it last week, I wanted to touch on the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11. Like so many armchair space enthusiasts, the entire space program of the 1960s has fascinated me for years—the heroism of both the famous and unknown participants, the mixture of pragmatic engineering and wide-eyed dream, the long-lost unity I occasionally imagine must have held the nation enthralled.

If you’re like me and can’t get enough space, particularly Apollo, I encourage you to read through the epic Apollo Flight Journal or Apollo Lunar Surface Journals. There is enough geek material there to last you until the next moon shot. I first learned of these awesome resources from the equally awesome and much more digestible retrospective at Ars Technica.

The best book I’ve personally read about Apollo is the excellent Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, by Craig Nelson (not that Craig Nelson). I love this book, and can also recommend the Audible version.

It seems like every marketing conference I’ve been to in the past few years has featured at least one talk by David Meerman Scott. And Mr. Scott has recently published Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program, which looks excellent. While speaking on Marketing the Moon at the BMA conference this year, Mr. Scott showed off some jaw-dropping Apollo memorabilia from his personal collection—stuff I can’t imagine owning, much less feeling comfortable taking on the road.

(Sidebar: He’s also published Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History, so I also imagine he and I would make for pretty sympatico pals. David! Let’s hang!)

While we’re at it, here’s a fun article on Apollo 11’s Scariest Moments and, of course, a cool infographic on the Apollo missions.

On that note…

Next week I’m planning to dump lots of 40s at you, and I don’t mean Olde English. While you’re waiting, here’s the Chicago Tribune from 40 years ago today (hack this URL to explore any date: archives.chicagotribune.com/YYYY/MM/DD/ – thanks Angie!).

Talk to you soon!

Mike