Moon [Paperback]

David Whitehouse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2002

Since the dawn of time, the moon has exerted a tremendous influence over the earth and its inhabitants, both scientifically and artistically. The earliest astronomers expended much energy in their attempts to map the moon, and the moon has a central role in virtually all mythologies, from the Amazonian Indians to the ancient Egyptians to the Celts. Yet the biography of our nearest planet has never been written. The text presents a myriad stories - people with extraordinary characters like Galileo and Van Eyck - and science.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Hard on the heels of the "biography" of the famous Einstein equation E=MC2 comes a similar history, this time of our famous natural satellite. This account of the moon is by an award-winning BBC science correspondent, whose expertise shines through in a wide-ranging and authoritative account, drawing together many disparate threads. Since pre-history, the moon has fascinated man, exerting a tremendous influence over the earth and its inhabitants. It has had a central role for most cultures and their poets, painters and musicians as well as lovers have taken it as a source of inspiration. Whitehouse's book brings together these various aspects in elegant and informed prose, ranging in time from the Moonwatchers of Lascaux and the awe of primitive man, on to Galileo, Van Eyck and Thomas Harriot (an unfairly neglected British moon-scientist), then ultimately the Apollo Missions of the 1970s and 1980s. The result is a rich and unusual survey, one that should please specialists and non-specialists alike. One to observe closely. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Dr David Whitehouse is a BBC Science Correspondent and the Science Editor of BBC News Online. He obtained his doctorate from the world-famous Jodrell Bank Observatory and has worked on several space missions. He regularly writes for magazines and newspapers and is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, past president of the Society for Popular Astronomy and co-presenter of the BBC TV science series Final Frontier.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Review (May 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747264953
• ISBN-13: 978-0747264958
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,306,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good read - but full of errors, April 6, 2004

By 

Charles Wood (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon Biography (Hardcover)

This book is a delight to read and it contains much interesting information about the Moon in science, history and culture, as well as anecdotes about lunar observers and scientists. But please don't believe everything you read! The book is so full of factual errors that I have to conclude that the author - apparently a radio astronomer - has no real understanding of lunar science! Starting with the acknowledgments - where the phrase reflection telescope is used rather than reflector - there are too many errors to list, but I will give a flavor of them: Lunar mascons are not due to buried iron projectiles; central peaks first appear in craters about 15 km in diameter, not 40 km; Aristarchus is not the center of a network of rilles; the Rheita Valley is composed of basin secondary craters; Beer and Madler's lunar map was published in 1834-6, not 1878; Gerard Kuiper never worked with Percival Lowell; the magma ocean formed 4.5 billion years ago, not 3.9; Eratosthenian craters postdate - not predate - the formation of mare; etc; etc. With so many errors in the lunar science and history sections, I have to wonder if there are others in the cultural discussions where I am less well informed. So, am I just being unduly negative, critical of details, and missing the value of a readable popular introduction to the Moon? Perhaps. The book does fill a gap and if it encourages readers to learn more about the Moon it will serve an important function. But in a larger sense this book is worrisome. It is like many news reports that tell a good story, but are ignorant or, or actively screw up the real content. I think factual honesty matters - the publisher and author could have cleaned up most of the errors with a competent pre-publication review - apparently they didn't bother.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's brilliant, September 24, 2004

By 

Moon watcher "Moon Watcher" (Moon watcher) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon Biography (Hardcover)

This is a remarkable book. One of the best science books I have ever read, certainly one of the best astronomy books. It has grandeur, sweep and vision and is inspirational. in places it is poetic.

Charles Wood's nitpicks are unfair and inaccurate. The index reference to reflection telescope and not reflector telescopes is trivial and not inaccurate in itself. Only a pedant would moan about it.

regarding his other points, I think Kuiper worked at the Lowell Observatory. As for the comments about lunar peaks starting at 15 km and not 40 km, that's not what other books say such as Paul Spudis's "The once and future moon." Aristarchus is the focus of a centre of rilles called (unsuprisingly) the Aristarchus Rilles, I've seen them. Whitehouse talks of magma infilling of basins at 3.9 billion years old which is correct and Wood takes him out of context. The crater Erostostenes does not postdate all mare. So I think Wood is being unfair and rubbishing this excellent book to promote his own, as I see he has done to Patrick Moore's fine book about the moon.

You won't regret buying this book. I was sad when it came to the end.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Moon a biography, September 23, 2004

By 

Nigel bannister "nigel" (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon Biography (Hardcover)

I cannot agree with Charles Wood, some of the errors he points out in the book are simply not there, or are trivial and amplified by Mr Wood who is the author of a rival book. I have read Mr Wood's book and it is not in the same leage as Whitehouse's excellent work and contains a great many errors of its own. What we have here is a competing author trying to prevent others from buying rival and better book - shameful.

Whitehouse's book is the best book about the moon I have ever read. Read it and make up your own mind.

better still read both the books by Whitehouse and Wood and make up your own mind. I did.