Author: Pallava Bagla, Subhadra Menon
Publisher: HarperCollins India 2008 (First)
ISBN: 978-81-7223-676-2
Pages: 203
Don’t touch this book even with a long pole, would be my recommendation. This book demonstrates in vivid detail why and how Indian science writing is in such an abyss as this. The title of the book, cover graphics and introduction all give an impression that it describes the exciting journey which India trode in its quest to reach the moon with its automated lunar orbiter, named Chandrayaan 1. Nothing can be further from the truth. The authors are reputed journalists who have claimed to contribute to NewScientist and Scientific American. But such high standards in scientific journalism are not at all evidenced by the crap these two writers have filled in these 200-odd pages. What these poor fellows meant by popular science is nothing but the bureaucratic procedures India’s moon mission had to undergo. Whatever science described can be well condensed into four or five pages of technical mumbo-jumbo which the authors themselves have not understood and they copied from ISRO’s website. The book as a whole looks like it was commissioned by ISRO to extol their virtues. After every 5-10 pages, a quotation from G Madhavan Nair, the then chairman of ISRO is given most which are squeezed and shaped to meet the context. There are two lengthy forewards from K Kasturirangan and G Madhavan Nair, former chairmen of ISRO. There are three long interviews with Madhavan Nair and two foreign space scientists. The introduction, forewards and verbatim interviews cover 89 pages (out of 203) which is almost 45% of the entire book! This would be sufficient to show what the book is really worth! It is also replete with repetitions and tangential flights of narration.
The first chapter explains basic facts on the moon including why its study is important for us because of the arresting of planetary evolution of the moon as it has no tectonic activity. It was pleasant to note that Indian scientists like Bhabha, Sarabhai, Saha and Bose have contributed their names to craters on the moon. The book’s only worth lies in the comprehensive history of international lunar missions given. Space era was inaugurated with the flying of Sputnik 1 in Oct 1957. Yuri Gagarin flew in space in 1961. Unmanned missions to moon proliferated in the 60s with the USSR and USA locked in a race to reach the moon. Russia’s Luna 9 landed on the moon in 1966 and Luna 16 brought back samples from there. But the victory in the race awaited the Americans when they landed people there on Jul 20, 1969 in the Apollo 11 mission. Five more successful Apollo missions ensued in which astronauts landed on the lunar surface. The human landings were on Jul 1969 (Apollo 11), Nov 1969 (Apollo 12), Jan 1971 (Apollo 14), Jul 1971 (Apollo 15), Apr 1972 (Apollo 16) and Dec 1972 (Apollo 17). The last person to land was Harrison Schmitt in 1972 and the famous blue image of the earth was clicked during this mission.
Indian space programme began from humble beginnings in 1963 when the first sounding rocket, an American supplied Nike Apache rocket was blasted off from Thumba in Kerala. In 1969, ISRO was formed to act as the lone player in the space science field. ISRO’s core competence lies in manufacturing, launching and operating communications (INSAT) and remote sensing (IRS) satellites. India has at present 11 working satellites in orbit and this figure is a record in Asia-Pacific. Indian remote sensing images are of high quality that there are uncofirmed reports that the U.S. used Indian satellite imagery in their quest for the hideouts of Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan.
The fifth chapter attempts to describe the technology required for the moon mission, but the stress was mainly on the preparations by the ISRO to attempt the mission. This lengthy chapter is basically a repeat of the foreword written by Dr. Kasturirangan with the text almost a verbatim copy. Unnecessary and irrelevant details of seminars and conferences are heaped up in this chapter. The authors are really testing the patience of the readers in this chapter where a resolution adopted by a conference is reproduced in detail! India plans to put a man a space by 2015 and to send men to the moon by 2020, provided the government approves the programme. This gives in a nutshell what the book purports to project in its entire text.
The book is utterly disappointing and a heavy bore. It is written with no homework and lacks depth everywhere. Where it goes above the average is where it reproduces tables and data from websites and newspapers. Some of the data reproduced are sourced from Wikipedia, giving the lie to the lofty credentials of the authors! The chapter on moon lacks finesse and most of the important details are left out such as how it stabilizes earth’s tilt of the axis which is absolutely critical for the survival of higher life forms on earth. The extensive listing of stories, legends and myths about the moon is irrelevant for a scientific book. This book looks more like ISRO’s press notice, full of quotations from its former chairmen and others. Thoroughly disgusting.
The book is not at all recommended.
Rating: 1 Star
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