For those who are getting worried that the book is just a tease vis a vis moon builders, note there are 14 Chapters in Who Built The Moon, the tease is part of the game. Chapter 6: entitled The Living Earth continues the tease. Apropos to nothing this chapter is about plate tectonics, how Earth is the only planet we know that has plate tectonics, and why.
Remember the Big Whack? Well for the moon to be made of Earth ejecta, that had to come from somewhere. Our authors take two unrelated theories (Big Whack and Plate Tectonics) and smush them together – even though the book does not believe in the big whack. This is confusing. Nevertheless, their argument goes:
- Big Whack needed to remove mass from earth
- Plate Tectonics need the plates to be separate and have gaps in between.
Thus the Moon came from the bits in between the plates. Not only is this theory a bit silly, it seems to have little basis on any scientific theory and THEY DON’T EVEN BELIEVE IN THE BIG WHACK. No suggestion on who built the moon and why the added plate tectonics – except to suggest that without PT the Earth would be dull and therefore a lousy place to evolve in.