Our Moon

How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are

By: Rebecca Boyle

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A riveting feat of science writing that recasts that most familiar of celestial objects into something eerily extraordinary, pivotal to our history, and awesome in the original sense of the word.”—Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of An Immense World

A NEW YORKER AND SMITHSONIAN BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

Many of us know that the Moon pulls on our oceans, driving the tides, but did you know that it smells like gunpowder? Or that it was essential to the development of science and religion? Acclaimed journalist Rebecca Boyle takes listeners on a dazzling tour to reveal the intimate role that our 4.51-billion-year-old companion has played in our biological and cultural evolution.

Our Moon’s gravity stabilized Earth’s orbit—and its climate. It drew nutrients to the surface of the primordial ocean, where they fostered the evolution of complex life. The Moon continues to influence animal migration and reproduction, plants’ movements, and, possibly, the flow of the very blood in our veins.

While the Sun helped prehistoric hunters and gatherers mark daily time, early civilizations used the phases of the Moon to count months and years, allowing them to plan farther ahead. Mesopotamian priests recorded the Moon’s position in order to make predictions, and, in the process, created the earliest known empirical, scientific observations. In Our Moon, Boyle introduces us to ancient astronomers and major figures of the scientific revolution, including Johannes Kepler and his influential lunar science fiction.

Our relationship to the Moon changed when Apollo astronauts landed on it in 1969, and it’s about to change again. As governments and billionaires aim to turn a profit from its resources, Rebecca Boyle shows us that the Moon belongs to everybody, and nobody at all.

©2024 Rebecca Boyle (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“I learned more about the Moon by reading this book than I have in a lifetime of study. Replete with fascinating insights into the Moon’s origins and history, but more than that, what it has meant to us, the people of Earth, Our Moon is a must-read for anyone who has looked up at the Moon in wonder.”—Chris Hadfield, astronaut, bestselling author of The Apollo Murders and The Defector

“Epic in scope—and almost poetic in its narrative beauty—Our Moon will change how you think about our planet, the Moon, and ourselves.”—Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish

My first love was the Moon

My earliest memory is riding in the back of the car in the evening and looking at the moon following our travels. In my 10th year, men walked on the surface of the moon for the first time. The moon has inspired my thoughts and fueled my interests for a lifetime. This wonderful book chronicles a history of our nearest celestial companion and explains that my first love had effects on everything our planet is.

Interesting overview of the moon

Good performance. The content was a good overview, leading you to dig deeper into topics you find interesting. I never felt that we were straying too far off theme.

The most amazing journey!

A terrific book in every way! Great writing telling a fascinating story from a different perspective!

Interesting but with annoyances

I found the overall content to be interesting and informative. It was fascinating to learn about likely moon formation (very little new information for me but some interesting depth I wasn't aware of), effect of the moon on tides and Earth formation, ancient civilizations and how they tracked and interpreted the moon, modern concepts, travel to and from, etc. A good overall history of our celestial partner.

Two things were annoying and hard to get past, forcing me to listen in chunks with breaks between. The first was the singsong nature of the narration. I had to keep imagining how it would sound in my head if I were reading the text because the narration made it hard to take seriously. The second was the author's apparent bone to pick with Judeo-Christian faith traditions. She makes regular jabs at how various texts predate Judeo-Christian texts as if to invalidate the latter. (This is sadly common in popular science, where the writer does a great job researching the core topic (as was done by Ms. Boyle), but makes incorrect assertions about various faith traditions based on misunderstood common knowledge or personal experience.) It's not a show-stopper, but it does distract.

Overall good if you can get past the annoyances.

Beautiful historical account of mankind and the moon

I am not normally a non-fiction reader but Rebecca Boyle made this book so easy to read with her stories of humankind, sprinkles of humor, and relatability. A HUGE amount of historical research went into this beautiful account of earth’s companion. A great read.

Interesting Reflections

I value the stepwise presentation of the history of humanity’s awareness and appreciation of the moon over millennia, and the author’s deep research to uncover and assemble the facts.

This is such an entertaining book.

I’m not sure how I thought this book would open, but certainly not with a story about the author's grandfather during his service in WWII and the prediction of tides in the south Pacific. Simultaneously full of facts and profoundly entertaining, Our Moon answered questions I didn't even know I wanted to ask. This book will enlighten you and entertain you. I can't recommend it enough.
Rebecca Lowman's narration was excellent.

Super Moon

I learned so much from the expertly woven storylines connecting observation to time keeping to religious worship to the birth of science and exploration to near future exploitation and mining endeavors

The narrator is expressive, knowledgeable and never ponderous, a real pleasure to listen to

Good stuff, Highly recommended

Made me really enthusiastic about the moon

Made me really enthusiastic about the moon. A creative way to provide a perspective on the moon. Now I have a little better understanding of why suddenly rockets are being sent to South Pole of moon. On one level it is exciting to think people will probably be back in less than two years. I still remember the first landing and almost being bored by the last landings. I remember the Apollo fire. The moon is still worthy of study.

Praise our earthy companion!

This had all I like about science writing and culturally sensitive history all rolled up into an articulately ripping yarn about our moon through time. Hard to say what parts I liked best, but the story of Theia and the phenomenon of synestia, descriptions of what the moon smells like, the amazing features found at Warren Field, the golden moon cone hat, Crassus dying in Carrhae, Kepler’s sci-fi story, the astronauts struggling to express what they saw and felt, and the beautiful descriptions of chronobiology and geologic underpinnings of understanding float up in my memory as I write this. Thanks for the journey!