I've been reading Apollo 13 over the past 2 weeks. I've found that many books that were adapted to movies were either just as good or better in text. If you're into reading, the book is quite good, covering Apollo 8 in some detail, etc.
And frankly, if you're into space exploration as you seem to be, you'll like it.
As for R2...LOL...its just a fun project. Almost as big a money pit as the kitplane was.