Books like The Face of the Moon — picked by fans

This book by Paul Spudis is scientifically accurate and well-written for any proverbial intelligent layperson to enjoy. Paul’s (sadly, now a name on a crater near the lunar south pole) book is a popular introduction to the Moon 4.5 billion history, describing its catastrophic formation, its strange landforms and their geology, and especially the exploration by robotic spacecraft and Apollo astronauts – all of which Paul was involved with. In his lunar column for Smithsonian Magazine, Paul perfected his knack for revealing the fascinating history of the Moon and the reasons for humans to return. And now, 50 years since the last Apollo astronaut left the Moon, women and men will return starting this decade. You need to read The Once and Future Moon to be prepared - maybe prepared to go yourself.

Subtitled A Geologist’s History of Lunar Exploration, Don Wilhelms is every lunar scientist’s favorite selenographer. He worked from the very beginning of America’s lunar program to plan and prepare for humans to go to the Moon, including training geologists to map and understand an alien nearby world, and training fighter pilot astronauts to become extraterrestrial field geologists. To a Rocky Moon is Don’s comprehensive and entertaining story from an insider’s point of view of the officials, scientists, engineers, and astronauts who solved thousands of problems to successfully voyage to the Moon six times, and to survive one nearly disastrous aborted attempt. 

I especially like Don’s telling of the personalities of the people involved, nearly all of whom he knew and worked with. Virtually everyone struggled at some point but ultimately became a hero – or got out of the way – in learning about the Moon and getting us… show more.

Epic Moon tells the stories of the often odd characters and their thoughts about the Moon in the 400 years before Apollo. Although Galileo and one or two other early astronomers found evidence that the Moon did not hold water or air, the search for life and changes such as volcanic eruptions, light flashes, insect migrations, vegetation growth, and lunar cities dominated most lunar mapping and telescopic exploration and interpretation. The observers weren’t crazy, the Moon was completely alien, but humans understood only what was known on Earth. Terrestrial impact craters were not recognized until the early 1900s and the origins of many were still doubted into the 1960s. The fundamental discoveries starting with Galileo, skipping to Mädler in the 1830s, and Shoemaker and Baldwin in the 1950s, finally reached a firmament of understanding after Apollo when scientists established the new disciplines of lunar and planetary science.

Women have been involved in mapping and studying the Moon and the stars since the late 1600s. Women’s stories have almost never been told largely because most cultures considered women only as helpmeets, and because women scientists could only publish their work under their husband’s or brother’s names. Altschuler and Ballesteros, award-winning Puerto Rican and Spanish male astronomers, have selected the 28 women pioneer astronomers whose names graced lunar craters by 2019 to tell representative stories of hardship and success of woman astronomers and promoters. Although women's names are rare on the Moon, it is fitting that for Venus all the features are named for women and goddesses. 

I end by mentioning that since 2019 five more lunar craters honor women. Many more women are studying the Moon and the rest of the universe than ever before, and a woman will be on the next American mission to the Moon.… show more.

As explorers carrying cameras, the Gemini and Apollo astronauts (1965-72) were like the pioneer photographers of the 19th century who, with their cameras, responded to the unknowns of the American West. These astronauts, however, were responding to the new and unexplored by photographing their experiences inside their spacecraft and outside in the vacuum of space. During the late 90s the photographer Michael Light gained access to NASA’s Apollo-era photo archive and made the first drum-scanned digital files from perfect copies of the original flight films. Light’s artful editing and juxtaposition of superbly reproduced full-page black and white, and color images creates a cinematic-like journey to the moon and back. In the annals of published space photography, there are very few well-designed books as timeless.

I absolutely adore this book for a few key reasons. I fell in love with the premise of a lonely Moon on the lookout for new friends--who hasn’t felt that way before? The author does an incredible job of weaving in facts about the first modes of transportation while keeping the book fun and relatable to children. The illustrations are beautiful and by the end of the book you’ll definitely be rooting for Moon to get her first visitors.

I love to get kids excited about the night time and all the adventures that can be had when exploring the outdoors at night. Watching the moon is something kids can do even in a city filled with bright lights. This book focuses on the moon as the seasons go by, with the unique names for each full moon—Strawberry Moon, Cold Moon, Harvest Moon. Moon-gazing is the first step in getting kids to feel comfortable outdoors after the sun goes down.

This is one of my all-time favourite books I used to read to my children at bedtime.

It has all the beauty of a completely stylized, detailed, and yet seemingly believable world both on earth and on the moon, yet includes aliens! I think the marriage of story and pictures works perfectly, with the reader finding aliens on every page, seemingly unbeknown to the writer!

It makes for fantastic squeals of delight as children find aliens, more seeming to appear on each consecutive read. I think it’s a great book to let the imagination run as well as stimulating conversations about what really might be on the moon. Brilliant!

The title pretty much speaks for itself—I mean, who wouldn’t want to have their birthday party on the Moon? And what would it be like? This book makes the perfect birthday gift (or anytime gift!) for any child questioning what it’s like on the Moon. The reader discovers what it’s like to swing at a pinata in low gravity, make moon-angels, and discover what happens to candles and balloons in Moon’s atmosphere. There are tons of facts about space woven throughout the book, as well as a glossary of terms at the end.

I am old enough to remember the first lunar landing. I watched it as it happened, on a black-and-white TV screen. I was intrigued by the notion that we, here on Earth, would someday be in conflict with people who were born and raised on the Moon. It’s almost inevitable that you will eventually argue with your neighbors. This novel marks the first occasion that I can recall reading about how such a conflict might start. Even if I do live long enough to see humans walk on the moon again, I will still be thinking about this book.