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Should you yearn for the definitive book on the Moon, Paul Spudis’s The Once
and Future Moon (Smithsonian Institution Press, £23.25, ISBN 1 56098 634
4) fits the bill perfectly. It’s a history of Moon exploration from the time of
Galileo all the way to the 1994 Clementine survey which discovered ice there.
Included is an explanation of the Big Whack theory of the planet’s origin and a
powerful plea for crewed expeditions to start up again, culminating in Moon
colonies and mines. Scientific benefits could be spectacular: for instance,
telescopes on the Moon’s far side would command incomparable views of the
Universe.