Book review: Lunar: A History of the Moon in Myths, Maps + Matter, by Matthew Shindell (consultant editor)

Jon Trevelyan (UK)

Last week, I published a book review of The Trilobite Collector’s Guide, by Andy Secher, in which I suggested that it was a great choice for a Christmas present for those who like geology. I think the same could be said for this (but it’s not all geology). Once again, it has a coffee table book feel, but once again, it is much, much more.

With a forward by Dava Sobel (who wrote the excellent book Longitude), it takes the same format as the book, STRATA: William Smith’s Geological Maps, which I reviewed a while ago and liked very much. Both books are large (27 × 2.8 × 37cm), which allows for the illustrations to really speak for themselves, but probably prevents it from ever being read cover to cover. Rather, they are both excellent books for dipping in any out of, either for a specific read or just to look at the lovely pictures.

The background to the book is that, after Project Apollo started effectively after President Kennedy announced in 1961 the intention to go to the moon, scientists at the US Geological Survey started carrying out geological mapping of the Moon. And, over the next 11 years, a team of 22 people created 44 wonderful charts – one for each named quadrangle on the Earthside of the Moon. (And these quadrangles have been given some great names: J. Herschel, Plato, Aritstoteles, Rümker, Sinus Iridum, Cassini, Eudoxus, Geminus, Seleucus Aristarchus, Timocharis, Montes Apenninus, Mare Serenitatus, Macrobius, and others.)

However, the point to note is that these maps were hand-drawn and hand-coloured. And in this book, these are reproduced and accompanied by expert analysis and interpretation by Smithsonian science curator, Matthew Shindell, who is the consultant editor.

But it is not just those geological maps that the book contains. It seems that the Moon has been a fascination to man since the beginning, so the book has chapters on the symbolic and mythical associations that the Moon has. For example, as the book makes clear, the Moon was crucial to prehistoric man in the creation of a calendar. And it played a key role in ancient creation myths and astrology, and it has often been associated with madness (note the words lunar and lunatic). In this way, every mythical and cultural association of the Moon throughout history is explored, culminating in the 1969 Moon landing.

To achieve this, the book also includes chapters written by experts in their fields. I have set out below lists of these chapters (the categorisation is mine), which I hope shows how wide the book’s coverage is.

Science The Artemis Missions, by Emily A Margolis The Far Side of the Moon, by Emily S Martin How the Moon Governs the Tides, by Giles Sparrow Understanding the Phases of the Moon, by Giles Sparrow The Theory of Lunar Eclipses, by Giles Sparrow The Moon and a Geocentric Universe, by Samantha Thompson Lunar Photography – Opportunity and Challenge, by David H DeVorkin A Paper Moon – Cartes de Visite, by Ian Haydn Smith

Anthropology and history The Moon in Ancient Egyptian Creation Myths, by Jennifer Houser Wegner The First Moon Race – Luna versus Pioneer, by Michael J Neufeld ‘Selling’ the Moon in the 1950s, by Michael J Neufeld The Feminine Symbolism of the Moon, by Elisabetta Fabrizi The Symbolism of the Moon in Astrology, by Nicholas Campion ‘The Moon is my Mother’ – Lakota Perspectives, by Suzanne Kite The Prehistoric Lunar Calendar, by Matthew Shindell The Moon in Ancient Greek and Roman Myth, by Karen ní Mheallaigh The Apollo Programme, by Teasel Muir-Harmony ‘Moonstruck’ – Lunacy and the Full Moon, by Kate Golembiewski Early Telescopic Studies of the Moon, by Giles Sparrow Mayan Lunar Astrology, by Gerardo Aldana The Female Cycle and the Moon, by Rhianna Elliot

The creative arts Contemporary Artists and the Moon, by Melanie Vandenbrouck Surrealists and the Moon, by Melanie Vandenbrouck The Cinematic Moon, by Ian Haydn Smith The Moon in Silent Cinema, by Ian Haydn Smith The Moon in Popular Science Books, by Alexandra Loske The Moon in Literature and Fiction, by Alexandra Loske Moonscapes – The Moon in 19th-Century Painting, by Hélène Valance

There is also, of course, the required glossary, by Matthew Shindell.

I’ll conclude with a review from no lesser source than the BBC Sky at Night, which puts it rather well:

Colourful and brilliantly presented … containing everything you would want to know about the Moon. Lunar can be opened again and again, with a guarantee that you’ll find something new each time among its pages “

About the author. Matthew Shindell is a historian of science whose work focuses on the history of the Earth and planetary sciences. He is the curator of Planetary Science at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and co-hosts the Museum’s podcast, AirSpace. He received his PhD in the History of Science from the University of California, San Diego, and has taught at the University of Southern California and Harvard University.

As I say, this could be a great present this Christmas for someone close.

Lunar: A History of the Moon in Myths, Maps + Matter, by Matthew Shindell (consultant editor), Thames and Hudson Ltd, London (2024), hardcover (256 pages), ISBN: 978-0-500027141