Gaia and Luna by Mark Newton 

A book review 

 

🌍🌍🌍🌍/5 

 

'The very fragility of Life seemed rather strangely, to be fundamental to its evolution'. 

 

'Amidst a cornucopia of different shapes and forms, great spheres were fashioned to spin and turn at the behest of their conductor in a glorious symphony of creation that travelled ever outward in a timeless mechanism of celestial beauty.' 

 

*Gaia's appearance had settled into a relatively gentle and multifaceted dynamic that was a constant source of wonder to her ashen and largely invariant satellite.' 

 

'And why were there two little dots of the Yin or the Yang in the halves of the other? And, why black or white? Why so binary, monochrome and stark? And what was going on at the interfaces between these different areas? In her now extensive experience, it was always the interfaces, the surfaces where everything happened. This symbol, however, intriguing and challenging as it was, seemed not to be able to say anything about that, not the insane dynamic that Life had always shown?' 

 

'Was this the true purpose of the universe? To create the harmony of form from which meaning and truth may subsequently be derived?' 

 

🌍 You know what? If you travel by plane or spaceship (who knows?) I would absolutely recommend you pick up this book as it made my reading experience absolutely perfect and so much more meaningful. (beware that I say this as a major mood reader). 

 

🌍 Wow. Okay, where do I start? Planets and satellites are personified. We follow them since the BIG BANG that created everything. We get to experience these 100-something pages the way they view time, changes and history. We mainly follow the Moon and planet Earth as per the title but we do get to know Mars, Venus, and Jupiter as well among others. The writing fits the story so so well. This is exactly how I would envision celestial entities talking if I had ever done that prior to reading this book (well maybe apart from the occasional swearing that threw me off sometimes as otherwise, the language was so intelligent without it being obnoxious or pretentious.). It took me maybe a few pages to get used to it, but once I did I could feel the vastness of space and time, the poetic and sensitive eyes of the author as well as the MUSIC. (which is later talked about and took me by surprise that the feelings of music were evoked naturally by Mark Newton's writing!) 

 

🌍 It was a great brush up of the Earth's history actually, and a very clever way to bring all this information from boring textbooks and make it alive and animated. My favourite part was when the up then unknown concept of LIFE was introduced and how the Earth and the faraway sister and observer, the Moon, experienced it. 

Additionally, I truly appreciated the social commentary that went it this book showcased the ungratefulness and greediness of us, apes, towards the wonders of our planet and universe. As an environmental activist myself, I would love to read it along with others concerned about the future of our species. 

 

Highly recommend; a unique book that will surprise you. 

 

PS: I love figuring out something unique about the author or something that sounds out and I have the hunch that he loves the word infinitesimal. :)) 

 

Thank you Netgalley and Loudhailer Books for offering me a copy of this book, in exchange of an honest review. 

 

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