What If the Moon Didnt Exist

by Neil F. Comins (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Astronomy, Alternate History, Space, Popular Science, Speculative Fiction

Hardcover

First published November 1, 1993

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me like 5 years to finish this thing, but its great. Basically hard scifi without any plot. Its an astrophysicist rambling about what earth might be like if there was no moon, or if the sun was really massive, or if the earth was really tiny, or if a black hole passed close by etc. Very straightforward concept. The latter chapters are less interesting, but it still gets 5 stars. This book is useful for communicating that Earth is not specially built for humans. If earth was different, life forms on it would be different.

[Rati Mehrotra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book that tests various possible Earths (and life on it) with some basic questions: what if the moon didn't exist? What if it was closer? What if the sun was different? What if a star exploded near us?

Recommended for lovers of popular science, and for all science fiction writers.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Discussion on LJ - liddle_oldman

http://vimsig.livejournal.com/983459....

[Kevin Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over all I liked the book, started strong. Ended with a sermon. "What if" is a good thing to think about, I mean how else are things to be invented if someone does not ask "What if I do this..."? 90% of this book does that in a way to get you to think how perfectly placed our planet is for us just to be here. And until someone comes up with a "what if" about how to create energy without fossil fuels that can provide the energy that it does, stop saying we need to stop all use.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ten essays dealing with the effects on Earth of various astronomical variations or events. The first is the best, after which they get repetitive and stretched to make certain points while excluding others. Finally ties his arguments in with the environmental movement, though with more prejudice than scientific data. There are some interesting astronomy facts sprinkled throughout.

[Stephen Journeay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of interesting scenarios. What if the moon didn't exist. What if the moon was closer to earth. What if earth's rotation aligned with the ecliptic. What if a large star approached earth. What if a black hole went through the earth. What if ozone declined by 25%. And others. Presenting interesting concepts of astrophysics.

[Kim Zinkowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

C. Not very good.

[Stephen Simpson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intriguing idea, and some of the scenarios were interesting to consider, but there were too many avoidable errors throughout the book.

[K. Blaha]

What If the Moon Didn’t Exist? is a book that asks just that– what would Earth be like if the ancient collision that led to our present-day moon never happened and the Earth had no moon? Comins, a professor of astronomy and physics at the University of Maine, also asks what if the moon was closer, what if the Earth was smaller, what if the Earth was tilted like Uranus, among other questions.

This book is a must-have for science fiction writers interested in writing about other planets. Comins follows through on his initial questions in a way that science fiction enthusiasts will appreciate. If the moon didn’t exist, the moon’s tidal pull wouldn’t exist. Due to the lack of that tidal pull, Earth’s day would be 8 hours long, not 24. Which would cause much stronger winds and storms. And the tides would be lower. Which would impede the transition of life from water to land. And that life would have to adapt to the windy, stormy short days. Would that life develop hearing, with all that wind? Would plants opt for low-surface-area needles instead of broad leaves? Assuming humans developed, how would early man tell time without a lunar cycle? Would this influence man’s scientific development? Comins asks and suggests answers to all of these questions. It’s exciting food for thought, and it made me want to go dream up worlds of my own.

What If the Moon Didn’t Exist? is over twenty years old now. I expect some of the science in it may be outdated (none that I actually noticed, but given the advances in planetary science since 1993, it seems likely). However, the logic the book employs is sound, and I still found it very stimulating. And in researching this post, I discovered two more recent books my Comins: What If the Earth Had Two Moons? written in 2011 and The Hazards of Space Travel: A Tourist’s Guide written in 2007. They seem similar in tenor and I expect to like them too.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readability 6. Rating 6. Subtitled “voyages to earths that might have been”, which is a pretty accurate encapsulation of the material. Comins takes a stab at changing some pretty fundamental facets of the earth and the solar system to see how it would affect the earth’s rotation, tides, weather, radiation hitting the earth, and how these and other effects would impact the development of life. He succeeded in pointing out a number of facts about which I was unaware, which is always fun, and in large part did a good job--nothing he said was totally out of line. However, he is an astronomer/physicist, and while he covered these matters well, his commentary on other topics was somewhat superficial. In sum, a great idea, I just wish it would have been a collaborative effort with scientists in as many of the relevant fields as possible.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting presentation of a variety of alternate Earths. The author explains the effects on evolution on Earth based on slight changes: removing the moon; moving the moon closer; increasing Earth's mass; increasing our sun's mass, etc. The explanations were clear even to a novice, such as myself.

[Albert Barlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

[Patty Jansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in non-technical language, this book explores a number of different scenarios by which life on Earth would be possible, but would be profoundly different from the way we know it.

[J.k · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for hard sci-fi folks who want to world-build. So many ideas here.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good if you're into the technical aspects of what if....