About this book
An entertaining, often surprising cultural examination of Earth’s moon, through history, science, and literature, from ancient times to the present
Werewolves and Wernher von Braun, Stonehenge and the sex lives of sea corals, aboriginal myths, and an Anglican bishop: In his new book, Moon, Bernd Brunner weaves variegated information into an enchanting glimpse of Earth’s closest celestial neighbor, whose mere presence inspires us to wonder what might be “out there.”
Going beyond the discoveries of contemporary science, Brunner presents an unusual cultural assessment of our complex relationship with Earth’s lifeless, rocky satellite. As well as offering an engaging perspective on such age-old questions as “What would Earth be like without the moon?” Brunner surveys the moon’s mythical and religious significance and provokes existential soul-searching through a lunar lens, inquiring, “Forty years ago, the first man put his footprint on the moon. Will we continue to use it as the screen onto which we cast our hopes and fears?”
Drawing on materials from different cultures and epochs, Brunner walks readers down a moonlit path illuminated by more than seventy-five vintage photographs and illustrations. From scientific discussions of the moon’s origins and its “chronobiological” effects on the mating and feeding habits of animals to an illuminating interpretation of Bishop Francis Godwin’s 1638 novel The Man in the Moone, Brunner’s ingenious and interdisciplinary explorations recast a familiar object in an entirely original and unforgettable light and will change the way we view the nighttime sky.
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Information
Table of contents
- Contents
- Introduction
- CHAPTER ONE. Gazing at the Moon
- CHAPTER TWO. Moon of the Mind
- CHAPTER THREE. Charting the Moonscape
- CHAPTER FOUR. Pale Sun of the Night
- CHAPTER FIVE. Encounters of a Lunar Kind
- CHAPTER SIX. Lunar Passion in Paris
- CHAPTER SEVEN. Accounts of Genesis
- CHAPTER EIGHT. A Riddled Surface
- CHAPTER NINE. Lunar Choreography
- CHAPTER TEN. Esoteric Practices
- CHAPTER ELEVEN. Spurious Correspondences
- CHAPTER TWELVE. Visions of the Moon
- CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Before and After Apollo
- Epilogue. Moon Melancholia
- Bibliographic Essay
- Acknowledgments
- Illustration Credits
- Index