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.

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

[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.

[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.