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nilsjesper's review
4.0
Maybe a 4.5. i don't know what i was expecting when i picked this up but it's hard to describe all the great places this book goes. A lyrical tick by tick description of Saturn engines lighting along side science fiction critique, scientific history philosophy a few good chuckles. A really unique read and also informative as hell.
epictetsocrate's review against another edition
4.0
În vreme ce Riccioli completa hărţile Lunii cu nume de astronomi, alţii populau Luna însăşi cu tot soiul de locuitori. Un principiu de economie divină – Dumnezeu nu putea fi un risipitor în creaţia Sa – i-a făcut pe mulţi să conchidă că, dacă există şi alte planete asemănătoare Pământului, ele trebuie să fi fost populate. Este ceea ce îşi propune John Wilkins în cartea sa The Discovery of A World in the Moone („Descoperirea unei lumi pe Lună”), publicată în 1638, o încercare de a dovedi că Luna este locuibilă şi, mai mult, că este locuită. Iar dacă este locuită, atunci despre locuitorii ei trebuie imaginate tot felul de poveşti. Astfel că pentru copernicani şi pentru tovarăşii lor călători, ficţiunile despre Lună au devenit, la fel ca reprezentările ei grafice, modalităţi de a-i afirma caracterul mundan precum şi de a demonstra natura planetară a Pământului, crescând şi descrescând pe cerul lunar.
Misterul luminii terestre, o dovadă că Luna era pentru Pământ ceea ce Pământul era pentru Lună, a reprezentat o temă curentă. Kepler vorbeşte despre ea în Somnium („Visul”, 1634), în care lumina terestră îmblânzeşte, pe faţa vizibilă a „Lunii” sale, ceva din asprimea climatică datorată zilelor şi nopţilor de câte 14 zile pământene fiecare. În cartea The Man in the Moone a lui Francis Godwin, publicată în acelaşi an cu cea a lui Wilkins, protagonistul, Gonsales, descoperă că viaţa selenară decurge, în cea mai mare parte a ei, doar datorită luminii terestre; când atât Pământul, cât şi Soarele se află pe cer, viaţa devine de nesuportat pentru marea majoritate a locuitorilor: doar cei mai puternici şi mai nobili pot rezista, în vreme ce ceilalţi îşi petrec lungile zile lunare dormind.
Misterul luminii terestre, o dovadă că Luna era pentru Pământ ceea ce Pământul era pentru Lună, a reprezentat o temă curentă. Kepler vorbeşte despre ea în Somnium („Visul”, 1634), în care lumina terestră îmblânzeşte, pe faţa vizibilă a „Lunii” sale, ceva din asprimea climatică datorată zilelor şi nopţilor de câte 14 zile pământene fiecare. În cartea The Man in the Moone a lui Francis Godwin, publicată în acelaşi an cu cea a lui Wilkins, protagonistul, Gonsales, descoperă că viaţa selenară decurge, în cea mai mare parte a ei, doar datorită luminii terestre; când atât Pământul, cât şi Soarele se află pe cer, viaţa devine de nesuportat pentru marea majoritate a locuitorilor: doar cei mai puternici şi mai nobili pot rezista, în vreme ce ceilalţi îşi petrec lungile zile lunare dormind.
lnatal's review
3.0
From BBC radio 4 - Book of the Week:
An intimate and profound portrait of the Moon.
Ranging across science, art and mythology, writer Oliver Morton explores the different spaces that Earth’s closest neighbour occupies in our lives and lays out the history and future of our relationship with the Moon.
Reader Robin Laing
Abridger Anna Magnusson
Producer Eilidh McCreadie
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005t1n
An intimate and profound portrait of the Moon.
Ranging across science, art and mythology, writer Oliver Morton explores the different spaces that Earth’s closest neighbour occupies in our lives and lays out the history and future of our relationship with the Moon.
Reader Robin Laing
Abridger Anna Magnusson
Producer Eilidh McCreadie
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005t1n
sirchutney's review
3.0
An intimate portrait of the Earth's closest neighbour
Not only is this a good book about the Moon, it is also refreshingly different. Even when covering familiar material, Morton finds a way to be original. For instance, he retells the story of the Apollo missions with clever use of dialogue spoken on the Moon itself. As well as being a good Moon primer, this is also, inevitably, a book about Earth. For the Moon has long functioned as an empty vessel into which we pour our ambitions and animosities. That was true of the Apollo missions. These were always more of an expression of Earth-based politics than Moon-based science. And it is likely to be true of future voyages.
Although Morton can't find a single rational justification for returning to the Moon, he nonetheless trembles with excitement about the prospect of doing so. Like many others before him, he has fallen victim to the Moon's sirenic lure.
Not only is this a good book about the Moon, it is also refreshingly different. Even when covering familiar material, Morton finds a way to be original. For instance, he retells the story of the Apollo missions with clever use of dialogue spoken on the Moon itself. As well as being a good Moon primer, this is also, inevitably, a book about Earth. For the Moon has long functioned as an empty vessel into which we pour our ambitions and animosities. That was true of the Apollo missions. These were always more of an expression of Earth-based politics than Moon-based science. And it is likely to be true of future voyages.
Although Morton can't find a single rational justification for returning to the Moon, he nonetheless trembles with excitement about the prospect of doing so. Like many others before him, he has fallen victim to the Moon's sirenic lure.
leda's review
4.0
Following Yuri Gagarin’ s successful orbit mission aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced to the American nation a goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. Apollo project was the largest non-military technological endeavour ever undertaken by the United States and its goals, besides achieving pre-eminence in space for the United States, were to carrying out a program of scientific exploration of the Moon and developing man’s capability to work in the lunar environment.
In less than a decade, on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission beamed back to earth the first television footage of American astronauts on the moon. It was a groundbreaking moment in humanity’s history. Six Apollo missions followed the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing. The last time humans touched the Moon was on December 1972, with the Apollo 17 mission. This was not only the final Moon landing, but the last time humans left low Earth orbit. It was 47 years ago.
But something is going to happen again, says Oliver Morton. “The Return to the Moon is coming, and it will be undertaken by men and women from many other places, and with more agendas, than were in the American vanguard of 50 years ago.”
I am not really sure what I expected when I started reading The Moon: A History for the Future but I certainly didn’t expect art and poetry and science-fiction. The Moon is a fascinating, informative and wide-ranging book.
Oliver Morton explores the Moon’s orbit, appearance and surface, and how the Moon affects the flow of the ocean tides, he delves into the history, to the Cold War space race, and he examines the possibility of a human colony on the moon- in one of these networks of caves where astronauts would be safe from radiation, micro-meteorites, and the Moon’s extreme temperatures perhaps-in the not-too-distant future. He discusses the attempts of private enterprises to reach the Moon and reopen the lunar frontier, using it as a stepping stone to other destinations such as Mars. He also captures the Moon’s place in science-fiction, Robert Heinlein’s in particular, and the technological, social and political challenges faced by a future Luna colony.
I thoroughly enjoyed the references on Robert Heinlein’s political speculations about Lunar colonies. Heinlein was one of the founding greats of the genera, but his vision about societies is deeply patriarchal. As they were written in the 1950s it is not surprising that females barely exist in these stories. Heinlein’s Moon is a man’s world. We, women, have still many obstacles to overcome but I think we can safely say that if we were to build a Moon colony in the next decade or so, women will be there too, and they will have an important role to play.
In less than a decade, on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission beamed back to earth the first television footage of American astronauts on the moon. It was a groundbreaking moment in humanity’s history. Six Apollo missions followed the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing. The last time humans touched the Moon was on December 1972, with the Apollo 17 mission. This was not only the final Moon landing, but the last time humans left low Earth orbit. It was 47 years ago.
But something is going to happen again, says Oliver Morton. “The Return to the Moon is coming, and it will be undertaken by men and women from many other places, and with more agendas, than were in the American vanguard of 50 years ago.”
I am not really sure what I expected when I started reading The Moon: A History for the Future but I certainly didn’t expect art and poetry and science-fiction. The Moon is a fascinating, informative and wide-ranging book.
Oliver Morton explores the Moon’s orbit, appearance and surface, and how the Moon affects the flow of the ocean tides, he delves into the history, to the Cold War space race, and he examines the possibility of a human colony on the moon- in one of these networks of caves where astronauts would be safe from radiation, micro-meteorites, and the Moon’s extreme temperatures perhaps-in the not-too-distant future. He discusses the attempts of private enterprises to reach the Moon and reopen the lunar frontier, using it as a stepping stone to other destinations such as Mars. He also captures the Moon’s place in science-fiction, Robert Heinlein’s in particular, and the technological, social and political challenges faced by a future Luna colony.
I thoroughly enjoyed the references on Robert Heinlein’s political speculations about Lunar colonies. Heinlein was one of the founding greats of the genera, but his vision about societies is deeply patriarchal. As they were written in the 1950s it is not surprising that females barely exist in these stories. Heinlein’s Moon is a man’s world. We, women, have still many obstacles to overcome but I think we can safely say that if we were to build a Moon colony in the next decade or so, women will be there too, and they will have an important role to play.
richardmtl's review
4.0
Really a 3.5 but I'll bump it to 4. Uneven, especially the philosophical and literary chapters. Still, lots of interesting tidbits.
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