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This year marks the 50th Anniversary of humanity first landing on the moon. To celebrate this Oliver Morton will be here at Blackwell’s, in conversation with Caspar Henderson, to discuss his new book, The Moon: A History for the Future.
Every generation has looked up from the Earth and wondered at the beauty of the Moon. 50 years ago, a few Americans became the first to do the reverse-with the whole world watching through their eyes. In this short but wide-ranging book, Oliver Morton explores the history and future of humankind’s relationship with the Moon. A counterpoint in the sky, it has shaped our understanding of the Earth from Galileo to Apollo. Its gentle light has spoken of love and loneliness; its battered surface of death and the cosmic. For some, it is a future on which humankind has turned its back. For others, an adventure yet to begin. Advanced technologies, new ambitions and old dreams mean that men, women and robots now seem certain to return to the Moon. What will they learn there about the universe, the Earth-and themselves? And, this time, will they stay?
Oliver Morton is Environment Editor of the Economist, having formerly been Chief News Editor of Nature and Editor-in-Chief of Wired. He is the author of Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World and Eating the Sun: How Light Powers the Planet and has written for many publications, including Nature, the Independent, National Geographic, the New Yorker, Newsweek, Prospect, and Wired. Asteroid 10716 Olivermorton is named for him.
Caspar Henderson is a writer and journalist. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Independent, New Scientist, the New York Review of Books, and other publications. From 2002 to 2005 he was a senior editor at OpenDemocracy. He received the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors in 2009 and the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award in 2010. He is the author of ‘The Book of Barely Imagined Beings’, a bestiary for the 21st Century, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.
This is a free event, but please do register if you plan on attending. The event will take place in our Philosophy Department, which is accessible via a short flight or stairs. Seat are allocated on a first come, first served basis. For more information please contact our Customer Service Desk on 01865 333 623 or email [email protected]