by Michael DiMario

Title: Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed The Planet, Guided Evolution, And Made Us Who We Are

Author: Rebecca Boyle

Publisher: Random House, New York, NY

Publication Date: 2024

Total Pages: 336

Science journalist and author Rebecca Boyle makes the case that the Moon has been passively involved in the development of Earth, the planet’s life, humanity, and our societies. The author describes how the moon came to be, how the Moon supported human evolution, and how we made the Moon in our image. Boyle discusses the Moon’s role in different human civilization’s conception of time from ancient Mesopotamia to today as well as the marking of time. The evolution of life is explored from the Moon’s effect on tidal pools and the evolution of Earth and all life through the course of 4.51 billion years and the evidence such as the Troctolite 76535 Moon rock determined to be 4.26B brought back by Apollo17 Astronaut Jack Schmitt Dec 13, 1972. Boyle explores astronomy history including Kepler and Galileo and the influence the Moon had on scientific revolution. The author describes the four Moon creation models of the body called Theia slammed into the Earth at 20,000 mph.

This is an enjoyable read laden with data and exploration of Moon effects on all of us and our history that is not readily available in other materials.