Customer Reviews

Home on the Moon: Living on a Space Frontier

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As the author of this book and someone who always wondered if I should use my physics degree for something other than writing for kids, I am happy to share this wonderful news: A panel of distinguished scientists and journalists selected by the American Institute of Physics chose Home on the Moon to receive the prestigioius 2004 Science Writing Award in the children's category. This award consists of a $3,000 cash prize and an inscribed Windsor chair. More reviews and information about this book are available on my website.

I especially like this book because it is rich in details from past moon missions and full of science-based projections of future possibilities. The explanations are clear and the illustrations are great (mostly paintings). With NASA's late 2006 announcement of plans to (eventually) establish a moon base, this book is a great resource. I re-read it a few days ago when I had to give a "back to the moon" presentation for a Big Brothers/Big Sisters event at the New England Air Museum, and it provided me with some good points to help the kids to better understand this "far out" stuff that will be part of their future.

Marianne Dyson's book gives a realistic look at the science of travelling to, and living on the moon. Her easy-to-understand style, terrific enthusiasm, and excellent knowledge of the subject make this book one of the best books about the moon written for young people. Let's go to the moon!

As president of the American Lunar Society and a teacher of astronomy (both at the college and high school levels), I love this book. In my high school classroom, I have a small library of science books students can take home, read, and review for extra credit. This book is a favorite (especially among my ninth graders). For a science book it is remarkably readable and instead of being a scattered presentation of random facts, it presents one topic thoroughly from several angles. The facts presented are top notch. The quotes from people who've actually gone to the moon add quite a bit to the presentation. All in all, it makes space science and lunar exploration approachable and exciting. I'm willing to bet that our next generation of NASA scientists will often list this book as formative in their childhoods. This book is bound to be popular with middle-schoolers on up who want more from a book than fluff. By the way, it's great for adults too--its presentation of moon rocks and lunar soil explained a couple things I'd been wondering about for years.

I took out this book from the library for my kids, ages 8-16 but they all found it BOOOOORING!
I think the author, a former NASA bigwig, needs to be more IMAGINATIVE here!