Our Moon

Reviews / Votes

Delightful . . . The moon, as this passionate and absorbing book shows, is both fascinatingly strange and very much part of us -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times * Our Moon is superb: as much a feat of imagination as it is a work of globe-trotting scholarship -- Simon Ings * Telegraph * Boyle makes good on her promise: after reading this book, you will never look at the moon the same way again . . . fascinating -- Morgane Llanque * New Statesman * Boyle's long-standing fascination with the moon makes for an exciting read, but it also means that Our Moon is a great resource to dip back into after reading in its entirety . . . at its heart, it is a love letter to the moon -- Abigail Beall * New Scientist * Graceful . . . timely . . . The Moon is the only piece of a vast universe that most of us will ever get to experience: All you have to do is look up. Or, of course, look down into Boyle's new book, which makes the moon feel closer than ever -- Katrina Miller * New York Times * Our Moon skilfully combines science, anecdote and philosophy . . . This engrossing book tells us so much about the Moon and space exploration, but it also encourages readers to ponder on our planet and our insignificant place in the universe -- Martin Chilton, books of the month * Independent * An aeon-spanning opus . . . fascinating and revelatory -- Pat Carty * Sunday Independent * Boyle's fascinating debut explores our scientific and cultural relationship with the moon -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer * Poetic . . . fascinating . . . especially timely -- Kathryn Hughes * Daily Mail * I learned more about the Moon by reading this book than after a lifetime of study. Fascinating insights into the Moon's origins and history, but more than that, what it has meant to us, the people of Earth. This book is a must-read for anyone who has looked up at the Moon in wonder -- Chris Hadfield, author of AN ASTRONAUT'S GUIDE TO LIFE ON EARTH Boyle explores humanity's changing relationship to the Moon: from worshipping it as a god, to observing, exploring and then walking upon its desolate surface. This is a beautiful, evocative hymn to the intimate connection we have shared with our planet's cosmic companion -- Lewis Dartnell, author of BEING HUMAN Glinting with intriguing facts and fascinating connections, Our Moon reveals the astoundingly intimate relations between the closest heavenly body, the Earth and all life as we know it. Boyle's writing shines, shifting through time and space, science and sentiment; a luminous read -- Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author of KINDRED Our Moon is a riveting feat of science writing, which recasts that most familiar of celestial objects into something eerily extraordinary, pivotal to our history, and awesome in the original sense of the word. I learned so much -- Ed Yong, author of AN IMMENSE WORLD With a remarkable command of planetary science and human history Boyle provides a sweeping, lyrical new account of our cosmic neighbour, brilliantly reframing our relationship to a moon that intimately shaped, and continues to shape, the course of life on Earth -- Peter Brannen, author of THE ENDS OF THE WORLD Our celestial neighbour has been like an invisible hand shaping tidal cycles, life's rhythms, and evolutionary history for over four billion years. Epic in scope - and almost poetic in its narrative beauty - Rebecca Boyle's Our Moon will change how you think about our planet, the Moon, and ourselves -- Neil Shubin, author of YOUR INNER FISH An excellent exploration of how the moon has shaped life on Earth . . . Boyle's dexterous blend of science and cultural history is elevated by her spry prose. This illuminates -- Starred review * Publishers Weekly * The Moon lights both our days and our nights, present in the sky roughly half of our lives - and always orbiting, bound to our planet. We often forget, though, that the Moon is also bound to us, and we to it. Rebecca Boyle's Our Moon is a vivid and moving exploration of that lunar impact, showing how influential the pockmarked orb is and always has been. Boyle traces the Moon's civilizational importance from the beginning of terrestrial life to modern human society, revealing not just the scientific knowledge of that history but how humans made those discoveries, and why they matter. Our Moon is both robustly reported and compellingly personal. Inside its pages, past and present collide, and science and storytelling become one, as Boyle draws Earth's nearest neighbour closer to its inhabitants -- Sarah Scoles, author of THEY ARE ALREADY HERE In telling the tale of Earth's oldest companion, Rebecca Boyle offers an absorbing account of the human experience, from the depths of philosophy to the trenches of war. Deftly written with a poet's precision and scientific sensibility, Our Moon establishes Boyle as one of preeminent nature writers of our time -- David W. Brown, author of THE MISSION Boyle inventories the ways in which the Moon's presence affects life on Earth - influencing menstrual cycles, dictating the timing of D Day - and how humans' conception of it has evolved . . . Throughout, the author orbits a central idea: that understanding the science and the history of the Moon may help to unlock mysteries elsewhere in the universe * The New Yorker *