MoonFire • Norman Mailer and Colum McCann

The topic of astronomy has always fascinated me, but for a long time it flew under my radar. In recent years, I’ve watched numerous documentaries on the subject and read several books about the universe, cosmology, space, planets, and the whole cosmic complex. While browsing for beautiful illustrated books, I stumbled upon the TASCHEN publishing house, which offers some truly magnificent volumes. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, the comprehensive illustrated book MoonFire was published. It chronicles the entire project of the first moon landing through numerous large-format photographs, with equally detailed captions, as well as a series of essays by Norman Mailer. I’d like to tell you a bit about this bibliophilic gem in this post.

I could watch documentaries about space and astronomy for hours — and I often do. Arte once had an excellent playlist, and the Die Welt media library frequently offers really well-produced programs. For a long time, I wasn’t sure whether it was worth getting illustrated books on this topic, since visualizations and animations in videos often look fantastic and are beautifully crafted. In fact, I’ve always been sparing with coffee table books, because you usually look through them once, and then they just take up a lot of space on the shelf, rarely to be revisited. Still, I ended up getting a few astronomy-themed volumes, including this one. And right upon unboxing, I had that “wow” effect — MoonFire turned out to be larger and more impressive than I had expected. Once you hold the book in your hands and open it, it quickly becomes clear why. The large format is simply stunning, and even a quick browse through the oversized photographs is a delight. Every gram of paper feels well spent.

I had expected a classic coffee table book — lots of pictures and photos, very little text. In fact, MoonFire is quite substantial thanks to the essays by Norman Mailer. The American writer was commissioned by LIFE magazine, for a rather generous fee, to report on the moon landing. Mailer won the Pulitzer Prize twice and became famous especially for his novel The Naked and the Dead. I wasn’t familiar with the author before and hadn’t read any of his works. Apparently, he was known for his literary journalism, and the essays in this book follow exactly that style — a blend of reportage and personal interpretation, full of subjective impressions and detail. This style, combined with the images and the informative captions, works perfectly and makes for a wonderful reading experience. Reading only facts would be too dry and bland; reading only personal impressions would be too little. The mixture of both is engaging, informative, and never dull.

Two mighty pillars of flame sank down like the wings of a yellow fiery bird over the entire site, covering it with radiant yellow blossoms of fire, and between them rose, white as a ghost, white as Melville’s white whale Moby Dick, white as the Madonna’s shrine in half the churches of the world, that slender, angelic, mysterious ship of three stages, emerging from its fiery incarnation and slowly ascending heavenward — as slowly as Melville’s Leviathan swam, as slowly as we ourselves swim upward in a dream, seeking free air. (p. 148)

Viewed on their own, I found the essays somewhat uneven. Mailer tends to digress and often writes strangely about himself, referring to himself as “Aquarius,” which I found rather odd. Many passages are rambling and didn’t resonate with me — particularly his desperate attempts in the later chapters to interpret the moon landing through a theistic and personal lens. What I did enjoy, however, were his evocations of 1950s and 1960s America, his depictions of high society, and his vivid descriptions of press conferences and key figures such as Wernher von Braun. I also really liked the inserted quotes from the astronauts’ radio communication with Houston. There are also some truly magnificent sentences throughout — you can tell immediately that an experienced author was at work. Overall, the text fits beautifully. Together with the photos, it takes the reader through the entire Apollo 11 project. It’s cinematic in scope — better than any TV documentary, honestly.

Only part of the photos actually show the moon itself. Many images depict the astronauts, their preparations, test runs, and equipment. Naturally, the Saturn V rocket is extensively covered, as is its launch. The technical details clearly convey what an engineering masterpiece this was. I found it fascinating that a large portion of the entire project consisted of tests and simulations — an approach that strongly reminds me of how software is developed today: rigorous testing is essential and takes up a significant portion of the process. At least, it should. It’s still hard for me to believe that people managed to fly to the moon without the powerful IT infrastructure we have now. The book really drives that point home — it’s truly impressive.

There are several fold-out pages that create an extra-wide format — for example, showing the launch of the Saturn V. The arrangement of the images is very well done and follows the chronological sequence of the mission: from preparations to launch, the journey to the moon, and the moonwalk itself. Interspersed are photos of the people involved — portraits of key figures in Houston or shots of spectators at the launch. This creates a wonderful connection to the society of the time, and you can easily imagine Americans arriving in their campers to witness the spectacle, or journalists sitting impatiently in the press rooms waiting for the first blurry live footage. The atmosphere of the era is vividly captured in both text and images, making it a pleasure to immerse oneself in it.

Of course, the key figures are also portrayed — first and foremost the astronauts, but also Wernher von Braun, the chief rocket engineer behind the project. Their ways of speaking, body language, and presence are described in detail. Numerous artifacts are also shown — for example, Armstrong’s glove, which had a to-do list for the lunar EVA sewn inside. More than once, I felt like I was walking through a museum.

Earlier I mentioned that the book’s physical presentation is impressive. The dust jacket feels high-quality, with gold-embossed lettering. The endpapers feature a map of the moon, and the hardcover itself is printed with the spacecraft near the lunar surface. What really delighted me, though, is the sewn binding — a rarity these days. The print quality of the images is outstanding, and the book gives off that same fresh scent as the volumes from Splitter Verlag. I love that smell — it’s much better than that of a new car.

Conclusion: With this book, published to mark the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, TASCHEN did everything right. The composition of this volume is consistently excellent — entertaining, highly informative, and it allows you to relive the entire moon landing project as you read. The magnificent large-format photographs vividly capture each stage of this engineering triumph. Although I found Norman Mailer’s essays occasionally too subjective and at times somewhat off track, together with the superbly arranged photographs and their detailed captions, the result is a book that provides a comprehensive and engaging account of the moon landing without ever boring the reader. It takes time to read — this is not a book you flip through in one evening like many other coffee table books. With its large format, premium craftsmanship, excellent print quality, and sturdy sewn binding, it meets every bibliophile’s expectations. A highly recommended book that will have a permanent place on my shelf — I truly enjoyed it.

Book Information: MoonFire • Norman Mailer • TASCHEN • 348 pages • ISBN 9783836571142