Moon: Nature and Culture

by Edgar Williams

Long before a rocket hit the Man in the Moon in the eye in Georges Méliès’s early film  Le Voyage dans la Lune , the earth’s lone satellite had entranced humans. We have worshipped it as a deity, believed it to cause madness, used it as a means of organizing time, and we now know that it manipulates the tides―our understanding of the moon continues to evolve. Following the moon from its origins to its rich cultural resonance in literature, art, religion, and politics,  Moon  provides a comprehensive account of the significance of our lunar companion.
 
Edgar Williams explores the interdependence of the Earth and the moon, not only the possibility that life on Earth would not be viable without the moon, but also the way it has embedded itself in culture. In addition to delving into roles the moon has played in literature from science fiction and comics to poetry, he examines how Elizabeth I was worshipped as the moon goddess Diana, the moon’s place in folklore and astrology, and humanity’s long-standing dream of inhabiting its surface. Filled with entertaining anecdotes, this book is the kind of succinct, witty, and informative look at everything lunar that only comes around once in a blue moon.

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2014

Reviews

[Valerie Aethra · Rating 5 out of 5]

engrossing documentation of human's interactions with the moon, traversing mythology and history and art and how our understanding of the moon has been shaped!

[Kerfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Williams' book, especially the part that covered the complex history of human interactions with the moon, ranging from telling time to mythology and psychology, medicine and architecture, literature and art. Somehow the scientific narrative at the end of the book, of rockets and the technology that lead to the lunar landings, failed to produce the same magic.

Although artificial light now interferes with our relationship to the daily and monthly cycles of the sky, the symbolic remnants in our cultures still contain power and influence.