Resource for All!!

Originally published April 22, 2005

Image Credit: Lunar & Planetary Institute

Resource for All!!

Few books about the Moon go into a second printing. The typical lunar book is lovingly written, laidout and published, and then when the small print run is finally sold out, the book is gone forever. But the miracle of digitization and CDs makes it possible for classic lunar books to be resurrected and made widely available to new audiences at low prices. And fortunately, that is what has just happened to Lunar Sourcebook - A Users Guide to the Moon, a 15 year old technical compendium of lunar science and engineering data. The Sourcebook was written to summurize what had been learned largely from Apollo. No future lunar missions were on the drawing boards, and many of the scientists involved with Apollo were leaving the nearly dead field of lunar science. Like science fiction stories of survivers of a cultural devastation recording knowledge to jumpstart future civilizations after the inevitable dark ages, Lunar Sourcebook was written as a starting point for a future generation of lunar scientists. The fact that the Sourcebook is being made available again (thank you, Lunar & Planetary Institute!) reflects the hope that the new missions to the Moon by India, Japan, China, Europe and the USA will lead to a rebirth of lunar exploration. Three used hardback copies of the Lunar Sourcebook sell on Amazon for $341 to $399. Because of such prices and the fact that it is a tough, technical read, I previously would only recommend it to the most dedicated amateurs. But now as a $20 CD, available to anyone (no longer must you be NASA funded to buy the CD), it is great reference for any serious lunar student.