Too many cloudy nights here but the benefit is another of my IMO (In My Opinion) book reviews. This book, Discover the Moon, is less of a cosy up in a warm bed and read into the wee hours of the night book, but more of an excellent beginners book for observing the Moon.
There are a lot reasons to love Discover the Moon by Jean Lacroux and Christian Legrand as your first entry into exploring the Moon with all its wonders. The book is small enough to fit into an eyepiece case. There are only 135+ pages in the book and packed with plenty of photos. It is not a geology or lunar scientific tome but gives you enough information to whet your appetite for more about the Moon. The inside front cover has an image of the Moon as seen through a refractor and the inside back cover has an image of the Moon as seen through a reflector. Binocular users are not let out either, the inside back cover a can be turned upside down for the view of the Moon as seen through binoculars.
The main feature, for me, of Discover the Moon is its layout. You are treated to a day by day, read night by night, tour of the Moon at the terminator. Each evening, on facing pages, you are presented with images on how the features look in a refractor and the opposite page has an image of the same area as seen with a reflector. The features are clearly marked and there is a short and descriptive text that accompanies them. Within these short descriptions, you are further directed to turn to following pages to a more indepth discussion of the most significant features covered. The authors include blue boxes of text with interesting facts, figures and tips for better understanding the different aspects of lunar observing.
Overall this book is an excellent start for the beginner lunar observer. It is not an atlas, like Antonin Rukl’s “Atlas of the Moon”, nor is it an indepth study of lunar geology like The Modern Moon by Charles A. Wood. It plays its part as an easy to read, easy to follow, as long as you have clear skies, introduction into lunar observing and provides a stepping stone to other more advanced lunar books.