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What if a moon made of bricks could help sailors find their way at sea?
In Edward Everett Hale’s The Brick Moon, and Other Stories, bold ideas begin with everyday needs. The title story follows friends who plan to build a brick moon and send it into orbit. Frederic Ingham records their scheme calmly, while Q brings mathematics to a project meant to help sailors measure longitude.
Big dreams soon meet the practical problems of sending a brick moon into orbit. Elsewhere, My Double and How He Undid Me introduces an overworked small-town minister seeking an unusual escape from crowded duties. Across the collection, inventors and ordinary people face surprising situations, told with gentle humor and an eye for practical detail.
What you’ll discover
- An early satellite dream Explore one of the earliest stories about a man-made satellite, built around a sailor’s practical need.
- The work behind wonder Follow an ambitious plan as the friends confront the materials and effort their moon requires.
- A minister’s unusual solution Meet a clergyman whose crowded life leads him to hire a double.
- Wonders close to home Find surprising ideas among the towns, ships, railway journeys, and households of familiar American life.
- A calm, curious voice Enjoy plain, friendly storytelling that makes extraordinary schemes feel like matters of everyday business.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy inventive American storytelling, Christmas and Thanksgiving tales, friendly humor, and gentle satire will love this collection.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Friends imagine a moon for sailors
- A shared dream meets shifting ground
- A hidden cottage shelters a family
- Missing receipts threaten a good name
- A calculation overlooks what follows behind
- Strangers share the work of kindness
- Friends imagine a smaller happier world
- Shared stories warm a stranded Christmas
- Big inventions depend on ordinary people
Who’s who
- Frederic InghamA minister and teller of The Brick Moon and other tales, he helps plan a moon to fix longitude and watches over it.
- George OrcuttA railroad engineer who makes a fortune and then devotes it to building the brick moon with his friends.
- Rob CrusoeA New York carpenter who builds a secret cottage on a vacant lot to give his mother a home of her own.
- FridaA young Swedish immigrant who escapes a trap and finds shelter with Rob and his mother.
- Matty MolyneuxThe eldest daughter of a Washington official, who searches for lost receipts while keeping Christmas bright for her younger siblings.
- Nora McLaughlinA young Irish arrival in Boston who has only an address and needs to find her brother John.
- JoslynAn American railway engineer who tells the tale of a daring leap across a ravine and its consequences.
- Frederick DaneA night editor who turns an empty polling booth into a home and invites others to share a Thanksgiving.
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The Brick Moon, and Other Stories
by Edward Everett Hale · 1899
A brick moon two hundred feet wide slides into the sky by accident, and its friends on Earth start to search.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Personal presence is what moves the world.”
In short
What would you do if you wanted to hang a second moon over the Atlantic so that sailors could always find their longitude? In The Brick Moon, a group of college friends plan an orbiting aid to longitude.
The Brick Moon, and Other Stories at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 40 min4 h 30 min fast, 6 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 81,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1899by Edward Everett Hale
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Friends dream up a moon to fix longitude
The Brick Moon begins with a puzzle that sailors faced for centuries. Latitude is easy, because the North Star stands as high above the horizon as you are far from the equator. Longitude is harder, since nothing in the sky tells you how far east or west of Greenwich you stand. Captain Frederic Ingham tells the story as patiently as a schoolmaster.
As students, Ingham and his friends imagine a tower at Greenwich so tall it could be seen from far away. Nobody can build it, so a friend called Q. proposes launching a giant moon built from bricks into orbit.
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Details
- First published
- 1899
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Hale, Edward Everett. The Brick Moon, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-brick-moon-and-other-stories.
Hale, E. E. (2026). The brick moon, and other stories. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-brick-moon-and-other-stories (Original work published 1899)
Hale, Edward Everett. The Brick Moon, and Other Stories. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-brick-moon-and-other-stories.
@book{hale2026brick,
author = {Hale, Edward Everett},
title = {The Brick Moon, and Other Stories},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-brick-moon-and-other-stories},
note = {First published 1899}
}
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What is The Brick Moon about?
It tells how friends plan and build a huge brick satellite to help sailors find their longitude. Captain Frederic Ingham tells the story, from a college dream to funding, a Maine building site, and a launch that goes wrong.
What other stories are in The Brick Moon and Other Stories?
The collection includes Crusoe in New York, Bread on the Waters, The Lost Palace, 99 Linwood Street, Ideals, One Cent, Thanksgiving at the Polls, and The Survivor's Story. Several are Christmas or Thanksgiving tales.
Is The Brick Moon a true story, and when was it written?
It is fiction. Hale wrote it in Schenectady in 1870 and published it in the Atlantic Monthly in 1870 and 1871. Its idea of a human-built satellite anticipates later space travel, while the storytelling remains playful.
The author
Edward Everett Hale
1822–1909 · American author and minister
Edward Everett Hale was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister. He was born in Boston in 1822 and died there in 1909. He served as minister of Boston’s South Congregational Church from 1856 to 1899. He wrote “The Man Without a Country” in 1863 and “The Brick Moon” in 1869.
“Personal presence is what moves the world.”
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