This book...is testimony to the dangerous effects of staring at the moon ... This book is a moon primer, loaded with technical detail that is kindly processed for the layman. The moon, we learn, is dark like tarmac, with only slight variations on shades of grey. It reflects only 12 per cent of the sunlight that hits it, yet that’s enough to produce its enthralling luminosity. It smells like wet ashes ... The moon is an empty vessel into which we pour our hopes, dreams, ambitions and animosities ... I have read almost everything written about the lunar missions, yet I have never encountered a book that captures so perfectly and so lyrically the ridiculous power that the moon holds over human sensibility. This is a beautiful book about Luna — a 'Moon of many stories, Moon as might be and Moon as always was, Moon longed for and Moon happened upon'. It exposes the magnificent desolation of the lunar quest, yet still captures the beguiling hold that the moon has over all of us. Well, most of us. Not me.
...brilliant and compelling. Morton is a high-octane British science journalist, and every chapter is littered with material that strikes, amazes or haunts ... Only one chapter is explicitly about the Apollo missions, but it is superb. And original ... It should be clear that this is an unusually thoughtful and well-written science book. It is almost lyrical, even if Morton does call the tech billionaire Musk a 'prick' at one priceless and entirely accurate moment ... this is a book filled not just with a lifetime’s knowledge of its subject but with a lifetime’s suppressed excitement. Only four of the people who have walked on the moon are still alive, Morton reminds us. They will be 'heavily outnumbered', he predicts, by those who will soon follow.
Morton blends a profound grasp of astrophysical technicalities with a gift for precise, often poetic prose. He has equally rich insight into the philosophical implications of outer space upon human lives and in The Moon he has left no stone unturned in drawing out its psychological significances ... Morton is very good at the basic Newtonian physics associated with moon motion ... Morton does a great job of recovering the excitement – and, for their time, astonishing technical accomplishments – of the various Apollo missions.
...wide-ranging, and...entertaining ... The book is a collection of essays that examines all those aspects of the Moon, and more, and does so in a way that will be thought-provoking even for those familiar with those topics ... each chapter is an adventure in and of itself ... on the page it flows smoothly from one section to the next, a curious writer guiding the reader along a path that brings them back to the beginning, enlightened ... [Morton's] ambivalence about our future on the Moon, and the role of the Moon in our future, is made clear in a passage late in the book, after an examination of the Moon’s place in science fiction ... Although it may be retro, it’s clear the Moon is still inspirational for many, including Morton, who still believe—or at least hope—it is a part of humanity’s future, in one manner or another.
...[an] elegant tribute to the intimate relationship between humanity and Earth’s natural satellite. The narrative is nonlinear, as Mr. Morton freely pursues relevant associations with the topic at hand. His prose is well-honed, if occasionally breathless, and adds a lyrical dimension to chapters on lunar properties and phenomena ... Although his explanation of the tides is condensed to the point of opaqueness, Mr. Morton elaborates on historical beliefs about the physical nature of the lunar surface and whether the moon might be inhabited.
...[Morton] makes the convincing case that there’s no more important object above our heads — other than the sun ... Morton’s science writing is compelling and clear. Sections on the formation of the moon and the history of lunar science are engrossing, if sometimes excessively detailed .... Morton...has a gift for synthesizing science, technology and culture. His chapter on the Apollo landing captures its historic importance and the might of the craft’s rocket engines.... Small, unexpected details are just as wondrous, like the 'tissue-thin aluminium walls' of the lunar module that 'flexed in and out' under fluctuating air pressure and revelations about the astronauts’ spacesuits. They are 'made of soft fabrics sewn together by women working with Singer sewing machines not unlike those found in half the houses of America, working not for a defense contractor but for the International Latex Corporation, makers of Playtex bras and girdles.' .... As surely as The Moon reflects back on Earth, it also looks to the stars.
...[Morton] has written not just a very good book about the Moon but even more admirably, a different one. It is good because it is superbly well-written and enjoyably organised. It is different because it looks beyond Apollo towards the future: the Moonbase as a technological challenge, an economic gamble and as a testbed for the much more dangerous missions to Mars ... [Morton] brings an enviable knowledge of science-fiction literature to focus on the uneasy futures we imagine for this hostile homestead-to-be ... Finally he brings a reporter’s direct experience of encounters with tomorrow’s lunarnauts ... [a] mix of forthrightness and observation is part of what makes the book a pleasure to read.
An engaging, multifaceted view of the moon ... Morton...provides an account that is not only rich in facts, but leavened with fiction, for the author seems to have read widely in the literature of science fiction to show the interest, ideas, and fantasies people have had about our nearest companion in the solar system ... Accessible, informative, and entertaining—first-rate popular science reporting.
