Coffeetable Books

Full Moon

Knopf, 244 pp., $50

This stunningly beautiful collection of photographs culled from NASA's Apollo inflight photographic archive by photographer and artist Michael Light is the perfect gift for anyone with a sense of wonder, a love of photography, or an interest in space. The elegant and astonishing images (reproduced from the originals using the latest digital techniques) are accompanied by informative text by Light and an essay from Andrew Chaikin (A Man on the Moon). Intelligently laid out, the book is divided into three parts: the journey toward, the landing on, and, finally, the departure from the moon. The startling photos are undisturbed by text (Apollo mission data, the essay, and other information are found at the end), which allows the reader to explore the images first, sensing the desolation and cold of space before learning the facts and stories behind the pictures.