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The Brick Moon
This new edition of Hale's classic tale of Victorian science fiction been carefully collected from the novel's first serialised publication in The Atlantic Monthly.
Plus, this includes a new sequel - "Another Brick in the Moon" - from award-winning author Adam Roberts.
The Brick Moon comes complete with a new, critical introduction from Marek Kukula (Public Astronomer, Royal Observatory Greenwich) and Richard Dunn (Head of Science and Technology at Royal Museums Greenwich), and is published to coincide with a major new exhibition at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
Plus, this includes a new sequel - "Another Brick in the Moon" - from award-winning author Adam Roberts.
The Brick Moon comes complete with a new, critical introduction from Marek Kukula (Public Astronomer, Royal Observatory Greenwich) and Richard Dunn (Head of Science and Technology at Royal Museums Greenwich), and is published to coincide with a major new exhibition at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1870
19 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Edward Everett Hale
1,376 books41 followersMore than one hundred fifty literary works of Unitarian cleric and writer Edward Everett Hale, younger brother of fellow American writer Lucretia Peabody Hale, include the story
The Man without a Country
.
This American author, historian, and child prodigy exhibited extraordinary literary skills; Harvard University enrolled him at 13 years of age, and he graduated second in his class. Hale went to write for a variety of publications and periodicals throughout his lifetime.
He fathered author Edward Everett Hale Jr..
This American author, historian, and child prodigy exhibited extraordinary literary skills; Harvard University enrolled him at 13 years of age, and he graduated second in his class. Hale went to write for a variety of publications and periodicals throughout his lifetime.
He fathered author Edward Everett Hale Jr..
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 15, 2018
Entertaining, particularly as an example of how Science and Science Fiction have changed over the years. Written around 1870, this story imagines trying to put an artificial moon into orbit so that it can be used to determine longitude while at sea, thus winning a big prize. (See Longitude for the history of that prize.)
Told in 4 parts. Part 1 seems like "Hard SF" in that it tries to seriously examine how one could construct an artificial moon and put it into orbit using technology available around the time of the American Civil War. Pretty wild to think about that! It involves cutting down lots of trees and damming lots of rivers, etc., but there is no hint of worry about harming the environment. Always plenty of environment to go around! Parts 2 to 4 become more silly, but I won't spoil it by saying why. I'm pretty sure that the author knew that he was going far afield from realism.
There is a reference to "The Moon Hoax". If you've never heard of that, take a look at The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York. There are no "Man-Bats" in this particular story, but it wouldn't be much less believable if there were.
Told in 4 parts. Part 1 seems like "Hard SF" in that it tries to seriously examine how one could construct an artificial moon and put it into orbit using technology available around the time of the American Civil War. Pretty wild to think about that! It involves cutting down lots of trees and damming lots of rivers, etc., but there is no hint of worry about harming the environment. Always plenty of environment to go around! Parts 2 to 4 become more silly, but I won't spoil it by saying why. I'm pretty sure that the author knew that he was going far afield from realism.
There is a reference to "The Moon Hoax". If you've never heard of that, take a look at The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York. There are no "Man-Bats" in this particular story, but it wouldn't be much less believable if there were.
March 23, 2017
Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was a writer and theologian most famous for his Union propaganda piece, “The Man Without a Country,” penned in 1863 to lend support for the Civil War effort. Hale came from New England “royalty” including his great uncle, the oft-quoted but unfortunate failed spy, Nathan Hale.
“The Brick Moon” was written as a parody and serialized in the Atlantic Monthly in 1869 and 1870. A group of college student gather in a jolly meeting including liberal volumes of alcohol – Hale graduated from Harvard in 1837. They decide to compete for the English Longitude Prize, worth a considerable sum – see Dava Sobel’s very readable book “Longitude” for background. Latitude was easily estimated in clear weather but longitude was extremely difficult and miscalculation had lead to thousands of maritime deaths over the centuries. Imbued with knowledge of 19th astronomy and science, the lads decide that an artificial satellite, or satellites, would solve the problem and allow longitude reckoning in the same way as latitude – astronomical means.
This idea is put on the back burner as the lads graduate, but the idea simmers in their minds and they sneak time over the years to make plans and accumulate at least part of the capital needed to finance this daring venture. Seventeen years after the fateful drinking party things begin to coalesce and they decide to move forward with the project to create an artificial satellite – a brick moon.
The book is filled with references to contemporary events and characters, some long-forgotten, others unforgettable – Darwin, for example. It is an amusing book to read filled with clever but usually impossible ideas, including a brick moon. It IS the first reference to creation of an artificial satellite!!
The book is called a short story but is really a novelette in four chapters. It has been called early science fiction or “speculative fiction” in the spirit of some of Margaret Atwood’s stark novels. A last possibility is that it is a spoof on Hale’s fellow Bostonians and their “can-do” attitude to any problem. Even a brick moon.
This book was probably the last publication of the Imprint Society, a New England press that issued a small number of lesser-well known books in an extremely high quality of limited production (1650) copies, often signed by the artist, publisher or others associated with production of the book. It is wonderful to hold these books and read the clean, clear type on the pages. It is an experience any book lover will cherish.
“The Brick Moon” was written as a parody and serialized in the Atlantic Monthly in 1869 and 1870. A group of college student gather in a jolly meeting including liberal volumes of alcohol – Hale graduated from Harvard in 1837. They decide to compete for the English Longitude Prize, worth a considerable sum – see Dava Sobel’s very readable book “Longitude” for background. Latitude was easily estimated in clear weather but longitude was extremely difficult and miscalculation had lead to thousands of maritime deaths over the centuries. Imbued with knowledge of 19th astronomy and science, the lads decide that an artificial satellite, or satellites, would solve the problem and allow longitude reckoning in the same way as latitude – astronomical means.
This idea is put on the back burner as the lads graduate, but the idea simmers in their minds and they sneak time over the years to make plans and accumulate at least part of the capital needed to finance this daring venture. Seventeen years after the fateful drinking party things begin to coalesce and they decide to move forward with the project to create an artificial satellite – a brick moon.
The book is filled with references to contemporary events and characters, some long-forgotten, others unforgettable – Darwin, for example. It is an amusing book to read filled with clever but usually impossible ideas, including a brick moon. It IS the first reference to creation of an artificial satellite!!
The book is called a short story but is really a novelette in four chapters. It has been called early science fiction or “speculative fiction” in the spirit of some of Margaret Atwood’s stark novels. A last possibility is that it is a spoof on Hale’s fellow Bostonians and their “can-do” attitude to any problem. Even a brick moon.
This book was probably the last publication of the Imprint Society, a New England press that issued a small number of lesser-well known books in an extremely high quality of limited production (1650) copies, often signed by the artist, publisher or others associated with production of the book. It is wonderful to hold these books and read the clean, clear type on the pages. It is an experience any book lover will cherish.
January 17, 2024
El cuento es interesantísimo, estuve buscando por todas partes una versión en español pero no la encontré y, como me pareció una pena no tener acceso al escrito en español donde se detalla por primera vez en la historia como sería un satélite artificial, me he pasado 3 días traduciéndolo 😵
En cuanto lo tenga bien maquetado lo compartiré por Instagram.
En cuanto lo tenga bien maquetado lo compartiré por Instagram.
June 30, 2024
Despite the elaborate chronometers that won prizes for solving the longitude problem, the British government continued to offer prizes for solutions, and ships continued to suffer from an inability to accurately determine their longitude into the nineteenth century. Yes, the clocks worked, but they could not be calibrated after departure from port, they were somewhat complicated to use, and they were not affordable for everyone who plied the seas (or the land, for that matter, although the emphasis for solving the longitude problem was always naval, because of the lack of landmarks and the significant disasters which were attributed to lack of longitude knowledge). The ideal solution was seen as astronomical in nature, since the stars could be observed by anyone without much special equipment or knowledge beyond that already used for determining latitude.
The natural sky does not offer a convenient solution, so, in 1869, a century before the moon landing, eighty-eight years before Sputnik 1, and one hundred nine years before the first navigational satellite, Edward Everett Hale used a science fiction story to propose launching an artificial satellite into polar orbit to enable anyone, anywhere, to determine their longitude by measuring the satellite’s elevation from the horizon. Coming four years after Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon, it was not the first story to propose space travel, but it may be one of the earliest representations of a practical purpose to space launch.
Unlike From the Earth to the Moon, which is eerily prescient with regards to the Apollo program, The Brick Moon, even aside from the titular construction material, lacks Verne’s technological foresight. Hale’s understanding of orbits seems shaky, although it may simply be that his descriptions of them are poor, since an object in a polar orbit at an altitude of about five thousand miles would not be constantly visible from any point in the hemisphere – you would need several reflective satellites in several polar orbits at differing right ascensions and with different true anomalies. Of course, the constellation planning is the least of the technical shortcomings, which include: launching a hollow satellite made out of poor-quality bricks by flinging it into space on a pair of giant flywheels that impart an instantaneous change in velocity (and Hale does not account of the inertial problems the way Verne does), this hollow brick moon managing to retain its own atmosphere and habitable climate after launch, people performing selective evolution from lichens to palm trees, rice, and wheat within a few months, and numerous minor errors of area of neglect.
Nor is the writing remarkable. Hale chooses as his viewpoint character someone who has little active role in the proceedings, and is not directly involved in the later events, such that the narrator is almost as removed from the action as the reader. The story is presented in the same epistolary fashion as is common to other works of the time period from authors like Verne and Wells, which also favor a kind of “everyman” viewpoint, but the difference is that in Wells’ and Verne’s stories, the everyman is more directly involved in the story’s action.
This is not, therefore, a story that you read because it is a spectacular classic of early science fiction. Rather, it is a story you read because it is amongst the first explorations ever of several concepts: artificial satellites, launching satellites for an Earth-serving purpose, and humans living in space. If it were longer, that might not be enough, but since it took me less than an hour to read, I consider it entirely worthwhile. Reading it at a time when humans have been living continuously in space for almost twenty-five years, The Brick Moon is a fascinating look at a vision of the future from the past, an opportunity to ponder how far we’ve come, and how far we’ve yet to go.
March 6, 2022
I recently picked up the trivia that the 1870 short story "Brick Moon" was the first work of fiction to imagine a space station. Well this was worth following up on. And so here is a collection of that and other late-1800s short stories by American Edward Everett Hale.
"Brick Moon" is just what the title says, as the protagonists create an an artificial satellite -- a satellite made of bricks instead of metal, Hale imagining that a high-speed launch through the atmosphere being something that would melt iron. This captivated me pretty quick: not only did Hale imagine a "space station", but satellites placed into orbit as a proto-GPS system. He literally was envisioning satellite-based navigation in 1870, to consist of multiple satellites in orbit so that anyone on earth would be in line-of-sight of one of them. GPS!
In Hale's tale the position-fixing would be done by visual celestial navigation, using satellites of a known height above earth, over a fixed meridian, big and bright enough to be seen moving through the sky. With a set of satellites in polar orbit (passing over North and South poles), above the meridians for Greenwich and New Orleans, navigators would be able to determine their longitude. Latitude was already easy, found by reference to the North Star. Again this amazes me, not conceptually that much different than GPS.
The launch did not go as planned; instead there was a premature accidental launch, and the brick moon launched with people inside of it -- project members and their families who had taken to sleeping inside the satellite's inner chambers during winter at the work site. The horrified principals then devoted their efforts to locating it in the sky and when they finally do, something unexpected happens.
No more spoilers. I was surprised that the writing seemed more modern and easier to read than I expected for its era, though clearly of its time. This story sometimes was a bit slow and plays fast and loose with the laws of physics even as understood then, but a good chunk of it was some page-turning suspense.
"Brick Moon" is just what the title says, as the protagonists create an an artificial satellite -- a satellite made of bricks instead of metal, Hale imagining that a high-speed launch through the atmosphere being something that would melt iron. This captivated me pretty quick: not only did Hale imagine a "space station", but satellites placed into orbit as a proto-GPS system. He literally was envisioning satellite-based navigation in 1870, to consist of multiple satellites in orbit so that anyone on earth would be in line-of-sight of one of them. GPS!
In Hale's tale the position-fixing would be done by visual celestial navigation, using satellites of a known height above earth, over a fixed meridian, big and bright enough to be seen moving through the sky. With a set of satellites in polar orbit (passing over North and South poles), above the meridians for Greenwich and New Orleans, navigators would be able to determine their longitude. Latitude was already easy, found by reference to the North Star. Again this amazes me, not conceptually that much different than GPS.
The launch did not go as planned; instead there was a premature accidental launch, and the brick moon launched with people inside of it -- project members and their families who had taken to sleeping inside the satellite's inner chambers during winter at the work site. The horrified principals then devoted their efforts to locating it in the sky and when they finally do, something unexpected happens.
No more spoilers. I was surprised that the writing seemed more modern and easier to read than I expected for its era, though clearly of its time. This story sometimes was a bit slow and plays fast and loose with the laws of physics even as understood then, but a good chunk of it was some page-turning suspense.
October 23, 2022
This Victorian-era SF is the first story predicting an artificial satellite, as well as the first one involving a space station. In 1870. The date is remarkable, since it was only five years after Jules Verne wrote attempt at a scientifically accurate moon voyage. Progressive American author Hale would later dabble in SF with the short story "Hands Off" in 1881, but is perhaps best known for his 1863 novel "The Man Without a Country". ⠀
Written as the diary of a scientist, "The Brick Moon" is a bit of a dry read, as Hale shares Jules Verne's compulsion of sharing with the reader scientific minutia and spends a lot of time, for example ruminating over the price of bricks. But it is written with some tongue-in-cheek humour and satire, which makes it a pretty enjoyable read in parts. Hale taps into a problem of the time, namely of devising a simple way of determining longitude on a sea voyage.. What was needed was a fixed geostationary point in the sky. Thus: a brick moon. ⠀
The story lays out the planning and construction of the 200 feet wide moon which the narrator and his brother, along with family and friends, work on, as they plan to fire it into the atmosphere through a sort of slingshot method. Unfortunately the mechanism fires prematurely, and is sent into the skies with people still sleeping INSIDE the brick moon (as it was hollow, small apartments were fashioned inside for housing some of the people working on it), essentially creating the first space station. The second part of the book deals with life in the brick moon, as seen by the spectators from below, as they communicate with the space travellers with the aid of visual Morse code. The story evolves into a sort of social satire, as the inhabitants of the brick moon create a miniature utopia on the satellite. ⠀
Written as the diary of a scientist, "The Brick Moon" is a bit of a dry read, as Hale shares Jules Verne's compulsion of sharing with the reader scientific minutia and spends a lot of time, for example ruminating over the price of bricks. But it is written with some tongue-in-cheek humour and satire, which makes it a pretty enjoyable read in parts. Hale taps into a problem of the time, namely of devising a simple way of determining longitude on a sea voyage.. What was needed was a fixed geostationary point in the sky. Thus: a brick moon. ⠀
The story lays out the planning and construction of the 200 feet wide moon which the narrator and his brother, along with family and friends, work on, as they plan to fire it into the atmosphere through a sort of slingshot method. Unfortunately the mechanism fires prematurely, and is sent into the skies with people still sleeping INSIDE the brick moon (as it was hollow, small apartments were fashioned inside for housing some of the people working on it), essentially creating the first space station. The second part of the book deals with life in the brick moon, as seen by the spectators from below, as they communicate with the space travellers with the aid of visual Morse code. The story evolves into a sort of social satire, as the inhabitants of the brick moon create a miniature utopia on the satellite. ⠀
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March 31, 2024I'm reading chronologically through HiLoBrow's best science fiction books (pt. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). This is book #3 of Scientific Romance and book #3 overall.
This is old-timey sci fi with an old-timey sci fi premise: some enterprising guys decide to launch a 250 foot diameter brick moon above the prime meridian so that the world has a longitudinal equivalent to the North Star. Some mishaps occur, which I won't spoil, but the rest of the short book is entertaining, with a nice, quaint ending.
This is old-timey sci fi with an old-timey sci fi premise: some enterprising guys decide to launch a 250 foot diameter brick moon above the prime meridian so that the world has a longitudinal equivalent to the North Star. Some mishaps occur, which I won't spoil, but the rest of the short book is entertaining, with a nice, quaint ending.
June 26, 2022
I read the Jurassic London edition of "The Brick Moon" which also includes a short story "sequel" by Adam Roberts.
I found this an intriguing example of early science fiction, published just a few years after Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon. In it, Hale narrates a tale of an artificial satellite to be placed into orbit as a navigational aid, but an accident causes the satellite to be launched with approximately 40 people on it. Also, the moon is made of brick. As a piece of science-fictional history, it's fascinating to see an author grope towards how best to tell this story, which is also a piece of moralistic fiction.
Adam Roberts's sequel "Another Brick in the Moon" was hilarious and wacky as Roberts so often is.
I found this an intriguing example of early science fiction, published just a few years after Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon. In it, Hale narrates a tale of an artificial satellite to be placed into orbit as a navigational aid, but an accident causes the satellite to be launched with approximately 40 people on it. Also, the moon is made of brick. As a piece of science-fictional history, it's fascinating to see an author grope towards how best to tell this story, which is also a piece of moralistic fiction.
Adam Roberts's sequel "Another Brick in the Moon" was hilarious and wacky as Roberts so often is.
August 23, 2019
This is an odd 19th Century novella about a small group of visionaries who accidentally launch the first 'space station' -- long before 20th Century heat and radiation innovations made it possible (hence: bricks). It is written as a factual account of what happened and kinda fun (purists will start screaming, probably. Consider this a quick little bedtime read or something you might recommend to a ten year old (with explanation).
Want to read
January 4, 2022s. 1869-1870
It is a work of speculative fiction containing the first known depiction of the launch of an artificial satellite (= artificial moon of bricks)
The device is intended as a navigational aid, but is accidentally launched with people aboard.[1] They survive, and so the story also provides the first known fictional description[1] of a space station. The author even correctly surmised the idea of needing four satellites visible above the horizon for navigation, as in modern-day GPS.
It is a work of speculative fiction containing the first known depiction of the launch of an artificial satellite (= artificial moon of bricks)
The device is intended as a navigational aid, but is accidentally launched with people aboard.[1] They survive, and so the story also provides the first known fictional description[1] of a space station. The author even correctly surmised the idea of needing four satellites visible above the horizon for navigation, as in modern-day GPS.
June 26, 2012
takes a while to get going but it's a lot of fun when it does. The way he handles the growing banality of something that at first was fantastical wonder is really sweet too.
September 19, 2015
a brilliant and very genial piece of pre hg Wells Sci Fi whimsy.
February 7, 2021
Started out slow then... a twist! Not shiny science fiction but thought provoking.
April 11, 2021
OK 👌reading 📚
Due to eye issues Alexa reads to me, a number of will written fantasy novellas. I read two and skipped the rest. Give it a try. Enjoy reading 🔰2021 😮
Due to eye issues Alexa reads to me, a number of will written fantasy novellas. I read two and skipped the rest. Give it a try. Enjoy reading 🔰2021 😮
May 8, 2022
Kind of interesting, though probably more of a curiosity than anything else. Adam Roberts' follow-up is intriguing but ends frustratingly inconclusively.
December 16, 2024
Could this really be considered an early work of science fiction? Don't all but those of us who are in deep denial know that this story would barely have an impact or influence on satellites and space stations now than it might have back then? To me this seemed more like H. G. Wells collaborating with Jules Verne, writing a full-length novella about artificial bodies in orbit of Earth. While this idea may seem realistic, it's quite obvious, really. However, this story still seems influential.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews