Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are
月が地球と生命に与えた影響を科学史的・文化史的に論じる自然史。進化や地球環境への月の役割を総合的に論じる。
Work Information
月が地球と生命に与えた影響を科学史的・文化史的に論じる自然史。進化や地球環境への月の役割を総合的に論じる。
月が地球と生命に与えた影響を科学史的・文化史的に論じる自然史。進化や地球環境への月の役割を総合的に論じる。
Book Information
- Publisher
- Random House Trade Paperbacks
- Published
- 2025-06-03
- Pages
- 336 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.13 x 1.88 x 20.32 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780593129746
- ISBN-10
- 0593129741
- Price
- 3796 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Politics & Social Sciences/Anthropology/Cultural
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 WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE • 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 readers 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.
Rebecca Boyle is a columnist at Atlas Obscura and a contributor to Scientific American , Quanta Magazine, The Atlantic , The New York Times, Popular Science, Smithsonian’s Air & Space Magazine, and many other publications. She is a member of the group science blog The Last Word on Nothing . Boyle was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the recipient of numerous writing awards. Her work has been anthologized three times in The Best American Science & Nature Writing . She is a former Space Camp attendee and lifelong Moon enthusiast.
Reviews
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月への見方が変わった
月に対する人間の価値観の変化ということを全く考えたことがなかったので、言われてみればそうだなと感じるところが多かった。確かに、人類が月に到達してからは、信仰の対象としての月の地位は大きく下がったように思う。しかし、潮の干満や昔から言われている人間を含めた生物への大きな影響は確かだ。テンポが少々かったるく感じたが、最後まで読み進めてよかったと思う。
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This was such a good read, very informative lots of facts I didn’t know and very well written.
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Ein Muß für alle Mondsüchtigen 👍
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Enjoyed the read
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Excellent book
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A Book Review - Our Moon by Rebecca Boyle I have read OUR MOON and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only because of the writing style but also because it has been a story worth telling which has been ignored for much too long. FIRST The Moon is important because it is our only natural satellite. It demonstrated the rules Earth satellites must follow as we entered the space age. I remember in the early 1960’s when being assigned to the Space division of the Hughes Aircraft Co. Two mathematicians visited me offering to teach me the equations Spacecraft must follow. I declined saying “ I don't need your damn equations I have the moon, it knows what it is doing. The Author did a wonderful job of digesting over 15 pages of references but she missed my book Ancient measurement published in 2020 where I discuss the Lunar Standards of Lagash. One of civilization’s oldest Standards of measure was created by adjusting the length of a pendulum to swing 60 times in the time it took the Moon to move one diameter in the night sky. This yard was recorded 7000 year ago in India and later in the Mesopotamian city of Lagash. Its foot of 1/3 yard at 335.25 mm traveled to England becoming the Anglo-Saxon foot of 335.28 millimeters. The Furlong of 600 these feet was used to establish all land boundaries in England. In 1600 Queen Elizabeth 1st create a Furlong of 660 new British feet. It was exactly the same length as the Anglo-Saxon Furlong whose roots go back over 7000 years NEXT The Ancient Mesopotamian civilization counted in 60’s while we count in groups of 100, 1000, 10,000 they counted in groups of 60, 3600, 216,000, this is called the sexadecimal system of counting. The Moon was the Great God Sin in Ancient Sumeria and one of their more intelligent scribes, using a ball, a string, and a measure of time must have found the distance to the Moon. ( Its a simple calculation). The Distance to the Moon was 60 earth radii. This number is almost exact, it is certainly not 59 or 61. The number 60 became sacred and the sexadecimal system of counting was created. It still with us, we still count 360 degrees in a circle. How many of us realize that this is a gift from the Moon. Mesopotamia was sea fairing nation. They traveled the world. Much Later they would bring their standards of measure to both North and South America. Roland A Boucher Irvine Ca.
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