Moon (eBook)

Nature and Culture

Edgar Williams (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2014 | 1. Auflage
224 Seiten
Reaktion Books (Verlag)
978-1-78023-321-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Long before a rocket hit the Man in the Moon in the eye in Georges Mlis's early film Le Voyage dans la Lune, the earth's lone satellite had entranced humans. We have worshipped it as a deity, believed it to cause madness, used it as a means of organizing time, and we now know that it manipulates the tides—our understanding of the moon continues to evolve. Following the moon from its origins to its rich cultural resonance in literature, art, religion, and politics, Moon provides a comprehensive account of the significance of our lunar companion.

Edgar Williams explores the interdependence of the Earth and the moon, not only the possibility that life on Earth would not be viable without the moon, but also the way it has embedded itself in culture. In addition to delving into roles the moon has played in literature from science fiction and comics to poetry, he examines how Elizabeth I was worshipped as the moon goddess Diana, the moon's place in folklore and astrology, and humanity's long-standing dream of inhabiting its surface. Filled with entertaining anecdotes, this book is the kind of succinct, witty, and informative look at everything lunar that only comes around once in a blue moon.

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Since humans first gazed upward, the moon has hung in the sky virtually unchanged, entrancing generations of poets, artists and scientists. Once worshipped as a deity, often thought to cause madness, now known to manipulate our tides and much else besides, humanity’s relationship with the moon has been ever-changing; the one constant has been our continued fascination with it. Moon gives a comprehensive account of our lunar companion’s significance, tracing its origins out of a collision with Earth and following its rich cultural resonance in the worlds of literature, art, religion and politics.The moon’s story is also humanity’s own story: it gave humans the ability to organize time, dividing the year into months and ordaining the dates of festivals such as Easter, Ramadan and the Chinese New Year. Its moderating effect on the earth’s spin could mean that without the moon life may never have been able to evolve. Edgar Williams shows how the interdependence of moon and Earth also finds its unwitting parallel in the realm of culture, where the moon has constantly found it itself embedded in our preoccupations, whether in the worship of Elizabeth I as Diana, moon goddess, or in the long-lived dream that humans will one day populate its surface.Moon tells a succinct, witty and informative tale of everything lunar, filled with entertaining anecdotes about what the moon has meant to us. For sky-gazers everywhere, Moon is not to be missed.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.10.2014
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Natur / Ökologie
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Weltraum / Astronomie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Technik
• ISBN-10: 1-78023-321-3 / 1780233213
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78023-321-5 / 9781780233215