Earth : An Intimate History

Rating:
Summary: All Around the World, All Under the World, All Inside ...
Review: "This is where things get really interesting." This sentiment, from a chapter on the Alps in _Earth: An Intimate History_ (Knopf) by Richard Fortey, describes how geological layers, normally oldest at the bottom and newest at the top, can get flipped by one mass of rock being thrust upon another. It might just as well apply to hundreds of ideas in these pages. The book is a fascinating summary of where geology stands now, as a relatively new science which has been completely remade on the foundation of plate tectonics, just as biology has only recently been founded on evolution. "It is not faith that moves mountains; it is tectonics," Fortey insists. He does not directly confront those who would misuse science to "prove" an Earth less than 10,000 years old; the real science from real geologists, of course, overwhelmingly indicates an age of billions, not thousands, of years. But he understands the impulse: "Let the time go into the millions, and beyond, and the insignificance of our own sector becomes patent." Somehow, this is an insignificant insignificance. Billions of years of continental plates shoving each other around on our planet did eventually bring forth a creature that could understand that process. The history of how that understanding came about, as told here, is a proud one, full of human errors and pride, but powered by that admirable human trait of curiosity. "Rocks do not lie," Fortey tells us. "They do, however, dissemble as to their true meaning." Demonstrating the meaning, and clearing away the dissembling, is what this book expertly accomplishes.

One of the sacred locales of the science of geology mentioned here is the Temple of Serapis near Naples. It now consists of three huge columns, each composed of one single piece of marble. They are discolored about four meters above their pedestals, and the discoloring comes from the boring of a destructive type of mollusk. This means that the temple (actually a marketplace) was constructed and then was somehow lowered into the sea, whence it arose again. It was Charles Lyell who realized that the columns could be read to understand the movement of the Earth and that rocks reflected changes by fire, water, ice, and animals. Lyell's _Principles of Geology_ changed the way people thought of the age of the Earth and how the lands were formed, and it profoundly influenced the ideas of the young Charles Darwin. Fortey takes us to the temple, up Vesuvius, along the San Andreas Fault, to the Grand Canyon, and more, at each point showing the stones and layers and describing how they got there. He includes fascinating details, like the work of researchers who are, in a minuscule way, reproducing the enormous heat and pressure of the inner Earth to examine the extraordinary physics and chemistry there. He tells of the streets of Kalgoorlie, Australia, which were literally paved with gold; the miners who dug up the shiny yellow metal didn't realize that the waste rock they brought up contained gold compounded with tellurium. When they did realize it, there was a second gold rush. He mentions a bar at Paddington Station, where the counter is made of a slab of granite from the Precambrian times. Always a genial guide, with a humorous, curious, and philosophical outlook on the large mass of material he presents here, Fortey reflects that anyone who has missed a train can at least reflect at the bar "...that is 1,500 million years old and reflect that half an hour is not a serious delay."


Rating:
Summary: A good introductory book on geology
Review: Fortey's book uses a number of different locations (Newfoundland, Hawaii, Vesuvius, etc.) to illustrate the profound effect of plate tectonics in shaping our world and our lives, providing something of an overview of the geological process. As an introduction to geology, the book has much to recommend it: the author's style is vivid and entertaining, there are four sections of beautiful colour plates in addition to numerous black and white illustrations covering nearly every location and rock/mineral mentioned, and the binding of the book itself is very handsome.

There are, however, two problems with the text. The first problem is that Fortey seems to occasionally forget that he is writing for a general audience, and he uses technical terms without adequate explanation (an encyclopedic dictionary helps), and the second problem is a matter of taste; Fortey makes relentless digs at the human species at inopportune moments. For example, in the concluding sentences of a chapter about the mechanism of plate tectonics, he writes "Mankind is no more that [sic] a parasitic tick gorging himself on temporary plenty while the seas are low and the climate comparatively clement. But the present arrangement of land and sea will change, and with it our brief supremacy." If it were not for these inappropriate digressions, I would have given the book five stars. It is nevertheless a worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Rockin' round the world
Review: Studying geology can be fun. Trips across the world, meeting new people, sharing insights and resolving mysteries of Earth's processes. There is, of course, the downside. Lava flows that shred boots, impossibly complex rock formations and bays that simply disappear during a seven-year interval between visits. If you have a writing gift, as Richard Fortey does, you can impart all these aspects of the science to a wide audience. This book does that admirably - and Fortey's not even a geologist!

Fortey's study of fossil trilobites has led him far afield. Since those bizarre creatures persisted for over three hundred million years, their remains are well distributed in both time and space. In studying them, Fortey has made the entire planet his backyard. That intimacy and his wide vision combine to produce this matchless work. From the opening pages he combines human history and the Earth's antics in an evocative theme. Vesuvius, that town killer, becomes a symbol of the dynamics of the world beneath our feet. Volcanoes also produce rich soils, luring humans up their slopes to plant crops. That juxtaposition typifies how geology has driven human society.

Geology, Fortey reminds us, is a young science, as active as the world it studies. He traces the thoughts of investigators over the past centuries. Through that time, two aspects of the Earth's dynamics eluded them. How fast was the planet cooling and what caused the bizarre formations they studied? It took physics, not geology, to solve the first - radioactive elements kept the interior hot. The second, plate tectonics, resolved most of the second. The notion that the crust "floats" on a sea of magma led to better understanding of deep processes. Plate tectonics, in Fortey's view, is the key to unlock nearly all geology's basic question. It explains "suspect terrain" and anomalous mountain formation. It also demonstrates why some areas are earthquake and volcano prone. Charles Lyell's "uniformitarianism", Fortey stresses, is basically correct. We can't observe directly many of the forces shaping the world.

What shapes the world, Fortey, continues, shapes our lives as well. How much of our history is due to Africa's pushing northward into Europe? What forced the ancient peoples of the Western Hemisphere to create their unique societies? Is the landscape of Southern Asia a foundation for the famous Silk Road? Tilting landscapes give us our rivers and the communities established on their banks. How many times has the Mississippi drowned towns, or abandoned them to isolation? Fortey keeps us aware of how our existence is shaped by the rocks beneath us.

With sets of stunning colour photographs and drawings to enhance the finely crafted text, this book's worthy of your attention. Fortey is always a compelling read, and this book stands among his best. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Rating:
Summary: This is a jumbled account, but entertaining
Review: This book is a poorly-organized, ramble through the earthly
underworld, but is in some ways enjoyable. Enjoyable to me,
but it might be very aggrevating to readers without a basic
understanding of modern geology.

It is hard to find the theme of this book besides visiting
all the geologically interesting places on the globe that
also happen to be close to good food and wine. I am not
saying that this is wrong, but I was hoping for exotic locales
such as the Lamboc Strait, Antarctica, etc.

I suppose the theme of the book, muddled as it is, is to
supply proof of continental drift. But that is preaching to
the converted. There are more current themes that he has side-
stepped.

I find it awfully ironic that the author refuses to support the
modern theory of dinosaur extinction by meteor, yet goes out
of his way to lambast the people who suppressed Wegner's theory
of continental drift (including the evil,