Eight Improbable Possibilities: The Mystery of the Moon, and Other Implausible Scientific Truths

by John Gribbin

A mind-warping excursion into the wildly improbable truths of science.

Echoing Sherlock Holmes' famous dictum, John Gribbin tells us: 'Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, is certainly possible, in the light of present scientific knowledge.' With that in mind, in his sequel to the hugely popular Six Impossible Things and Seven Pillars of Science, Gribbin turns his attention to some of the mind-bendingly improbable truths of science. For example:

We know that the Universe had a beginning, and when it was – and also that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up. We can detect ripples in space that are one ten-thousandth the width of a proton, made by colliding black holes billions of light years from Earth.

And, most importantly from our perspective, all complex life on Earth today is descended from a single cell – but without the stabilising influence of the Moon, life forms like us could never have evolved.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

Paperback

Published February 2, 2023

About the author

John R. Gribbin is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming, the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction.

Reviews

[Michael Hudlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a refreshing book on several very cool scientific topics. All bundled up neatly into short chapters. I have to say if you are interested in learning, it is great, but if you are not then it will be a rough read. Despite being well explained these topics are not easy. Several times I had to re read pages to grasp the concepts. This is cool but if you are not motivated by curiosity then you might just put it down.

[Merten · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice comprehensive overview of connections within the universe which seem very improbable at first glance but only make human life possible. I enjoyed reading it, even having a science background.

[Callum Sutherland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read not having a strong background
In science this was a lovely and somewhat easy read dumbed down enough not to make me feel thick but enough for me to understand some more of the complicated parts

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as part of the SciManDan book club. Whilst I was familiar with most of the concepts individually I enjoyed the way they were linked together

It isn’t in depth or technical, but it’s a good primer and links to more detailed information if anything piques your interest

[Snow Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Acquired due to a science book club that I signed up for, and quite a mind expanding book. Touches on the shape of the universe, elements of the Big Bang, the improbability of us as a species, and other things.

[Dave Hirsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting introduction to complicated ideas. Enjoyable, but only an introduction.

[Sasha Alexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t really get this book … but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. I was trying to be smart and inquisitive, but my brain has never really been able to understand science.