The Moon is Hell

By John W. Campbell,

Book cover of The Moon is Hell

Book description

Ace Books, 1973. Paperback, 1st printing. Includes two Campbell stories: The Moon Is Hell (1951), and The Elder Gods (1939, written with Arthur J. Burks).

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Moon is Hell as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is a lesser-known story today, but as a kid growing up—doing my own homemade chemistry experiments—I absolutely loved this story of how astronauts, stranded on the moon, would be able to “science the shit out of it” and survive.

Of course, it was penned in 1951, before a human had left the atmosphere of Earth. That does make it a bit dated by today’s standards, although it is still a fun foray into the chemistry and geology of lunar DIY survival… written half a century before The Martian.

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