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Who Owns the Moon?: In Defence of Humanity's Common Interests in Space
Silicon for microchips; manganese for batteries; titanium for missiles. The moon contains a wealth of natural resources. So, as the Earth’s supplies have begun to dwindle, it is no surprise that the world’s superpowers and wealthiest corporations have turned their eyes to the stars. As this new Space Race begins, A.C. Grayling who, if anyone, owns the moon? Or Mars? Or other bodies in near space? And what do those superpowers and corporations owe to Planet Earth and its inhabitants as a whole? From feudal common land, through the rules of the sea, to the vast, nationless expanse of Antarctica, Grayling explores the history of the places which no one, and therefore everyone, owns. Examining the many ways this so-called terra nullius has fallen victim to ‘the tragedy of the commons’ – the tendency for communal resources to be exploited by a few individuals for personal gain at the expense of everyone else – Who Owns the Moon? puts forward a compelling argument for a bold new global consensus, one which recognises and defends the rights of everyone who lives on this planet.
175 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 7, 2024
30 people are currently reading
420 people want to read
About the author
A.C. Grayling
94 books665 followersAnthony Clifford "A. C." Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, an independent undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991. He is also a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford.
He is a director and contributor at Prospect Magazine, as well as a Vice President of the British Humanist Association. His main academic interests lie in epistemology, metaphysics and philosophical logic. He has described himself as "a man of the left" and is associated in Britain with the new atheism movement, and is sometimes described as the 'Fifth Horseman of New Atheism'. He appears in the British media discussing philosophy.
He is a director and contributor at Prospect Magazine, as well as a Vice President of the British Humanist Association. His main academic interests lie in epistemology, metaphysics and philosophical logic. He has described himself as "a man of the left" and is associated in Britain with the new atheism movement, and is sometimes described as the 'Fifth Horseman of New Atheism'. He appears in the British media discussing philosophy.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 30, 2024
An interesting book that serves as a good introduction to space law - highlighting its limits against the push of current technological and political developments. The book uses parallels from recent history to make a case for change and issue a warning. In fact the history makes up the bulk of it, making it a book less about the moon or space and more about history. Which is fine, I liked it well enough. But the main point was made very early on and so a lot of the latter parts of the book came across as a bit repetitive, and in the end it lacked depth in exploring or speculating what those changes to space law could/should be and how they could come about. Still, a good starting point for anyone curious about the history behind, and the current state, of space law.
May 20, 2024
While it provides an interesting introduction to Space law and recent developments, drawing on historical parallels, it feels too cursory. I was hoping for a more substantive treatment of the topic. About 117 pages of written text and with a sizable appendix consisting of publicly available documents, it might have been better as an extended essay.
Lets not even talk about -as of the writing of this review- the constant use of hedging language to ensure that the readers -as of 2024- are aware that geopolitical treaties, conventions, and agreements may have -possibly- changed after the writing of the text.
Lets not even talk about -as of the writing of this review- the constant use of hedging language to ensure that the readers -as of 2024- are aware that geopolitical treaties, conventions, and agreements may have -possibly- changed after the writing of the text.
September 23, 2024
Grayling looks at a fascinating topic in his new book. The book’s not just about the moon, but also about outer space in general, and the seas and Antarctica as examples earthlings have already entered into treaties about. At a different level, it’s about commons, places shared by all that can easily be depleted or otherwise destroyed (and, in some situations, battles fought over) if mutually beneficial agreements aren’t reached. A short book that's inexplicably being offered for next to nothing as an e-book (at least as I write).
October 25, 2025
Everyone working in engineering, law or finance needs to read this.
November 23, 2024
Very interesting topic, but could be more divulgative.
June 25, 2025
I fear this was better suited to a extended essay. While the arguments had good bones I feel it failed to deliver on the promises of the premise. That being said a readable interpretation of international treaties if done well is always worth commending.
March 23, 2025
Don't expect philosophical consideration of what humanity's common interests in space might be, or any practical examination of how they could be safeguarded. An undergraduate level survey of the shortcomings of international law on Earth, concluding that current space law is inadequate, something that should shock no-one.
September 18, 2024
I'll not deny it's interesting in places but, overall, I was a tad disappointed with this. It's a comparatively short book -8 pages of 'introduction', 115 of content, 68 of appendices and notes (the appendices include the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty, the Antarctic Treaty, and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea). Much of the content of the book comprises chapters on each of these three treaties, their history and their roles in limiting (or failing to limit) human activity.
Providing analysis of comparable legislation and underlining its limitations has obvious relevance to any future efforts to cover access to and abuse of space, I just couldn't get the sense that Grayling had invested his writing with much authority. He is a philosophy professor and, while I wasn't expecting a couple of hundred pages of philosophical analysis, the book contains little or no philosophy and a lot of history ... and, frankly, a lot of selective history highlights lacking sophisticated interpretation or extrapolation.
Fair play, he does sound warning bells, he makes it clear that the scramble for space is already out of hand. We are trapped in one of those essential discontinuities of history - all our already inadequate institutions for global governance are designed to regulate the actions of nation states. What we are already seeing in near-Earth space is a scramble by commercial organisations and oligarchs to secure a share, if not a monopoly, of commercial opportunities (communications satellites, etc.). Commercial organisations are landing machines on the Moon, how long before they establish their own Moon Bases and write their own laws?
It's really only in the last few pages that Grayling gets round to posing this question, only in the last few pages that he recognises that (even before we consider what might happen on the Moon) what we are witnessing globally is the greed of corporations and individuals trying to divide up the world into monopoly markets unfettered by the laws and controls of nation states.
Grayling really needed to enter into that deconstruction of capitalism and its history right from the start: he should have made it more evident and imperative. In fact, it's only in a footnote to virtually the final page that he comments on the history of capitalism - slavery, abusive working conditions, global warming, pollution (the lies associated with the marketing of tobacco products, etc., don't even get a mention ... and I could cite a score of other concerns).
Interesting, I'll take on board much of what he writes, but really, he needed to try harder.
Providing analysis of comparable legislation and underlining its limitations has obvious relevance to any future efforts to cover access to and abuse of space, I just couldn't get the sense that Grayling had invested his writing with much authority. He is a philosophy professor and, while I wasn't expecting a couple of hundred pages of philosophical analysis, the book contains little or no philosophy and a lot of history ... and, frankly, a lot of selective history highlights lacking sophisticated interpretation or extrapolation.
Fair play, he does sound warning bells, he makes it clear that the scramble for space is already out of hand. We are trapped in one of those essential discontinuities of history - all our already inadequate institutions for global governance are designed to regulate the actions of nation states. What we are already seeing in near-Earth space is a scramble by commercial organisations and oligarchs to secure a share, if not a monopoly, of commercial opportunities (communications satellites, etc.). Commercial organisations are landing machines on the Moon, how long before they establish their own Moon Bases and write their own laws?
It's really only in the last few pages that Grayling gets round to posing this question, only in the last few pages that he recognises that (even before we consider what might happen on the Moon) what we are witnessing globally is the greed of corporations and individuals trying to divide up the world into monopoly markets unfettered by the laws and controls of nation states.
Grayling really needed to enter into that deconstruction of capitalism and its history right from the start: he should have made it more evident and imperative. In fact, it's only in a footnote to virtually the final page that he comments on the history of capitalism - slavery, abusive working conditions, global warming, pollution (the lies associated with the marketing of tobacco products, etc., don't even get a mention ... and I could cite a score of other concerns).
Interesting, I'll take on board much of what he writes, but really, he needed to try harder.
March 30, 2024
technological developments and corporate speculation and investment are contributing to a renewal of interest in accessing the moon and its resources - both as a stepping stone to Mars and as a potential source of rare minerals that we are busily depleting on Earth. in this timely book, A. C. Grayling compares the race for the moon to three historical examples: antarctica and its 1961 treaty; the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982) and the late 19th century "scramble" for and colonisation Africa. his book is a call for urgent action and regulation, before the tragedy of the commons plays itself out all over again in outer space - but it's also a rather depressing reminder that humans are greedy and forgetful, and history tends to repeat itself, even when it's all to obvious that there will be unintended, negative, consequences. exactly what those consequences might be and just how bad is up to us and how much we do now to mitigate them.
September 5, 2024
A short but engaging introduction to the frameworks governing areas like Antarctica, the high seas, and the Moon. This book is basically a history of the Antarctic treaty system, UNCLOS, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, and more modern (but failed) attempts to update the latter.
I would have loved a longer book that went more into depth on each of these topics (and delved into a broader range of related topics).
I was a bit disappointed that the author ignored questions around the intrinsic worth of the space environments and therefore glossed over questions around if and how these environments should be protected.
I would have loved a longer book that went more into depth on each of these topics (and delved into a broader range of related topics).
I was a bit disappointed that the author ignored questions around the intrinsic worth of the space environments and therefore glossed over questions around if and how these environments should be protected.
June 17, 2025
I'm not sure if it is true to say that I liked this book - rather I really admired the rational and clear way Grayling describes the world's predicament in dealing with protecting Antarctica, the oceans - and the moon. The book includes transcripts of the relevant treaties which are interesting but frightenly outdated and unenforceable.
July 11, 2024
This book covers earth based treaties (think Antartica) for the vast majority of its short length. The moon hardly gets a look in. And with lengthy extracts of treaties with little analysis, reads more like a compilation of extracts by a new research assistant.
August 7, 2024
More earth law then lunar, which makes sense: we are using what we know, and, at least in the case of places like Arctic, what has worked. So far, anyway. An interesting read in spots, dry in others.
November 3, 2025
Certainly asks a big question. Uses historical examples of how power and control have gone wrong - colonisation and exploitation, and why we can't leave it up to the world's superpowers and corporations to take control of space.
April 18, 2024
In examining the laws of the seas, the treaty of Antarctica and the colonial scramble for Africa, Grayling seeks to set some precedent for the development of international space law.
August 24, 2024
Trodde den skulle vara lite mer populärvetenskaplig men detta var straight up folkrättslig doktrin
September 18, 2024
I commend A. C. Grayling’s attention to detail, but there is shockingly little in this book that is actually about humanity’s common interests in space.
October 7, 2024
Take an interesting topic and make it realllly boring.
November 6, 2024
2.5
Did I learn something about the topic? Very little.
Did I enjoy it? No.
Do not recommend the audiobook.
Did I learn something about the topic? Very little.
Did I enjoy it? No.
Do not recommend the audiobook.
November 28, 2024
A decent look at legal issues pertaining to space, though a better job of covering these issues can be found in “A City on Mars.”
February 3, 2025
I was really looking forward to this one, but unfortunately I found the author's style and the lack of information pertaining to actual space law to be disappointing (to me).
September 1, 2025
This should’ve been a newspaper or magazine article instead of a book, and would’ve benefitted from an honest editor who knows how to cut irrelevant information.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews