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"“Moon: A Brief History” is filled with lunar factoids like these: how the Moon formed four and a half billion years ago, probably when a Mars-size body collided with Earth and threw off a disk of material that eventually coalesced into an orbital partner; how what we call the dark side is not actually dark; and how over the centuries people invented telescopes and other instruments to view the Moon, and what they saw. But the book, and its wide variety of illustrations from classical texts, science fiction and other sources, describes not just the history of the celestial body but the ways it inspired the human imagination to take flight, fueled, as Proust put it, by “the ancient unalterable splendor of a Moon cruelly and mysteriously serene. ... As with the bear, what fascinates him here is the relationship between people and his subject. So we learn, for example, that old clocks show the phases of the Moon as well as the time because before electricity people relied on moon light to travel in the evening." Cornelia Dean, THE NEW YORK TIMES "(An) elegant cultural history ... Brunner ably dispatches recent science (the current hypothesis is that the moon was born of high-speed collision between the Earth and a proto-planet about the size of Mars) and takes us on a lively tour of lunar folklore and speculative fiction." "In Bernd Brunner's .... volume dealing with the moon, we are plunged immediately into a fascinating tour of the moon in ancient cultures. ... well written, ... full of fascinating bits of information." "Brunner's book ... provides a nimble, fast-moving survey of the silvery moon's impact upon us and our world. Brunner looks at the moon's influence upon tides, of course, and also its place in early psychology, the occult, popular culture and as a necessary first step on humanity's journey to Mars." "Imagine if we had no moon. The night sky would be cold and dark, and Pink Floyd would have had that much less to sing about. Bernd Brunner serves up a learned but fluently written almanac of things lunar, with less emphasis on the science of the whirling orb than on the uses we have made of it in art, literature, folklore and the imagination over time." One of "10 Must-Have Reference Books of 2010 that also make great gifts" "Astronomers, geologists, rocketeers and space jockeys all have a practical interest in the Moon, but earthbound mortals look up and project all their fears and fantasies on to its pale surface. Without it our tides would not ebb and flow, our poetry would be the poorer, our nights would be dark and we would not believe in werewolves baying in the fullness of its face. We know perfectly well that the Moon is a cold, rocky, lifeless little satellite, but where’s the romance in that? Brunner shows how it has shone silver though our dreams and destinies. It is the inspiration for myths and marvels and may be a kicking-off point for a further jump into space." "Brunner's perky cultural history - of the Moon in superstition, song, and indeed science - encompasses many wonderful things both imaginary (inhabitants including man-bats or cat-women) and actual (strange lights known as "lunar transient phenomena", or the burial on the Moon of an American geologist's ashes). ... I was particularly taken by the tale of an Italian writer who proposed, in the 16th century, that writing could be projected on to the Moon using a giant mirror. Happily it was unfeasible, or the Moon would now be covered in adverts." "Many books cover moon science; many others concentrate on the mythology, folklore, and cultural aspects surrounding it. Brunner's does this and more, giving readers a thorough, entertaining look at people as much as at the moon. ... A valuable book for anyone with an interest in Earth's companion. Highly recommended." “Brunner encapsulates this sense of mystery about the moon in a relative short and accessible work. A useful introduction to its cultural history.” “Moon is an enjoyable romp through the various fields of lunar lore, including its history as an object of curiosity, worship, and study. Fun and fast-paced!”—Paul D. Spudis, author of The Once and Future Moon "An intriguing literary expedition to our nearest neighbor in space."—Patricia Fara, author of Science: A Four Thousand Year History "This appealing little volume must surely be the most eccentric book of the year." “The book is a tour de force on the relationship between man and the moon, giving equal attention to science, poetry, and mythology, while still including a welcome body of miscellanea. It quickly becomes clear that the scientific history of the moon is inseparable from the popular ideas of its composition and also that now and then even serious scientists develop especially curious projections far in advance of literary fantasy when describing the lunar inhabitants.” "In his magnificent new book Bernd Brunner has entered into the orbit of the heavenly satellite and followed its stories in fiction and science through the centuries. … The fact that his presentation doesn't have the character of a scientific textbook, but rather that of a wondrous storybook can be put down to Brunner's basic thesis, which simultaneously governs his selections: the moon, he says, has always had something to do with humans. … Bernd Brunner writes in an entertaining and yet informative style. Complex phenomena are made clear to the layperson. He is the ideal nonfiction writer because his ability to transform a cultural history into a history of a mentality. He has published five nonfiction books on completely varied topics. They arose out of questions that a child could have asked, if only because the adults are often too busy for such matters. How did the ocean come home? Who invented the Christmas tree? Where do bears come from and what is their relationship with humans? What brought German immigrants to America?"
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MOON: A BRIEF HISTORY