Welcome to Quill Quotes Book Club, A Fall of Moondust Discussion #1! We hope you are enjoying the book so far. Please keep in mind this discussion is only for the first half (Chapter 1-15). If you read ahead or finished the book, please keep any spoilers or thoughts on later parts for the next discussion. See A Fall of Moondust Summary Page for the reading schedule and other discussions.
Brooke’s Thoughts
I like sci-fi but I’m not a huge fan of classic sci-fi, mostly because you can tell it’s outdated. You can definitely tell this was written in the 60s. It’s interesting how some aspects of the story hold up well while others don’t. The story is entertaining so far and I am interested in seeing how it ends.
Favorite Quote
“The mind has many watchdogs; sometimes they bark unnecessarily, but a wise man never ignores their warning.”
– Arthur C. Clarke, A Fall of Moondust
Kevin’s Thoughts
I’ve always loved Arthur C. Clarke’s work and find it incredible the things he thought of so long ago! I was a little worried in the first 2 chapters with the book starting out pretty slow but once Selene sank it really picked up and hooked my interest. Having to stay put and just wait for rescuers would definitely be hard. People today would probably have more entertainment available on their phones but I’m still not sure they’d make it a couple of days before panic set in. While it’s great that they’ve been found, I think a lot of struggles remain to get them out. Alongside Selene, I really like the news storyline with Spencer racing to get set up to capture the rescue operations.
Favorite Quote
“How strange, that the familiar fields and lakes and forests of Earth shone with such celestial glory when one looked at them from afar! Perhaps there was a lesson here; perhaps no man could appreciate his own world, until he had seen it from space.”
– Arthur C. Clarke, A Fall of Moondust
A Fall of Moondust Discussion #1 Questions/Prompts
Feel free to comment whatever thoughts and questions you have! But if you aren’t sure where to start, consider some of the prompts/questions below:
- Do you think they will be able to rescue everyone on the Selene?
- Do you have a favorite storyline so far? Those on Selene, Lawerence and Lawson searching for them, Spencer’s news setup, etc.
- Which parts do you think still hold up for being written 60 years ago?
- What seems outdated to you?
- If you were Captain Harris, would you be upset that Commodore Hansteen took control or happy to have him aboard?
- Share a favorite quote!
Commenting
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We hope you enjoy this discussion and join us again in 2 weeks for the final discussion over the whole book! Check out A Fall of Moondust Book Club Summary Page for more details.
I wasn’t sure if I’d like this book since it’s 60’s science fiction. I imagined star trek which I’m not a huge fan. I have been enjoying this book because the people trapped in Selene keep it interesting. I do think many things are dated the cigarettes and women not interested in the people with same birthdays because of the math it was a very male dominated world when this was written and it seems to be written that way.
I picked the same favorite quote as Brooke but I also liked the quote “Better be scared by imaginary crisis than fail to react to real ones.”
I definitely would be happy to have Commodore Hansteen on board he has so much knowledge about space travel and very good and working with people. Good leaders should know how to work well with others and find everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and they seem to be doing that with the questioning of the passengers. That’s one of my favorites parts in book getting to know characters.
I don’t know how the Selene will be rescued but I think Lawson and Lawerence will figure something out and maybe even Harris and Hansteen will come up with something. I’m hoping the news people will not get in the way.
You can tell the book was written in a different era but a lot still holds up today. Learning about the different characters and how they’re handling the crisis on Selene is a great cross-section of human nature.
Those are both great quotes! Having Hansteen’s help has been great for maintaining morale but I think it’d be interesting to see how Captain Harris would handle the situation on his own. I agree Selene will be rescued but not sure how much the people on board will help or if there’ll be panic as the air runs low. I don’t think the news will get in the way but they’ll certainly put on a show for the rest of the solar system!
I liked that quote too! We always like the same quotes!