Our Moon

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

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

Independent

An aeon-spanning opus . . . fascinating and revelatory

Sunday Independent

Boyle's fascinating debut explores our scientific and cultural relationship with the moon

Observer

Poetic . . . fascinating . . . especially timely

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

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