The Right Stuff is what you need to be an absolutely bonkers guy, who thinks that a 23% likelihood of dying in an accident on the job (as a soldier, so excluding any combat deaths) sounds great and fun. It's the story of fighter pilots, and how they became astronauts. Very journalistic in style, which meant both that it's very entertaining, and feels mildly untrustworthy whenever the author likes or dislikes one of the protagonists overly much.