The Clementine Atlas of the Moon [Hardcover]

This book has been released more than one year later than the initial scheduled date. Previously I read several astronomy books issued by the same editor, being some of them atlas (Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System) or specifically dedicated to Solar System objects (Planetary Sciences, The New Solar System, The Giant Planet Jupiter,...) and others catalogues or handbooks (Planetary Observer's Handbook, Observing the Moon,...): in any case the quality, both of the contents and the edition, was very good if not excellent. I had therefore great expectations about this specific book, but, as soon as I received it, I was greatly disappointed. It is divided in two sections: the first is a general discussion about the Moon and its properties (geological history, motion in space, lunar exploration by the Americans and the Soviets). The section ends with a discussion of the Lunar Prospector and Clementine Missions. I have not read this section deeply, but the names of the two authors should make a warrant for its content. I would in any case rate it quite general, if not common or superficial. Furthermore, the few photographs in it, all selected from well known images taken from the various missions to the moon, are of exceedingly poor quality: in fact they look as if badly scanned from an other book and carelessly pasted in the text. They give you the idea of an unfortunate draft version of the book. The same applies to the few graphs reported.
Second section is the true atlas, in black and white: facing pages contain on the left the Clementine 750 nm images and on the right a digital global shaded relief images by the USGS (1 cm on the image or maps corresponds to roughly 25 km on the Moon in Mercator projection). A lat./long. grid is superimposed on the both of them: the lines are white and look as if they were drawn with Paintbrush! The map on the right is reproduced so that pixels stand out as large as a square with the side up to 0.5-1 mm long.
Furthermore the paper quality is poor: leaves are opaque.
I am not discussing the contents, that are in any case worth of the book, But I still think that such a book should have deserved much more attention by the editor, better quality, deeper review: if you are searching for top quality images and edition such as those of the compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System, well, probably you should better save your money!

The Clementine Lunar Atlas of the Moon, by Bussey & Spudis, provides a wealth of information on basic lunar facts, history, and exploration (part 1), and is the best global compilation of lunar geography and imagery in one book to date (part 2). The remarks of the Italian reviewer concerning the figures in part 1 are overstated. One of the figures is blurred, however, none of the figures appear as badly scanned from another book and carelessly pasted in the text. In addition, the criticism about the pixel size of some of the global remotely sensed element maps is unwarranted. The reader is observing the data at the resolution Lunar Prospector acquired it (~60 km per pixel). There just isn't anything that can be done about it except go back to the Moon and acquire better, higher resolution measurements.

The atlas fills an important niche in my collection. A reference guide to finding any crater named in any article I am reading, and getting a good first-order understanding of the crater's local geography. The quantity of craters named (using the Madler system), the extent of coverage (both the far side and near side of the Moon), and the comparable (Nadir) viewing geometry of all the images makes this atlas a must have for lunar scientists, gradstudents, and amateur astronomers alike.

This book represents a groundbreaking and unique resource for both professional and amateur lunar enthusiasts. The first section of the book consists of a concise, yet comprehensive review of lunar exploration and lunar science. The authors bring many years of experience to bear on a subject in which they are clearly well versed and highly knowledgable.
The main section of the book represents the first global atlas of the Moon covering both the near and the far sides, and as such is an unique and unprecendented resource. The Clementine images have been reproduced at a high quality and the use of annotated shaded relief maps ensures an unobscured view of the Clementine mosaics.
Finally, the atlas contains the most complete gazeteer of lunar features ever produced.
I have to disagree with the other reviewer's comments about the book. The book was clearly never intended to primarily be a general interest book about lunar exploration (many excellent books on this subjects already exist). Instead it is intended to be an atlas of use to both professional researchers and amateur astronomers (and would no doubt be an interesting addition to any coffee table), and it fills this role admirably.