posted 04-10-2008 04:19 AM               

Earthrise tells the remarkable story of the first photographs of Earth from space and the totally unexpected impact of those images. The Apollo "Earthrise" and "Blue Marble" photographs were beamed across the world some forty years ago. They had an astounding effect, Robert Poole explains, and in fact transformed thinking about the Earth and its environment in a way that echoed throughout religion, culture, and science. Gazing upon our whole planet for the first time, we saw ourselves and our place in the universe with new clarity.

Poole delves into new areas of research and looks at familiar history from fresh perspectives. With intriguing anecdotes and wonderful pictures, he examines afresh the politics of the Apollo missions, the challenges of whole Earth photography, and the story of the behind-the-scenes struggles to get photographs of the Earth put into mission plans. He traces the history of imagined visions of Earth from space and explores what happened when imagination met reality. The photographs of Earth represented a turning point, Poole contends. In their wake, Earth Day was inaugurated, the environmental movement took off, and the first space age ended. People turned their focus back toward Earth, toward the precious and fragile planet we call home.

About the Author
Robert Poole is reader in history, University of Cumbria. He has written and broadcast extensively on history, from witch trials to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, and has published in journals from History Today to Past and Present. He lives in Lancaster, England.

• Hardcover: 256 pages
  
• Publisher: Yale University Press (November 17, 2008)
  
• Language: English
  
• ISBN-10: 0300137664
  
• ISBN-13: 978-0300137668

posted 04-11-2008 12:25 AM               

And I'm glad it's of any use to cS members!

posted 12-03-2008 07:07 PM               

There is a very interesting discussion with regards to the views of the Earth and the differing ways they have been captured by both unmanned and manned craft, the impact of the pictures on people and the media, and the subsequent surge in the enviromental movement, certainly after the Apollo 8 "Earthrise" photo and the Apollo 17 "blue marble". The author attempts to put the pictures into a historical perspective with regards to humanities potential move into the cosmos and feelings for the the "Mother Earth", and he succeeds in this task.

He has done a great deal of research and done it well, providing a very fulfilling read.

Highly recommended for a different view of the space programme.

posted 01-05-2009 12:42 PM               

The photograph of that earthrise by the astronaut Bill Anders forms part of the Apollo program's enduring legacy -- eclipsing, in many memories, any discoveries about the Moon or renewed sense of national pride. It and other pictures looking back at the Earth provided a new perspective on the thing that all humanity shares. As Robert Poole documents in his history, "Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth," that perspective had deep cultural effects, notably in the emotional resonance it offered the growing environmental movement. Seen from the Moon, the Earth seemed so small, so isolated, so terribly fragile.