Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are by Rebecca Boyle

This thought-provoking book is about the Moon and our connections to over millennia. The theories about how the Moon probably came to be are described, and there is lots of focus on how it helped us keep track of the seasons, tell calendar time, with descriptions of a number of monuments highlighting the Moon. Lighting the night sky was important, then learning the effect of the Moon on tides, mythology, Moon worship, early Moon viewing, lunar and solar eclipses are all covered. Moon exploration and possible near future exploitation are also topics. This book was a leisurely and engaging read for me. Part of it was read while looking forward to the total solar eclipse on April 8, in which the Moon gave us an opportunity to view the Sun’s corona. Here are a couple of photos from the eclipse, taken in Putnam County, Indiana, where you could also see Jupiter and Venus.

Lost Moon

Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger

Published in 1994, this is the true story of the Apollo 13 Moon mission that almost resulted in tragedy; a compelling read by Astronaut Jim Lovell. It was interesting to see how different challenges and solutions were presented differently in the popular 1995 film Apollo 13. Readalikes include Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz and Rocket Men by Robert Kurson about Apollo 8, Lovell’s first mission to the Moon.

Brenda