The Moon captivates our collective imagina tion\, serving as a calendar\, a mythic deity\, an artistic muse\, and a s cientific frontier. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum curator Matt hew Shindell delves into his book\, Lunar: A History of the Moon in My ths\, Maps\, and Matter.
\nPresident John F. Kennedy&rsquo\;s r ousing &ldquo\;We will go to the Moon&rdquo\; speech in 1961 before the US Congress catalyzed the celebrated Apollo program\, spurring the US Geolog ical Survey&rsquo\;s scientists to map the Moon. Over the next eleven year s a team of twenty-two\, including a dozen illustrator-cartographers\, cre ated forty-four charts that helped set the course of space exploration.
\nFor the first time\, each of those beautifully hand-drawn\, colorful charts is presented together in one stunning book. In Lunar\, Ma tthew Shindell&rsquo\;s expert commentary accompanies each chart\, along w ith the key geological characteristics and interpretations that were set o ut in the original Geologic Atlas of the Moon. \;
\nInterwoven t hroughout the book are contributions from scholars devoted to studying the multifaceted significance of the Moon to humankind around the world. Trav eling from the Stone Age to the present day\, they explore a wide range of topics: the prehistoric lunar calendar\; the role of the Moon in creation myths of Ancient Egypt\, Greece\, and Rome\; the role of the Moon in astr ology\; the importance of the Moon in establishing an Earth-centered solar system\; the association of the Moon with madness and the menstrual cycle \; how the Moon governs the tides\; and the use of the Moon in surrealist art.
\nMatthew Shindell is a historian of science and technology who se work focuses on the exploration of the Earth\, Moon\, and planets and t he research programs that made this exploration possible. He is a Space Hi story Curator at the Smithsonian&rsquo\;s National Air and Space Museum\, and the co-host of the Museum's podcast\, AirSpace. \;Shindell holds a Ph.D. from the University of California\, San Diego's History Department and Science Studies Program. He also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop. He is the author of \;For the Love of Mars: A Human History of the Red Planet  (2023 ) and The Life and Science of Harold C. Urey (2019)\, coaut hor of Spaceships (2023)\, Our Future in Space (2023)\, and Discerning Experts (2019)\, edi tor of \;LUNAR: A History of the Moon in Myths\, Maps\, and Matter \, and co-editor of Smithsonian American Women  (2019).  \;
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