The Moon - Oliver Morton ****

Like most amateur astronomers, as a teenager I found the Moon by far the most rewarding subject for observation with my little telescope. Stars remained just points. The planets showed little detail. But the Moon became a landscape I could explore. Reading Oliver Morton's book brought back that feeling of fascination with our nearest neighbour in space, an engagement that was intensified for me by the book's exploration of the Apollo programme and Morton's regular excursions into science fiction references, most notably a lengthy stroll through Heinlein's classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

There's a lot to like here, whether it's Morton's description of the cramped conditions in the lunar module, the consideration of the collision that is thought to have caused the Moon to be formed or the lyrical, almost polemical exploration of the sadness felt by those who witnessed the Apollo 11 landing and assumed it was a beginning of something wonderful, not an ending. There's also a very realistic take on the practical difficulties of having any kind of financially self-sustaining Moon colony.

There are some negatives. Some parts of the text are a little dull - going on too long about reflected light from the two bodies, the thin fact splurge sections and some tangential material that has little to do with the Moon itself. Morton's style can have a portentous tone that veers into the irritating when there seems to be a deliberate attempt at artiness, such as 'Energy comes down from the sky, energy goes back out to the sky, energy makes no difference worth the telling in between.' or 'They have no more relevance to the shape of the surface they sit on than the trace of a kiss has to the contours of the cheek.'

One last moan - I really didn't get the little right justified (hence almost unreadable) snippets of text that now and then cropped up mid sentence for no obvious reason. It just spoiled the flow.

The complaints, though, are essentially stylistic. There's loads of good material in here from a journalist who has spent a lot of time dealing with space topics (even though he's an editor for the Economist). The Moon is usually ignored, if not cursed for being irritatingly bright by professional astronomers - but Morton reminds us what an important part of our night sky and our culture it forms.

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Review by Brian Clegg

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