To a Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration
As the era of manned lunar exploration recedes further into history, first-hand accounts by the principals involved in the Apollo program continue to flesh out contemporaneous and official accounts with insiders' details never before available. Wilhelms's delightful and authoritative entry joins the ranks of recent memoirs by planetary scientist Bruce Murray ( Journey into Space, LJ 7/89), astronauts Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin ( Liftoff, LJ 3/1/89; Men from Earth, LJ 6/15/89), and the superb engineering/management perspective provided by Charles Murray and Catherine Cox ( Apollo: The Race to the Moon, LJ 6/15/89). A former specialist in stratigraphy lunar mapping with the U.S. Geological Survey, Wilhelms tells the story of how his fellow scientists came to develop an understanding of the Moon's geological history both during pre-space age era of telescopic observation and through the arrival of the 12 astronauts who actually walked the lunar surface. Of particular interest are the chapters detailing how the Moon rocks brought to Earth provided the evidence needed to determine how the Moon's surface features were created, whether its interior is hot or cold, and how the Moon originated. As both a personal memoir and a general introduction to what science came out of Apollo, this book is highly recommended for public and academic libraries.- Thomas J. Frieling, Bainbridge Coll. , Ga.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.