Reading the Rocks by Marcia Bjornerud
For readers of John McPhee and Stephen Jay Gould, this engaging armchair read to the making of the geologic record shows how to understand messages written in stone To many of us, the Earth's crust is a relic of ancient, unknowable history. But to a geologist, stones are richly illustrated narratives, telling gothic tales of cataclysm and reincarnation. For more than four billion years, in sand, granite and garnet schists, the planet has kept a rich and idiosyncratic journal of its past. Fulbright Scholar Marcia Bjornerud takes the reader along non an eye-opening tour of Deep Time, explaining in elegant prose what we see and feel beneath our feet. Both scientist and storyteller, Bjornerud uses anecdotes and metaphors to remind us that our home is a living thing with lessons to teach. She shows us how our planet has long maintained a delicate balance, and how the global give-and-take has sustained life on Earth through numerous upheavals. But with the rapidly escalating effects of human beings on their home planet, that cosmic balance is being threatened - and the consequences may be catastrophic. Containing a glossary and detailed timescale, as well as vivid description and historic accounts, Reading the Rocks is literally a history of the world, for all friends of the Earth.
Marcia Bjornerud is a professor and the Chair of Geology at Lawrence University. She is a Fellow of the Geographical Society of America and was a 2000-2001 Fulbright Scholar. She lives in Wisconsin, USA and this is her first book.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780813342498 |
| ISBN 10 | 081334249X |
| Title | Reading the Rocks |
| Author | Marcia Bjornerud |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Basic Books |
| Year published | 2005-05-01 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |