What do you think?
Rate this book
Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are
An intimate look at the Moon and its relationship to life on Earth--from the primordial soup to the Artemis launches--from an acclaimed Scientific American and Atlantic contributor
Far from being a lifeless ornament in the sky, the Moon holds the key to some of science’s central questions, and in this fascinating account of our remarkable satellite, award-winning science journalist Rebecca Boyle shows us why it is the secret to our success.
The Moon stabilizes the Earth’s tilt toward the Sun, creating reliable seasons. The durability of this tilt over millennia stabilizes our climate. The Moon pulls on the ocean, driving the tides. It was these tides that mixed nutrients in the sea, enabling the evolution of complex life and, ultimately, bringing life onto land.
But the Moon also played a pivotal role in our conceptual development. While the Sun helped humans to mark daily time, hunters and gatherers used the phases of the Moon to count months and years, allowing them to situate themselves in time and plan for the future. Its role in the development of religion—Mesopotamian priests recorded the Moon’s position to make predictions about the Moon god--created the earliest known empirical, scientific observation.
Boyle deftly reframes the history of scientific discovery through a lunar lens, from Mesopotamia to the present day. Touching on ancient astronomers including Claudius Ptolemy; ancient philosophers from Anaxagoras to Plutarch; the scientific revolution of Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler; and the lunar fiction of writers like Jules Verne--which inspired Wernher von Braun, the Nazi rocket scientist who succeeded in landing humans on the Moon--Boyle charts our path with the Moon from the origins of human civilization to the Apollo landings and up to the present.
Even as astronauts around the world prepare to return to the Moon, opening up new frontiers of discovery, profit, and politics, Our Moon brings the Moon down to Earth.
Far from being a lifeless ornament in the sky, the Moon holds the key to some of science’s central questions, and in this fascinating account of our remarkable satellite, award-winning science journalist Rebecca Boyle shows us why it is the secret to our success.
The Moon stabilizes the Earth’s tilt toward the Sun, creating reliable seasons. The durability of this tilt over millennia stabilizes our climate. The Moon pulls on the ocean, driving the tides. It was these tides that mixed nutrients in the sea, enabling the evolution of complex life and, ultimately, bringing life onto land.
But the Moon also played a pivotal role in our conceptual development. While the Sun helped humans to mark daily time, hunters and gatherers used the phases of the Moon to count months and years, allowing them to situate themselves in time and plan for the future. Its role in the development of religion—Mesopotamian priests recorded the Moon’s position to make predictions about the Moon god--created the earliest known empirical, scientific observation.
Boyle deftly reframes the history of scientific discovery through a lunar lens, from Mesopotamia to the present day. Touching on ancient astronomers including Claudius Ptolemy; ancient philosophers from Anaxagoras to Plutarch; the scientific revolution of Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler; and the lunar fiction of writers like Jules Verne--which inspired Wernher von Braun, the Nazi rocket scientist who succeeded in landing humans on the Moon--Boyle charts our path with the Moon from the origins of human civilization to the Apollo landings and up to the present.
Even as astronauts around the world prepare to return to the Moon, opening up new frontiers of discovery, profit, and politics, Our Moon brings the Moon down to Earth.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 16, 2024
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews
August 15, 2024
I picked this up anticipating a fun and informative read mixing science and history, and man, was I disappointed. Kept reading hoping it would get better, and my advice to anyone else finding themselves less than enamored is: don’t, because it doesn’t.
The best part of this book is the opening, which shares some cool factoids about the moon with promise of more to come: stuff like the moon’s rocks being sharper because it has no wind, the optical illusions resulting from its lack of atmosphere, the fact that up close it’s actually somewhat colorful (see a former astronaut’s artwork here). Various organisms have not just circadian rhythms but internal lunar clocks as well. The science part was most interesting to me because I knew least about it, but often poorly explained—the math parts really needed diagrams, along with more detail—but instead Boyle spends time hammering obvious points. Like after pointing out that the moon has no life, not even bacteria in the soil, she feels the need to go on to specify that it has no birds in the sky, and even “no culture, except the one we brought.” I think that goes without saying…?
This was a harbinger of things to come however, as the book is basically an impressionistic mash of stuff that’s interesting to the author, who clearly has a lot of feelings about everything moon-related (for some reason she capitalizes Moon throughout). But it did not translate itself well to this reader, and I was left without even a clear or complete narrative of things like the moon missions. Her history picks and chooses from all your standard western civ stuff: archaeological finds in Bronze Age Europe (the author finds historically ancient but biologically modern humans tracking the moon mind-blowing, for reasons not quite clear to me), a little bit of ancient Mesopotamia (which was interesting, mostly the kings consolidating power through priestesses who were at least legally speaking their daughters), the usual on the ancient Greeks and the early modern European astronomers. She spends a few pages at the end talking about Native Americans, mostly making excuses for why she didn’t visit their sites despite living in the U.S., and didn’t learn anything when she did. Asia is acknowledged in passing to exist, Africa barely gets that.
Boyle also loves to give the moon credit for everything, inflating it to the point that her valid points can be lost. Early calendars were often lunar? “The Moon is responsible for the beginning of time.” Further, “[t]he Moon’s time-setting abilities meant humans could use it to plan, which meant they could invent.” Not just technological inventions, either: elsewhere she speculates that “the people of Mesopotamia invented religion” (moon-worship, of course), imagining that the moon first proved useful and only then evolved into an object of worship. (I don’t think this is how prehistoric people worked; religion is always present. Boyle provides no support for the idea that the Mesopotamians “invented” it.) It gets credit for teaching people to think too: “lunar symbolism likely enabled humans to understand, or at least to relate to, the otherwise mysterious concepts of becoming, birth, vanishing, death, resurrection, renewal, and eternity.” (Because the sun, the seasons, and plant, animal and human life don’t also show this, or are apparently harder to relate to than the moon? Given Boyle’s comments about considering “the perspective of the Moon” on mineral exploitation, maybe she does relate to it that strongly, but I don’t think this perspective is widely held.)
Anyway, assorted other things annoyed me, like the generalizations that swing wildly from assuming “people in the ancient world knew X” because some thinker in the ancient world wrote down X (with no way of knowing what people in general knew), on the one hand, to telling us that only “literate white men who owned property” were even aware of the Enlightenment, which is patently absurd. For one thing, knowledge was generally greater in cities, where fewer people owned property; for another, lots of women were involved, from those who ran the great salons of Paris where these conversations happened, to those who made discoveries in their own right—one of whom was actually profiled at length in the very book the author cited at the beginning of the same paragraph!
It makes you wonder to what extent Boyle even read the books she cites, especially when, also on that page, she has a footnote recommending a bunch of the most well-known science fiction books, with wildly off-base descriptions. The Dispossessed: “allegorical treatment of a big, beautiful wall dividing cultures.” (What? This is neither an allegory nor a book about a wall, and the closest it comes to including one is an unremarkable waist-high fence around a shuttle launch area. It’s a novel exploring different political and social systems on different satellites.) The Broken Earth trilogy: “frank treatment of climate-driven mass migration and segregation based on race and homosexuality.” (All right, I’ve only read the first, but this is an oppressed mages story, as an allegory for race and perhaps homosexuality, but does not feature segregation based on either. Also I’m not sure “climate-driven mass migration” quite describes “small number of survivors fleeing geo-magical apocalypse” but anyway.) While this is a footnote, I have to wonder if Boyle’s understanding of her scientific and historical sources was equally skewed.
At any rate, clearly this book annoyed me a lot, and generally wasted my time. A disappointment.
The best part of this book is the opening, which shares some cool factoids about the moon with promise of more to come: stuff like the moon’s rocks being sharper because it has no wind, the optical illusions resulting from its lack of atmosphere, the fact that up close it’s actually somewhat colorful (see a former astronaut’s artwork here). Various organisms have not just circadian rhythms but internal lunar clocks as well. The science part was most interesting to me because I knew least about it, but often poorly explained—the math parts really needed diagrams, along with more detail—but instead Boyle spends time hammering obvious points. Like after pointing out that the moon has no life, not even bacteria in the soil, she feels the need to go on to specify that it has no birds in the sky, and even “no culture, except the one we brought.” I think that goes without saying…?
This was a harbinger of things to come however, as the book is basically an impressionistic mash of stuff that’s interesting to the author, who clearly has a lot of feelings about everything moon-related (for some reason she capitalizes Moon throughout). But it did not translate itself well to this reader, and I was left without even a clear or complete narrative of things like the moon missions. Her history picks and chooses from all your standard western civ stuff: archaeological finds in Bronze Age Europe (the author finds historically ancient but biologically modern humans tracking the moon mind-blowing, for reasons not quite clear to me), a little bit of ancient Mesopotamia (which was interesting, mostly the kings consolidating power through priestesses who were at least legally speaking their daughters), the usual on the ancient Greeks and the early modern European astronomers. She spends a few pages at the end talking about Native Americans, mostly making excuses for why she didn’t visit their sites despite living in the U.S., and didn’t learn anything when she did. Asia is acknowledged in passing to exist, Africa barely gets that.
Boyle also loves to give the moon credit for everything, inflating it to the point that her valid points can be lost. Early calendars were often lunar? “The Moon is responsible for the beginning of time.” Further, “[t]he Moon’s time-setting abilities meant humans could use it to plan, which meant they could invent.” Not just technological inventions, either: elsewhere she speculates that “the people of Mesopotamia invented religion” (moon-worship, of course), imagining that the moon first proved useful and only then evolved into an object of worship. (I don’t think this is how prehistoric people worked; religion is always present. Boyle provides no support for the idea that the Mesopotamians “invented” it.) It gets credit for teaching people to think too: “lunar symbolism likely enabled humans to understand, or at least to relate to, the otherwise mysterious concepts of becoming, birth, vanishing, death, resurrection, renewal, and eternity.” (Because the sun, the seasons, and plant, animal and human life don’t also show this, or are apparently harder to relate to than the moon? Given Boyle’s comments about considering “the perspective of the Moon” on mineral exploitation, maybe she does relate to it that strongly, but I don’t think this perspective is widely held.)
Anyway, assorted other things annoyed me, like the generalizations that swing wildly from assuming “people in the ancient world knew X” because some thinker in the ancient world wrote down X (with no way of knowing what people in general knew), on the one hand, to telling us that only “literate white men who owned property” were even aware of the Enlightenment, which is patently absurd. For one thing, knowledge was generally greater in cities, where fewer people owned property; for another, lots of women were involved, from those who ran the great salons of Paris where these conversations happened, to those who made discoveries in their own right—one of whom was actually profiled at length in the very book the author cited at the beginning of the same paragraph!
It makes you wonder to what extent Boyle even read the books she cites, especially when, also on that page, she has a footnote recommending a bunch of the most well-known science fiction books, with wildly off-base descriptions. The Dispossessed: “allegorical treatment of a big, beautiful wall dividing cultures.” (What? This is neither an allegory nor a book about a wall, and the closest it comes to including one is an unremarkable waist-high fence around a shuttle launch area. It’s a novel exploring different political and social systems on different satellites.) The Broken Earth trilogy: “frank treatment of climate-driven mass migration and segregation based on race and homosexuality.” (All right, I’ve only read the first, but this is an oppressed mages story, as an allegory for race and perhaps homosexuality, but does not feature segregation based on either. Also I’m not sure “climate-driven mass migration” quite describes “small number of survivors fleeing geo-magical apocalypse” but anyway.) While this is a footnote, I have to wonder if Boyle’s understanding of her scientific and historical sources was equally skewed.
At any rate, clearly this book annoyed me a lot, and generally wasted my time. A disappointment.
October 30, 2023
Thanks to NetGalley and Random. House for an ARC of this book.
I teach high school astronomy and am always looking for books to read with my students or to give me up to date information on class topics. This book exceeded all of my hopes for those purposes. There was a lot of new science on the formation of the moon and even more on the history of human interactions with it. I know much about Greek philosophers and their roles in developing our understanding of the Cosmos, but had never heard of Basilios Bassarion and his role in preserving the documents we have today from some of those philosophers. Galileo is a major part of my class but now I know to talk about Thomas Harriot whose telecopic moon sketches preceeded those of Galileo. I appreciated not only the thorough research, but also the joyful awe that I felt from the author as I read this book.
I teach high school astronomy and am always looking for books to read with my students or to give me up to date information on class topics. This book exceeded all of my hopes for those purposes. There was a lot of new science on the formation of the moon and even more on the history of human interactions with it. I know much about Greek philosophers and their roles in developing our understanding of the Cosmos, but had never heard of Basilios Bassarion and his role in preserving the documents we have today from some of those philosophers. Galileo is a major part of my class but now I know to talk about Thomas Harriot whose telecopic moon sketches preceeded those of Galileo. I appreciated not only the thorough research, but also the joyful awe that I felt from the author as I read this book.
March 19, 2024
In Our Moon Rebecca Boyle shares her feelings about our moon ("our silvery sister"). I say feelings, as this is more a book about mankind's, pardon me, humankind's relationship with the moon than a scientific approach. I liked the parts where she discussed the likely origin of the Moon, the lunar calendar of Warren Field and the Nebra sky disc, but in the end the sometimes esoteric approach to our Moon managed to distract me. All narrated in the sometimes moaning voice of Rebecca Lowman, which also didn't help.
2.5 stars, rounded up to three.
2.5 stars, rounded up to three.
March 30, 2024
Ancient civilizations sailed the lunar seas of time, navigating humanity towards structured systems like agriculture and spirituality. As Galileo faced the astronomical fallout for challenging Earth's starring role, the moon had already distanced itself from celestial devotion, leaving people to moon over its true purpose—themes brilliantly explored in "Our Moon."
Boyle embarks on a lunar quest, visiting remote fields in Scotland, unearthing discoveries like the Nebra Sky Disc, shedding light on how early Europeans engineered spaces to sync with lunar cycles for precision timekeeping. Venturing to Mesopotamia, Boyle shines a light on the lunar sway over a king's reign, potentially sealing Babylon's fate. Greek observations, eclipsed by dogma and biblical interpretations, obscured lunar truths for centuries until the scientific sunrise of the Renaissance, eventually bringing it all to The V2 rocket and the Apollo missions.
Boyle skillfully reshapes scientific history through a lunar lens, spanning from Mesopotamian stargazers to modern lunar landings, interweaving luminaries like Copernicus and Galileo. From Jules Verne's lunar reveries to Wernher von Braun's gravity-defying reality, Boyle's narrative orbits the moon, tracing humanity's celestial comedy of errors to the present day. Truly out of this world.
Boyle embarks on a lunar quest, visiting remote fields in Scotland, unearthing discoveries like the Nebra Sky Disc, shedding light on how early Europeans engineered spaces to sync with lunar cycles for precision timekeeping. Venturing to Mesopotamia, Boyle shines a light on the lunar sway over a king's reign, potentially sealing Babylon's fate. Greek observations, eclipsed by dogma and biblical interpretations, obscured lunar truths for centuries until the scientific sunrise of the Renaissance, eventually bringing it all to The V2 rocket and the Apollo missions.
Boyle skillfully reshapes scientific history through a lunar lens, spanning from Mesopotamian stargazers to modern lunar landings, interweaving luminaries like Copernicus and Galileo. From Jules Verne's lunar reveries to Wernher von Braun's gravity-defying reality, Boyle's narrative orbits the moon, tracing humanity's celestial comedy of errors to the present day. Truly out of this world.
January 26, 2024
There has been a recent trend of writing non-fiction books that look at history from the perspective of a particular phenomenon. While it often gives an interesting insight into well-known facts, it has its caveats. In this case, the result is a bit chaotic.
The book starts with geology, describing the origin of the Moon and its influence on the Earth, then dives into archaeology and folklore, and ends with the history of space exploration. You will find a lot of interesting facts here, but overall it feels fragmented. And as some other reviewers mentioned, the style is a bit dry and sometimes not very engaging. But I think hardcore fans of astronomy may find it fascinating.
Thanks to the publisher, Random House, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
The book starts with geology, describing the origin of the Moon and its influence on the Earth, then dives into archaeology and folklore, and ends with the history of space exploration. You will find a lot of interesting facts here, but overall it feels fragmented. And as some other reviewers mentioned, the style is a bit dry and sometimes not very engaging. But I think hardcore fans of astronomy may find it fascinating.
Thanks to the publisher, Random House, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
August 25, 2024
(1.9) hard to say why I was so bored by this book. Sure familiar territory, the marginal wokeness, the silly mysticism, the complete ancient archaeological guesswork, the injection of the author into the story…
Well, I guess I do know why the book bored me.
Well, I guess I do know why the book bored me.
June 12, 2023
An absolutely amazing and well-written book about our moon, what it’s like, what it does, and how we have interacted with it from Earth.
February 26, 2024
"The Moon has shaped our rulers, and their conquests, since civilization’s earliest days, but its power over us is far more ancient than even our conflicts..."
Our Moon was an informative read, but I felt that the writing dragged here at times... I was looking for something a bit different from the books I typically read, and put this one on my list when I came across it.
Author Rebecca Boyle is an award-winning science writer. She writes for The Atlantic, the New York Times, New Scientist, Popular Science, Smithsonian Air & Space, and many other publications.
Rebecca Boyle:
Boyle opens the book with a very well-written intro, that talks about her grandfather's participation in the battle of Tarawa. I had high hopes for the writing that was to follow. Unfortunately, I found that it got more esoteric and tedious as the book went on... More below.
She drops the quote at the start of this review in the intro, and it continues below:
In this quote, she lays out the aim of the book:
Unfortunately, as touched on above, I did not find the writing in the second ~half of the book to be as engaging and interesting as the writing in the first half. Now, fault me if you want for being too picky, but I am very particular about how lively and engaging the books I read are. Sadly, I found my finicky attention wandering numerous times here, particularly after the ~ halfway point, when she spends quite a lot of time talking about ancient Sumerian Moon worshippers in ~600BCE.
Also, for reasons unknown, the author somehow manages to shoehorn in various assorted bits of irrelevant leftist politicking into these pages. She has a decently sized chunk of writing about how the Space Program could have fed hungry children, with some snarkish commentary about the American efforts towards besting the Communist sphere in the Space Race.
Although she did mostly manage (fortunately) to keep a fairly tight leash on it for most of the book, she lets out this line, which I found both cringey and hilarious:
"...The Moon landing occurred during, and because of, the Cold War. So in one sense, it is impressive that the language included “for all mankind” in that (unfortunately gendered) last line."
~"Mankind." You know, as in the colloquial term used to describe all of humanity? A word that's been common parlance in the English language since the 13th century. But, ya, let's complain about putting that on a plaque. Christ, these people are exhausting. Should the plaque have said "peoplekind" instead?? Ridiculous nonsense...
You know, it's becoming more and more difficult to pick up a nonfiction book these days without reading the unnecessary and (most often) unwelcomed author's political commentary. Commentary that is, more often than not; completely juvenile and ridiculous.
It would be nice to pick up a book about the Moon, and have the author just tell the fucking story, without adding her own shit-tier, low-resolution partisan politicking...
That an author can't write a book about the Moon without adding in derogatory tidbits of writing about America, men, or other assorted SJW nonsense should serve as a barometer of her ideological possession.
I really, really dislike it when authors cram their own partisan talking points into books where they have no business being.
Ok, end rant.
********************
If you are looking for a one-stop shop for all things "Moon," then this is your book. The scope of the writing here is incredibly broad. Unfortunately, quite a lot of the wiring trended towards minutia, and I found my attention wandering numerous times here...
I think that a large chunk of the book should have been taken out for the sake of brevity and clarity.
3 stars, rounded down to 2.5 due to the inclusion of the author's mindless leftist commentary.
Our Moon was an informative read, but I felt that the writing dragged here at times... I was looking for something a bit different from the books I typically read, and put this one on my list when I came across it.
Author Rebecca Boyle is an award-winning science writer. She writes for The Atlantic, the New York Times, New Scientist, Popular Science, Smithsonian Air & Space, and many other publications.
Rebecca Boyle:
Boyle opens the book with a very well-written intro, that talks about her grandfather's participation in the battle of Tarawa. I had high hopes for the writing that was to follow. Unfortunately, I found that it got more esoteric and tedious as the book went on... More below.
She drops the quote at the start of this review in the intro, and it continues below:
"...The Moon’s influence goes back to the sulfurous origins of this planet and everything that crawls, flaps, swims, or strains skyward on its surface. The Moon guides all of us from its vaulted position above us. But it’s not apart from us, not least because it is actually a part of Earth. It was sheared from Earth when the planet was still freshly baked. And its elliptical orbit does not technically circle Earth, at least not in the way you might think. Instead, Earth and the Moon orbit each other, pivoting around a combined center of gravity that guides them both and that shapes their shared history.
Today, the Moon directs migrations, reproductions, the movements of the leaves of plants, and possibly the very blood in your veins. The Moon conducts the symphony of life on Earth, from the people who wage war on one another to the coral polyps that built the reefs of Tarawa. It has guided evolution since the moment of life’s first stirrings, which occurred either inside deep ocean vents or in warm little pools at the water’s edge, both of which derive nutrients through the Moon’s tide.
The Moon makes Earth unique, certainly in our solar system and possibly in the broader cosmos. It made us who we are, in ways that scientists are just beginning to understand, from our physiology to our psychology. It taught us how to tell time, which we used to impose order on the world. The Moon inspired the human projects of religion, philosophy, science, and discovery."
In this quote, she lays out the aim of the book:
"This book is the story of our journey with the Moon in three parts: how the Moon was made, how the Moon made us, and how we made the Moon in our image. This is not solely an astronomy book, and it is not an Apollo book, though astronomy and the Apollo missions are both inseparable from humanity’s journey with the Moon. This is a book about time, life on Earth, human civilization, our place in the universe, and how the Moon has made all of it possible. I hope this book changes your understanding of all these things. And I hope it changes the way you see the Moon, this partner world that has always been with you, and which I hope you notice anew the next time you go outside at night."
Unfortunately, as touched on above, I did not find the writing in the second ~half of the book to be as engaging and interesting as the writing in the first half. Now, fault me if you want for being too picky, but I am very particular about how lively and engaging the books I read are. Sadly, I found my finicky attention wandering numerous times here, particularly after the ~ halfway point, when she spends quite a lot of time talking about ancient Sumerian Moon worshippers in ~600BCE.
Also, for reasons unknown, the author somehow manages to shoehorn in various assorted bits of irrelevant leftist politicking into these pages. She has a decently sized chunk of writing about how the Space Program could have fed hungry children, with some snarkish commentary about the American efforts towards besting the Communist sphere in the Space Race.
Although she did mostly manage (fortunately) to keep a fairly tight leash on it for most of the book, she lets out this line, which I found both cringey and hilarious:
"...The Moon landing occurred during, and because of, the Cold War. So in one sense, it is impressive that the language included “for all mankind” in that (unfortunately gendered) last line."
~"Mankind." You know, as in the colloquial term used to describe all of humanity? A word that's been common parlance in the English language since the 13th century. But, ya, let's complain about putting that on a plaque. Christ, these people are exhausting. Should the plaque have said "peoplekind" instead?? Ridiculous nonsense...
You know, it's becoming more and more difficult to pick up a nonfiction book these days without reading the unnecessary and (most often) unwelcomed author's political commentary. Commentary that is, more often than not; completely juvenile and ridiculous.
It would be nice to pick up a book about the Moon, and have the author just tell the fucking story, without adding her own shit-tier, low-resolution partisan politicking...
That an author can't write a book about the Moon without adding in derogatory tidbits of writing about America, men, or other assorted SJW nonsense should serve as a barometer of her ideological possession.
I really, really dislike it when authors cram their own partisan talking points into books where they have no business being.
Ok, end rant.
********************
If you are looking for a one-stop shop for all things "Moon," then this is your book. The scope of the writing here is incredibly broad. Unfortunately, quite a lot of the wiring trended towards minutia, and I found my attention wandering numerous times here...
I think that a large chunk of the book should have been taken out for the sake of brevity and clarity.
3 stars, rounded down to 2.5 due to the inclusion of the author's mindless leftist commentary.
Shelved as '2024'
May 29, 2024📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Random House
April 5, 2024
How do you make a fascinating subject like the literal Moon of Earth into a book this boring?? Otherwise a neutral 3 stars, I had to punish this book for ultimately being too annoying in several ways.
First, the footnotes. Two of them contain everything you really need to know about this book. Page 126: "During the American-led war in 1991, Saddam parked fighter jets near the ziggurat because he imagined the Americans would not risk destroying the priceless monument. It was still damaged by bomb shrapnel."
Oops! The priceless world heritage monument of Ur was still damaged!? How'd that happen??! Anyway....
After struggling along a bit further, on page 152/259, we finally find what we were looking for this whole book, also in footnote form. The Moon... how does it work?
"Start out when the Moon is new. Find the crescent hanging low in the sky at dusk, before it's dark outside. The Moon will follow the Sun down, sinking on the western horizon before night fully falls. The next night, look again. The Moon is thicker now, and a little higher in the sky when you first spot it. Keep watching, and within a few days, the Moon is half illuminated-a pie sliced in two, with the visible side facing the early-evening Sun. The Moon is full when the Sun is setting, and in the following days, the Moon shrinks again. By last quarter, you can see it just ahead of the Sun in the early-morning sky, once again with its luminous half facing our nearest star."
THANK YOU!!! Sorry but I didn't need to go on a storytelling journey, I just needed to know how this shit works because half of my coworkers think the Earth is flat now. I'm just trying to get a little perspective!! The scientific class does NOT understand what is coming!
The MOST important thing I learned very serendipitously from this book is that there is a solar eclipse next Monday lol. How the fuck did I just happen to be reading about that? 🔮 To anyone reading this past Monday, April 8, 2024, I apologize. It’s not happening again for 20 years.
Besides placing important information in twee footnotes, and being basic, this book also just gave up when it came time to analyze Native American or African moon cultures because... it was too hard! There was covid! And too many genocides.... sorry! She tried!
I thought this book was going to bring me some enlightenment, and it did. I became aware of the fact that scientists are writing for their lissencephalic NPR-brained peers and not at all for the common people who are reading posts.
First, the footnotes. Two of them contain everything you really need to know about this book. Page 126: "During the American-led war in 1991, Saddam parked fighter jets near the ziggurat because he imagined the Americans would not risk destroying the priceless monument. It was still damaged by bomb shrapnel."
Oops! The priceless world heritage monument of Ur was still damaged!? How'd that happen??! Anyway....
After struggling along a bit further, on page 152/259, we finally find what we were looking for this whole book, also in footnote form. The Moon... how does it work?
"Start out when the Moon is new. Find the crescent hanging low in the sky at dusk, before it's dark outside. The Moon will follow the Sun down, sinking on the western horizon before night fully falls. The next night, look again. The Moon is thicker now, and a little higher in the sky when you first spot it. Keep watching, and within a few days, the Moon is half illuminated-a pie sliced in two, with the visible side facing the early-evening Sun. The Moon is full when the Sun is setting, and in the following days, the Moon shrinks again. By last quarter, you can see it just ahead of the Sun in the early-morning sky, once again with its luminous half facing our nearest star."
THANK YOU!!! Sorry but I didn't need to go on a storytelling journey, I just needed to know how this shit works because half of my coworkers think the Earth is flat now. I'm just trying to get a little perspective!! The scientific class does NOT understand what is coming!
The MOST important thing I learned very serendipitously from this book is that there is a solar eclipse next Monday lol. How the fuck did I just happen to be reading about that? 🔮 To anyone reading this past Monday, April 8, 2024, I apologize. It’s not happening again for 20 years.
Besides placing important information in twee footnotes, and being basic, this book also just gave up when it came time to analyze Native American or African moon cultures because... it was too hard! There was covid! And too many genocides.... sorry! She tried!
I thought this book was going to bring me some enlightenment, and it did. I became aware of the fact that scientists are writing for their lissencephalic NPR-brained peers and not at all for the common people who are reading posts.
November 17, 2023
The moon presents a familiar face during most clear nights, and because it has always been there, it is generally taken for granted. However, the moon is a vital component of our world, and none of us would be here had it not joined the Earth! Our Moon explains the significance and importance of the moon to the development of our planet, our environment, our ecology and our society.
I enjoyed the scientific history and lunar exploration, though was less-interested in the extensive folklore of the moon. However, it cannot be denied that this mythology was strongly influential in our cultural history.
An interesting, well-written, in-depth study of our moon that will probably appeal most to amateur astronomers and those who enjoy science and history.
I enjoyed the scientific history and lunar exploration, though was less-interested in the extensive folklore of the moon. However, it cannot be denied that this mythology was strongly influential in our cultural history.
An interesting, well-written, in-depth study of our moon that will probably appeal most to amateur astronomers and those who enjoy science and history.
June 26, 2024
A boring book on a fascinating subject :/ 10 pages of this book would immediately put me to sleep, no matter the time of day. I had to force myself to finish this book and was relieved when the last 50 pages were of bibliography and index so I didn’t have to actually read 50 more pages. I wish the book noted when there are pictures of what she is talking about in the center section of the book. You just have to guess if it’s important enough for a glossy photo and keep flipping back and forth while reading. Lots of fancy science terminology that was not defined well. I was hoping for more “woo-woo”stuff too based on the book cover of canines howling and the subtitle but there was none. I love a good sciency book though but this was not good. The only thing that I commend Rebecca Boyle on is the immense amount of research that went into this book. However, I wish she kept researching after Covid settled down how she mentions her plans were to talk to Navajo people, Plains Indians, and visit Cahokia but couldnt because of the lockdown. Why not wait to complete your book?
September 4, 2023
I loved this book. Rebecca Boyle writes with a tone that is the perfect mixture of literary writing and crispness. The science is very clearly explained. But the book is about a lot more than just science. There are discussions of the relationship between the moon and culture, religion and history. She also writes with some humor and the footnotes are certainly worth reading. Overall I felt that this book was well worth reading. Apparently this is Boyle’s first book and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the digital review copy.
July 6, 2024
I read this as part of my effort to read more books in the same year that they are released.
I liked the format of this, it explores the moon from all different angles: scientifically, culturally, historically, through fiction, etc etc. It doesn't get stuck in any ruts and is more interested in just touching on fun anecdotes and tidbits of information, which is my preference for non-fiction.
I'm not sure if there is anything particularly revelatory or must-read about this, but I had a good time with it.
I liked the format of this, it explores the moon from all different angles: scientifically, culturally, historically, through fiction, etc etc. It doesn't get stuck in any ruts and is more interested in just touching on fun anecdotes and tidbits of information, which is my preference for non-fiction.
I'm not sure if there is anything particularly revelatory or must-read about this, but I had a good time with it.
June 22, 2023
As someone who knows a lot about the modern space race and rocketry, it was really interesting to read how ancient cultures were able to measure time using the moon. The author is able to present complex topics such as the creation of planets in a way that is digestible and interesting. Within all the talk of ancient civilizations, I expected a chapter on religions and/or cults that were inspired by the moon, but there was a lot of ground to cover.
I do wish that some of the chapters had been broken into more small ones organized by topic vs less, longer chapters. Overall a fun read.
I do wish that some of the chapters had been broken into more small ones organized by topic vs less, longer chapters. Overall a fun read.
July 23, 2024
Rebecca Boyle's Our Moon was a major disappointment. I don't have my copy at hand so I cannot give detailed examples, but the text has way too many misleading sentences and expressions. If you choose to take a lenient view, they're not excatly errors but, nevertheless, the reader ends up with the wrong impression.
The chapter(s?) where she talks about Alfred Wegener and the origin of the Moon are the worst. Boyle very confusingly jumps back and forth in time and, erroneously, claims that Wegener invented plate tectonics (I'm a Wegener fan and he invented a lot of things, one of them being continental drift, but that's not the same thing as plate tectonics). The whole thing just isn't coherent enough to be enjoyable, and Boyle includes herself in the story too much to my liking.
The topic of the book – how our perception of the Moon has changed during the past several thousand years and how fortunate it is to have such a large natural satellite– is obviously a very fascinating one. Boyle deals with archaeology, history, biology and lunar science, but not with art or literature. That's an understandable omission, because those topics require books of their own.
Overall, I think Our Moon is a good effort, but the end result is a bit of a mess. It never reached the emotional level that I had hoped it would. I'm not a fan of the cover, either.
3.25/5
The chapter(s?) where she talks about Alfred Wegener and the origin of the Moon are the worst. Boyle very confusingly jumps back and forth in time and, erroneously, claims that Wegener invented plate tectonics (I'm a Wegener fan and he invented a lot of things, one of them being continental drift, but that's not the same thing as plate tectonics). The whole thing just isn't coherent enough to be enjoyable, and Boyle includes herself in the story too much to my liking.
The topic of the book – how our perception of the Moon has changed during the past several thousand years and how fortunate it is to have such a large natural satellite– is obviously a very fascinating one. Boyle deals with archaeology, history, biology and lunar science, but not with art or literature. That's an understandable omission, because those topics require books of their own.
Overall, I think Our Moon is a good effort, but the end result is a bit of a mess. It never reached the emotional level that I had hoped it would. I'm not a fan of the cover, either.
3.25/5
May 18, 2024
Ms Boyle has written a daring and passionate essay about the Moon and its relationship to the Earth and humans. She divides the work into three parts; how the Moon was made, how the Moon made us and how we made the Moon.
The first part covers the moons’ creation and she shows that it’s likely that the Moon and Earth are conjoined in their mutual genesis. This was news to me. It also gave me a greater perspective on how the Moon and Earth are so closely related and need to be seen as twins with our sun playing an important supporting role.
How the Moon made us is my favorite part because the author takes many familiar stories from history like Julius Caesar and the Ides of March where the Moon figures prominently and shows how critical it is to the course of human history.
Unfortunately the last part of the book - how we made the moon - suffers from a weak summary of the moon program. I guess it couldn’t be left out but it is a story much more about man rather than the moon. Here man is the hero of his own story and most of the book makes the Moon the hero. Most of the book is great. It preserves the mystery, the majesty and the centrality of the Moon in the life of Earth.
The first part covers the moons’ creation and she shows that it’s likely that the Moon and Earth are conjoined in their mutual genesis. This was news to me. It also gave me a greater perspective on how the Moon and Earth are so closely related and need to be seen as twins with our sun playing an important supporting role.
How the Moon made us is my favorite part because the author takes many familiar stories from history like Julius Caesar and the Ides of March where the Moon figures prominently and shows how critical it is to the course of human history.
Unfortunately the last part of the book - how we made the moon - suffers from a weak summary of the moon program. I guess it couldn’t be left out but it is a story much more about man rather than the moon. Here man is the hero of his own story and most of the book makes the Moon the hero. Most of the book is great. It preserves the mystery, the majesty and the centrality of the Moon in the life of Earth.
Shelved as 'dnf'
September 25, 2024unfortunately, this book proved to me I truly have a pea brain and cannot read non-fiction. maybe I'll try again one day, because honestly the content of this book is super interesting, I just found myself not wanting to pick the book up because it was too big brain for me
February 1, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed this book about the moon and its influence, impact, and lure for us earthlings. From way before humans inhabited the earth to ancient times, currently, and in the future, the moon is intrinsically linked to earth, influencing plant, animal and human lives, helping us mark time, and so much more. The author has done a great job leveraging history, mythology, facts, connections and science to present a comprehensive and fascinating in-depth look at the moon and its continued allure on humankind. The book is remarkably easy flowing, despite the nature of the topic - it’s a happy blend of providing facts and insights and features individuals who have contributed to unravelling the mysteries of the moon over hundreds of years. The writing is extremely engaging and the pacing just right to absorb and comprehend this fascinating object in the sky we call moon. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
July 7, 2024
Think again, Jimmy. You see, the firing pin in your gun was made of, yep, zinc!
I do like these history books that try to capture the history of everything through one particular aspect. Mark Kurlansky's Salt springs to mind. Boyle tries to do the same thing to the moon here, and often succeeds; there are some truly interesting bits here, whether it's her visiting stoneage monuments, tracking selenology through Greeks and renaissance thinkers, or staring in awe at moon rocks.
The trouble is... it's just too damn big. It's THE MOON. You could write five thousand pages on its effects on human mythology, science and culture and barely get past the many times it's been rhymed with June. Trying to jam it all into 250 pages often makes it strained; she has to connect everything just to the moon, nothing is NOT about the moon. It's never not interesting, but maybe they really should have sent a poet.
I do like these history books that try to capture the history of everything through one particular aspect. Mark Kurlansky's Salt springs to mind. Boyle tries to do the same thing to the moon here, and often succeeds; there are some truly interesting bits here, whether it's her visiting stoneage monuments, tracking selenology through Greeks and renaissance thinkers, or staring in awe at moon rocks.
The trouble is... it's just too damn big. It's THE MOON. You could write five thousand pages on its effects on human mythology, science and culture and barely get past the many times it's been rhymed with June. Trying to jam it all into 250 pages often makes it strained; she has to connect everything just to the moon, nothing is NOT about the moon. It's never not interesting, but maybe they really should have sent a poet.
Shelved as 'dnf'
May 23, 2024DNF @62% not because it's bad, but because I just don't care enough to pick it up again.
-------------------------------------
So far this isn't doing much to hold my attention.
While I'm generally interested in the subject matter and scientific approach, even while tuning out all other distractions I found myself constantly wandering while reading this. I want to say it's been me lately, but I just re-listened to two favs yesterday and found myself so utterly engrossed that I didn't think of anything but the books while reading them. So it's not me this time, it's definitely the book.
It's probably the most technical and least approachable non-fiction I've read in awhile? Even though it starts with heavy personal anecdotes and frequent references to myth and legend. But there's a lot of dense jargon issued in a thick chunk which definitely makes it less consumable.
-------------------------------------
So far this isn't doing much to hold my attention.
While I'm generally interested in the subject matter and scientific approach, even while tuning out all other distractions I found myself constantly wandering while reading this. I want to say it's been me lately, but I just re-listened to two favs yesterday and found myself so utterly engrossed that I didn't think of anything but the books while reading them. So it's not me this time, it's definitely the book.
It's probably the most technical and least approachable non-fiction I've read in awhile? Even though it starts with heavy personal anecdotes and frequent references to myth and legend. But there's a lot of dense jargon issued in a thick chunk which definitely makes it less consumable.
January 12, 2024
I’ve always been fascinated (and somewhat scared) by our moon and I’ve always wondered what’s up there, how the moon affects our planet, how long it’ll last, why we don’t go back anymore, why we have one, how did we get it. I just always have so many questions about it so I was absolutely ecstatic to receive a proof of this wonderful book that provided me with so much more new information that I had no idea about.
I loved that this book gave insight into our exploration on the moon, the history of it, how religions and different cultures perceived the moon throughout human history, the impact it’s had on human life throughout the course of history. This is an absolutely fascinating read and one I would recommend to anyone that’s interested in our beautiful moon.
Thank you so much to Sceptre books for sending me a proof of this one.
I loved that this book gave insight into our exploration on the moon, the history of it, how religions and different cultures perceived the moon throughout human history, the impact it’s had on human life throughout the course of history. This is an absolutely fascinating read and one I would recommend to anyone that’s interested in our beautiful moon.
Thank you so much to Sceptre books for sending me a proof of this one.
March 9, 2024
A very readable, engaging book centered on the moon from multiple angles -- its origins, its geology, its impact on Earth's tilt and tides, and a longitudinal history of how life on earth has interacted with the moon.
August 10, 2024
You cannot know the joy of a book meeting your expectations until you experience it. This book is exactly what I anticipated—concise, sequentially arranged, and devoid of unnecessary content. It presents a purely scientific and historical narrative. I enjoyed every chapter, particularly Chapter 4, "The Moon and the Origin of Species," and Chapter 6, "Early Civilizations and the Compass of Time." It's a great read, whether you choose to listen or read it. I often run long distances on weekends and commute to the office twice a week; this book has been excellent company during those times.
Rebecca, you did a fantastic job researching and writing this book. I will definitely follow your future publications.
Rebecca, you did a fantastic job researching and writing this book. I will definitely follow your future publications.
Shelved as 'dnf'
September 14, 2024dnf at 16%. nothing particularly wrong with it i just was not into the writing at all
August 3, 2024
Really interesting!!! Weaving together history, storytelling, and science into a neat book about our closest neighbor
September 22, 2024
I suspect I would have struggled reading this in paper or ebook format, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable listen and I'd highly recommend that version. Thorough, interesting, funny.
May 28, 2024
In general, I love any topic related to astronomy. This book, however, was a bit all over the place. There was a repetitiveness about lunar dust and its’ color, or the temperature on the moon. Except the book sometimes states the obvious facts that are known as if we needed to experience it with narration by astronauts’ feelings. It was just chaotic in the end and I had a hard time seeing this one through. Which is a shame. Perhaps my hopes were too high that there would be really interesting learnings.
December 7, 2023
This is a lovely book that examines the Moon from scientific, folkloric, poetic, and other points of view, offering readers all sorts of eclectic information about our constant companion in the galaxy. I loved Boyle's ability to write about multiple approaches to studying how the Moon has affected human life, and how we measure that influence. Readers will be charmed, whatever their bent.
September 4, 2023
I learned a lot when I read this book. For instance, there is a hypothesis that our Earth has a larger mantle and core due to colliding with a planet named Theia. That collision resulted in the formation of our moon.
The moon by its existence stabilizes the Earth's orbit. Its gravitational pull is responsible for the length of our days, the seasons, and the tides, and affects animal migration and reproduction. The moon also likely contributed to life on this planet, since the moon's gravity pulled nutrients from the ocean floors to the surface. I wondered what our earth would be like if we had a smaller or larger moon or one not in the same orbit.
The author includes stories about how the moon influenced important events. One story was about how disastrous a military assault was during WWII. The tides did not rise as expected, and the Allied troops were not able to get their boats over a coral reef. They were trying to capture a small island with an important airstrip that would have put them in flying distance of Japan. Instead of sailing in, they had to fight their way in, and one-fifth of their troops died in the attempt.
I had always assumed that the moon would be barren rock, but it is covered with dust - sharp, abrasive dust that smells like gunpowder. We know this because our astronauts brought some back. They also reported that the dust got into everything and was extremely uncomfortable.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in how our moon came to be what it is, and how it impacts our planet. I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher Random House via NetGalley. It was a pleasure to read and review it.
The moon by its existence stabilizes the Earth's orbit. Its gravitational pull is responsible for the length of our days, the seasons, and the tides, and affects animal migration and reproduction. The moon also likely contributed to life on this planet, since the moon's gravity pulled nutrients from the ocean floors to the surface. I wondered what our earth would be like if we had a smaller or larger moon or one not in the same orbit.
The author includes stories about how the moon influenced important events. One story was about how disastrous a military assault was during WWII. The tides did not rise as expected, and the Allied troops were not able to get their boats over a coral reef. They were trying to capture a small island with an important airstrip that would have put them in flying distance of Japan. Instead of sailing in, they had to fight their way in, and one-fifth of their troops died in the attempt.
I had always assumed that the moon would be barren rock, but it is covered with dust - sharp, abrasive dust that smells like gunpowder. We know this because our astronauts brought some back. They also reported that the dust got into everything and was extremely uncomfortable.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in how our moon came to be what it is, and how it impacts our planet. I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher Random House via NetGalley. It was a pleasure to read and review it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews