Moon: The Art, Science and Culture of the Moon

by Alexandra Loske, Robert Massey

This beautiful visual history of the moon explores humanity's endless fascination with its closest cosmic neighbour.

From humankind's first lunar recordings to present-day myths and new exploration efforts, this original and diverting account intertwines artistic, religious and political interpretations with critical scientific study and observation.

Trace the history of the moon and its many faces in this extensively illustrated and illuminating volume.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Space, Science

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2018

Reviews

[Book Gannet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully produced book that's easy to dip in and out of or to settle back with and read. Although it's a coffee table book in terms of the copious amounts of pictures, it's not overly large and can be held in the hands quite easily. It covers a vast array of topics and time periods, travelling from prehistory right through to future plans, all with one thing in common - the Moon.

While there are eight short essays exploring our relationship with the moon, in a social, cultural and scientific way, most of the book is made up of moon images and short descriptions about each connected topic. These tend to be quite short and are perfect for brief reads or to use as a jump-off point for further exploration elsewhere. The order seems quite random, bouncing from ancient deities to art symbolism to the first telescopes to the lunar landings, but it does help to keep any one topic from going stale.

Although the final essays take a more in-depth look at their respective topics, they also repeat quite a lot of what's gone before, which is a shame. I would have preferred the book to have been organised a little differently, with each essay followed by the related illustrated pages, linking each topic together more firmly. The scattershot effect might entice the casual reader into exploring something they'd previously had no interest in, but I found the repetition a little irritating.

Overall, though, this is a fascinating book, full of moon facts and wonderful images. A perfect read or gift for anyone who loves our shining satellite, no matter their preferred field of expertise.

(Review copy provided by Amazon Vine.)

[Kaleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just really enjoyed this book about the moon. It's a really lovely book to experience. It goes into many different topics (wish it would linger on some a little more) about the moon and has so much beautiful art. I agree with the other review that sometimes the sections would be improved by art and topic of the essay matching but overall I really enjoyed reading this book and would do so again. I have checked it out twice from the library and endured late fees for this book because I liked it so much. I'm not really sure what about it makes it stand out so much to me, but there's something about it. It's good to read and also to just flip through for the art included.

[Su · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good quick reference guide. A great idea and focus on the moon.

Interesting fact: Kepler wrote a sci-fi story, Somnium, in 1608 that described travel to the Moon and great detail about his moon observations. The travelers are helped to get there by a demon. He covers Copernicus' theory of the cosmos (from the Moon's perspective) and the dangers of space travel, "including solar radiation, freezing temperatures, and lack of oxygen." (P 221)

Other fictions
Rudolf E Raspe (1785) "Baron Munchhausen's Narrative of his Marvelous Travels and Campaigns in Russia
Jules Verne (1865) "Around the Moon"
Georges Meilies (1902) "A Trip to the Moon"

Fascinating to read when the Moon started to become more sinister symbol (Romantic era) in Euro culture.

[Rob Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a perfect combination of two disciplines to cover such a scientifically significant and historically wonderous subject. Flush with interesting geological facts and deeply knowledgeable of the timelessness of the lunar motif. If you're looking for a top-level book that can give you a solid overview of human's relationship with the Moon, this is a very good place to start. The artwork is wonderfully chosen to represent our fascination from a distance and when juxtaposed with actual photographs from the surface of the moon, the effect is compounded.

Artists looking for inspiration, you'll find something I promise.

[Sean McNulty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid read through with plenty of beautiful pieces of lunar artistry and imagery. I’d say the organization is a bit wonky at some points and the ending essay pages while appreciated, felt like an afterthought in the general curation of the book. Really, if I were to say anything else that could be seems critical, it would be that I wanted to have more context on the topics being brought up. More discussion on so many of the compelling images curated for this book. But ain’t that just the way, right? A fun casual read though for anyone who’s looking to learn more about our nearest neighbor!

[Sergio Hernández Montiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro interesante sobre la figura de la luna que aborda su figura desde varias perspectivas: el arte, el mito, la astronomia, los viajes a la luna...

Se lee fácil y rápido y es una lectura muy agradable.

[TammyJo Eckhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a total lunar eclipse coming up I tackled this heavy book. I was thrilled by the images ranging from drawings to statues to photographs to movie clips and book covers and more. The tiny text beneath each gave good information but have your glasses on hand or a magnifier on hand. The images are from around the world and across time.

Between the images are 33 mini essays, most only a page but a couple 2+ pages. At the end is an oddly out of place 8 more essays that rehash a lot of the same information or expands on the shorter essays. These really needed to be moved into the rest of the book giving it 41 essays between images. I'd also rearrange the essays so the topics flow more smoothly.

As wonderful as the images are, this book has a similar problem to another photo book I recently read -- the images do not align with the text of the essays. As I read I kept finding images that would have been better places pages before according to their subject and the tiny text accompanying them.

You can just ignore the text and enjoy the images or flip back and forth but this could have been improved by objective and user focused editing and organization.

[Sanjay Rajan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book deals with the human connection with the Moon by looking through art, culture and science. It has a lot of Paintings with Moon as the main theme or in the backdrop and also facts about Moon in different cultures. A Good Coffee Table book it can be!