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Back to the Moon: The Next Giant Leap for Humankind by Joseph Silk; Princeton University Press (Nov. 2022); 304 pages; Hardcover: $29.95.

As somebody that has survived his own close encounter with writing a Moon book, I salute Joseph Silks account of laying out a lunar vision for the next five decades.

“Lunar exploration will be humanity’s first serious step into space, and establishing habitable faciliti8es on our nearest neighbor in space will be the gateway to a new age of exploration,” the author notes in the book’s preface.

This book features a solid 10 chapters covering the new space race to the Moon, along with such topics as robots and humans, survival, internationalization and what’s ahead next century.

Silk is Bloomberg Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University and a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris and the Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at the University of Oxford. His many books include The Big Bang, The Infinite Cosmos: Questions from the Frontiers of Cosmology, and On the Shores of the Unknown: A Short History of the Universe.

In his sweeping and informative prose, Silk takes on the use of lunar telescopes of unparalleled size on the far side of the Moon. Those “lunar hyperscopes” can seek out profound answers as to are we are alone in the Universe and what our cosmic origins are. The Moon is unique in providing humanity with a huge “spacelike platform” to deep dive into such matters.

The chapter on “Survival” is quite foreboding. Think asteroid impact, global warming, thermonuclear holocaust, even genetic engineering and nanotechnology run amok. “When we consider the prospects for humanity over the much longer term, we should question the notion of permanent setbacks to intelligent life,” Silk explains.

“Collaboration or conflict on the Moon is treated by the author, flagging issues that could trigger “Lunar War 1,” he says. “We want to avoid a replay of territorial disputes as well as anything like the terrestrial piracy wars. Historically, the breakdown of law and order has created immense problems for terrestrial society. Let’s avoid this on the Moon.”

The reader will enjoy this forward thinking book and what lies ahead for lunar development.

Back to the Moon: The Next Giant Leap for Humankind contains helpful notes on each chapter as well as an informative bibliography.

For more information on this book, go to:

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691215235/back-to-the-moon