The Book of the Moon

February 18, 2019
Astrophysicist Aderin-Pocock, host of the BBC astronomy show The Sky at Night, provides a wholly accessible, thoroughly enjoyable introduction to all things lunar. Aderon-Pocock opens with the moon’s physical characteristics—it’s only a “quarter of the diameter of our planet” yet still “bigger in comparison to the size of the planet it orbits” than any other moon in the solar system—before discussing various theories about its formation. She then shifts gears to survey the moon’s influence on the “different cultures of the world,” beginning with a bone found in Europe from 30,000 BC covered in markings that may represent a lunar calendar, and going on to discuss many poems and works of science fiction. The bulk of the book is devoted to answering the tongue-in-cheek question, “What’s the moon ever done for us?” In Aderin-Pocock’s answer, she encompasses not only the familiar phenomenon of tides, but their possible role in allowing the “chemicals of life to reproduce themselves” in tidal pools, and how the moon’s influence over the earth’s rotational speed continues to affect evolution. A “self-certified lunatic,” Aderin-Pocock possesses a passion for her subject that comes through on every page of her breezily enjoyable look at the “almost spherical lump of rock” orbiting above everyone’s heads.