"Takes readers on a dazzling lunar tour to reveal the intimate role that our 4.51-billion-year-old companion has played in our biological and cultural evolution. While the Sun helped prehistoric hunters and gatherers mark daily time, it was the phases of the Moon that early civilizations used 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, we are introduced 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 forever 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 is not a commodity. It belongs to everybody--and to nobody at all"--Dust jacket flap.
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