Mission to the Moon: (Book and DVD) [Hardcover]

Alan Dyer (Author)

Book Description

Produced in cooperation with NASA, this breathtaking book is packed with everything you need to know about the first moon landing. From the earliest legends about the moon to the space race and the successful lunar landing, plus subsequent missions, the oversize book is chock-full of stunning photos and fun factoids about Earth’s nearest celestial body. The DVD included with the book gives you a front-row seat for Apollo 11’s blastoff and the iconic moonwalk, along with never-before-seen footage culled from the NASA archives.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Dyer, one of Canada's foremost experts on astronomy, is the resident astronomer at the TELUS World of Science in Calgary, Alberta. He is also the author of INSIDERS: SPACE, published in 2007. Asteroid #78434 is named after him.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; 1 Har/DVD/ edition (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416979352
• ISBN-13: 978-1416979357
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 10.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #959,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Dyer is an astronomy author, planetarium show producer, astrophotographer and amateur astronomer living in Alberta, Canada. He is co-author with Terence Dickinson of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide (see http://www.backyardastronomy.com), a comprehensive guide to the hobby for amateur astronomers. He is also author of several children's books on space and stargazing. Asteroid #78434 is named for him.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this for the DVD!, April 22, 2009

By 

Grandma (NH, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mission to the Moon: (Book and DVD) (Hardcover)

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Mission to the Moon is informative and engaging, well laid out in an oversized format. Young people interested in space and science will find much here of interest. The real treasure though is the DVD, something that I particularly enjoyed.

The primary clip documents the moon landing and return of Apollo 11. On July 20, 1969 I sat with my grandfather - then nearly 80 - who cried as he watched the first moon walk. He told me how wondrous it seemed to him, saying that he had been born in the days of the horse and buggy and had never dreamed that he would live to see automobiles and airplanes, two world wars, electric lights, telephones, radios and now he sat in front of a television watching a man walk on the moon!

Today's children rarely see a space launch. Man has not walked the moon for nearly a half-century. It is perhaps hard - maybe even impossible - for them to understand the wonder that my generation of children felt as we watched rockets lifting off from earth or tracked satellites across the night sky. Mission to the Moon brings a small taste of the experience to life. Here they will find original footage of the first pictures of the earth seen from space, rocket launches, recoveries and so much more.

Highly recommended.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great coffee table book, or addition to the family library, but with a MAJOR glitch w/ the DVD, April 23, 2009

By 

Alan Holyoak (The Shadow of the Tetons) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mission to the Moon: (Book and DVD) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

This product includes a book, a DVD, and a poster.

First of all, the book:

It took me about an hour to peruse the book. The book is written so that it can be understood by older children (perhaps 8+ years old), but was engaging enough to hold my attention until I had worked my way all the way through. The book contains a historical presentation of humanity's attraction to the moon, early assumptions and theories about the moon, a little about the history of rocketry, and a lot of photos and some supporting information about the history of the US space program, mainly through the Apollo program.

The inclusion of historical photos make this an engaging book for me.

OK, now about the DVD:

After spending at least an hour working my way through this 77 page book I decided to take a look at the DVD. I popped it into my DVD player and nothing happened. I checked the disc for damage, and none was evident. I tried the DVD again, and again, no go. I switched the DVD to a second DVD player and it gave me an error message suggesting that the disc may be damaged or have some other problem. At about that point I'd decided that I had recieved a bum disc, and got ready to write up this review. Then, on a whim, I popped it into the DVD drive on my computer, and it started up!

The DVD contains the story of Apollo 11 - the first mission that landed on the moon. The DVD looks and feels like it was originally produced in the late 1960s or early 1970s (perhaps it was!). It was actually produced by NASA, and it has that sort of dry NASA government documentary feel to it. It lacks high-tech special effects, but relies, rather, on historical footage and nostaligic motion and still images. The DVD starts with the archival footage of Neil Armstrong's descent down the lunar lander Eagle'd ladder and his first comments and steps on the moom. That was pretty neat - I'm old enough to remember that, but in my opinion, this DVD will be generally ignored by most younger viewers after they have seen it once...if they make it all the way through the first time. I liked it, but the DVD definitely does not target a younger audience, the way that that accompanying book tends to do.

Lastly, one side of the poster has a drawing showing the stages of the Apollo 11 flight plan and major events that took place during that historic mission. The other side of the poster shows a cut-away drawing of a lunar lander, as well as some photos of astronauts on the moon.

MAJOR FLAW: All in all I must say that I was somewhat disappointed to see this high quality photo-rich book teamed with what can only be described as an outdated DVD (in terms of what they could have done with this material, given modern technology, etc.). I was also disappointed that the DVD would not play on my DVD players. When I put the DVD in the DVD drive of my computer it showed the disc label as "MOON_FINAL_PAL." I believe that label indicates that this disc was recorded using in PAL format, that is the format used widely in Europe, southern Asia, parts of Africa, and South America. Most DVD players available in the USA will probably not recognize that format because they are designed to play discs recorded in the NTSC format...that's probably why the two players I have connected to my TV could not recognize this disc...BEWARE of this possibility if you are thinking of buying this product.

So, while I am thoroughly impressed with the book, the formatting of the DVD is wrong for the American market, and the quality of the DVD leaves a lot to be desired. The poster is neither a positive nor a negative for me.

So, in the end, this product probably rates 2.5 or 3 stars. I think that this subject has wide appeal, but the people that put this package together made some strategic and tactical errors in design and formatting. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and go with 3 stars - 4 stars for the book, and 2 stars for the DVD.

I hope this was helpful.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hits the target audience with a bullseye!!, April 26, 2009

By 

Charles S. Holzheimer "durnik150" (Centennial, CO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mission to the Moon: (Book and DVD) (Hardcover)

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Boys and girls learn differently, that fact has been known by teachers for generations. It has taken a while for the libraries in our schools to get the same message and adjust so boys have access to information focused on their learning styles as well.
This book is about as boy as boy gets! Space travel, adventures, cool ships and inventions! Girls will find value in this book as well but probably more as background for concepts and ideas as opposed to factoids and pictures.
While there is a great wealth of information on the space program and specifically the Apollo missions, it is laid out in a manner that can be digested and analyzed in small chunks. Lots of pictures are paired with short, concise entries on the topics. Yes, it is a little USA Todayish and short-attention span focused but this book is not meant as research at a high-school or college level.
The included DVD explains well what it is presenting and serves even more in drawing kids to the topic to provide them with information. The book and DVD provide enough information for kids to be conversant on the moon missions without overloading them on facts.
There aren't many books that succeed at grabbing the attention of the youth while still having the facts that educate them in the process. This is one of them. I think this book should be in almost every classroom in the upper elementary grades!