Rating: 
Summary: An interesting life
Review: I read this book for a Geology project. I love a good biography and Cutler delvered a good biography. Was his portrayal of Steno accurate? I don't know. Part of the problem seems to be that much of Steno's work has never been available in English. We should at least give Cutler credit for trying to make Steno more accessible to English readers. One of the parts covered in the book is Steno's conversion from Lutheranism to Romanism. Since other reviewers have not covered this aspect I thought it might be helpful to do so. Cutler gives quite a few details about is Steno's Christianity. Cutler describes Steno's Lutheran upbringing, his exposure to the religious pluralism afforded by the enterprising Dutch Calvinists (pg. 35), and finally his embrace of the Italian Catholics. Particularly noted by Cutler are two aspects of Steno's conversion to Roman Catholicism. First was his rejection of the Bible as the literal word of God (pg. 144). Secondly, Steno seemed to be "emotional[ly]" drawn to Romanism by its ceremony, or maybe more accurately, by its superstition. (pg. 91) Eventually, Steno became a Roman Catholic priest, and then the titular Bishop of Titiopolis. This sounds impressive but it is actually rather tragic. The Bishopric was of an area long abandoned to Muslims, and in the region where Steno was sent to minister he was rejected by most of his fellow Catholics as being too serious. His life ends with him starving himself into poor health, and eventually death. It was a sad end to a brilliant man.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful
Review: If you're interested in how our forefathers learned about the world around them oyu'll find this a gem of a book. In essence it is the biography of Nicholaus Steno, a 17th century Danish scientist, later a bishop, who is considered by many to be the father of geology. Steno observed that in the rock high on many mountains in Europe fossilized seashells could be found. Others had seen them before, but Steno was the man who came up with the correct hypothesis about how they got there. It seems simple enough now. The sea creatures lived in ancient oceans, died and were embedded in the sediment which later, over millions of years, was shoved up to create mountain ranges. Steno was, in fact, a doctor whose anatomical discoveries made him famous initially He had such a delicate touch with the scalpel that he discovered glands never before known about and it was said that he could count the bones of a flea, if fleas had bones. His anatomical discoveries alone were enough to keep his name alive. But he felt the need to try to advance the evolving philosophy of science. Science was still fighting the beliefs of the church, beliefs in the supernatural and early stabs at science that had often been very wide of the mark. Perhaps the seashells were carried up the mountains during Noah's flood. Steno was one of the first to believe that fact had to be distinguished from speculation and blind belief. One might advance a hypothesis but the scientist had to observe and test before announcing it as fact. Rene Descartes had proposed something similar, but was able ignore the principle when it became inconvenient. Not everyone is interested in how the "new-fangled" scientists struggled to come up with ideas while fighting off the might of the church, pleasing their royal patrons and battling each other for supremacy. If you enjoy reading about the history of how we came to understand our world you'll love this book. The writer has done a vast amount of research and presented it in very readable form.
Rating: 
Summary: Saint Steno
Review: Nicolaus Steno first entered my consciousness when I took G. Sc. 1 or 2 at Penn State during the 1977-1978 school year. He hadn't been beatified yet, but our professor pointed out that some folks wanted him to be declared a saint. This seemed at odds with his extreme importance to the science of geology, at least to my 18 year old brain. At 44, I understand that humans can be extremely complex creatures and welcome Alan Cutler's wonderful Steno biography The Seashell On The Mountaintop to the lay-literature concerning the science of geology. Steno [aka Niels Steensens, Nicolai Stenonis] contributed [among other things] the principle of superposition to the science of geology, without which Earth history can not be done. After reading The Seashell On The Mountaintop, I better understand how the seemingly disparate elements of Steno's life flow one from the other. Cutler's prose style made Seashell an enjoyable read and I was particularly pleased that Seashell doesn't suffer from the hyperbole that scarred the otherwise fantastic The Map That Changed The World by Simon Winchester. I strongly recommend The Seashell On The Mountaintop to any reader interested in geology, history, biography, and the relationship between science and religion. As a high school earth science teacher, I'm very sensitive about the hegemony of biology, chemistry, and physics over science education in the United States. Maybe the recent string of popular books on geology and the other earth sciences will help a little to restore the earth sciences to their proper place in American life. I'm pretty sure Steno hasn't performed any miracles in my life, but he did inspire this little piece of grad school doggerel: Saint Steno
Went to Reno
Looking for an angle.
He found some gold,
Some riches untold,
And he made the rocks untangle.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Portrait
Review: One of the most hotly debated topics of 17th century science concerned a naturally occurring riddle. Why do seashell fossils appear in mountainous areas so far away from the sea? The great flood that created the need for Noah's arc might be one explanation, but scientists quickly noted that a flood of 40 days duration was not enough time for clams to move to such distant and elevated locations. This problem engendered a number of interesting hypotheses, among them that the earth somehow created the shells. The riddle was finally solved, at least for the scientifically minded, through the careful observations of a Danish scientist named Nicolaus Steno. Steno traveled far from his native Copenhagen and ultimately moved to Italy where he observed fossilized seashells in the Italian Mountains. Already famous for his work in anatomy, Steno was a true Renaissance man with a passion for collecting and understanding items from nature. His observations led to his theory that the earth has a history and that this history includes periods of changing seas and powerful geologic forces that deposit rocks, minerals, and fossils far inland. His pioneering work has earned him the title of founder of geology among contemporary scientists. Geologist Alan Cutler paints a fascinating portrait of Steno. Given various elements of Steno's personality and the time in which he lived, this is no small feat. Steno was a deeply religious man, and Cutler doesn't miss the irony involved with his formulating theories that were at odds with the officially sanctioned explanations of the earth. The fact is that as he aged Steno became more concerned with religion than with science. He eventually converted from the Lutheranism of Denmark to Catholicism and died a Bishop at the age of forty-eight. Although his fame as a clergyman never matched that of his fame as a scientist, the Catholic Church beatified Steno in 1988. In writing about Steno as a scientist and as a religious figure, Cutler gives us an entertaining and balanced look at the life of a little known but influential thinker.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Portrait
Review: One of the most hotly debated topics of 17th century science concerned a naturally occurring riddle. Why do seashell fossils appear in mountainous areas so far away from the sea? The great flood that created the need for Noah's arc might be one explanation, but scientists quickly noted that a flood of 40 days duration was not enough time for clams to move to such distant and elevated locations. This problem engendered a number of interesting hypotheses, among them that the earth somehow created the shells. The riddle was finally solved, at least for the scientifically minded, through the careful observations of a Danish scientist named Nicolaus Steno. Steno traveled far from his native Copenhagen and ultimately moved to Italy where he observed fossilized seashells in the Italian Mountains. Already famous for his work in anatomy, Steno was a true Renaissance man with a passion for collecting and understanding items from nature. His observations led to his theory that the earth has a history and that this history includes periods of changing seas and powerful geologic forces that deposit rocks, minerals, and fossils far inland. His pioneering work has earned him the title of founder of geology among contemporary scientists. Geologist Alan Cutler paints a fascinating portrait of Steno. Given various elements of Steno's personality and the time in which he lived, this is no small feat. Steno was a deeply religious man, and Cutler doesn't miss the irony involved with his formulating theories that were at odds with the officially sanctioned explanations of the earth. The fact is that as he aged Steno became more concerned with religion than with science. He eventually converted from the Lutheranism of Denmark to Catholicism and died a Bishop at the age of forty-eight. Although his fame as a clergyman never matched that of his fame as a scientist, the Catholic Church beatified Steno in 1988. In writing about Steno as a scientist and as a religious figure, Cutler gives us an entertaining and balanced look at the life of a little known but influential thinker.
Rating:
Summary: The Saintly Father of Geology
Review: Probably you have never heard of Niels Stensen, or Nicolaus Stenonius as his name was Latinized, or Steno for short. He has a right to the title of "Father of Geology," though, and it was through his efforts that we started scientifically assessing the age of the Earth, rather than relying on interpreting the Bible as a geological text. But he was no religious iconoclast; in fact, he was even made a saint. In _The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius Who Discovered a New History of the Earth_ (Dutton), Alan Cutler has not exactly brought Steno back to life; there is too little documentation of his life to do that well. But he has given basics of the life, and more importantly has examined the originality of Steno's thinking and put it in the context of his times. Steno, born in 1638, was raised in Denmark as a Lutheran. He became a famous anatomist, but in his travels, he took particular interest in the land he traveled through. The great puzzle of the time was how could seashells be found, far from the sea, embedded in rock, and at the tops of the mountains? The prevalent explanation was that shells actually grew inside the Earth; they were not seashells, but the product of some mystical force, the same sort of thing that produced the manifestations of magnetism or made flowers grow. Steno produced clever and well reasoned arguments against shells growing inside rocks, and he laid out principles of geography which have stood the test of time. Steno well knew the persecution of Galileo by the church, and he worried that his ideas would receive the same condemnation. For instance, merely supposing that rock layers were formed gradually from sediment might be heretical to those who insisted that God had made the Earth all at once. Cutler shows that Steno paid attention to the evidence he could see on his travels, at the same time paying close attention to the scriptures. Steno was a pious man who after much thought gave up Lutheranism to become a Catholic; he also largely gave up his scientific endeavors to do so. He became a priest, took up a vow of poverty, and stuck to it, destroying his health and bringing about an early death. He had risen to Bishop within the church hierarchy. Pope John Paul II praised both Steno's faith and his scientific work when he beatified Steno in 1988, although the scientific work was really all that had made him famous. The Catholic Church had long since stopped insisting that seven days of creation were of twenty-four hours each, and geologists were using Steno's principles every day. Cutler, himself a geologist, has written a useful book to bring a forgotten thinker to our attention, as well as documenting the beginning of scientific rather than religious explanations for the forces that formed our planet.
Rating:
Summary: Better Than Longitude
Review: Readable and accessible biography of 17th century scientist who turns out to be a pivotal observer of things geologic and spiritual. The vivid descriptions of Steeno's life and his place in a milieu of other fascinating "scientists" (like the man who tried to generate life from dead flesh or the diver into volcanoes) intertwine engaging personal vignettes with very understandable science. From dissecting great white sharks Steeno ventures into how seashells ended up on mountaintops. He figured out that fossils were alive once and that they became rock in rock through a sedimentation process.Many at the time thought the shell shapes were just a visual coincidence. Steeno's journey from Danish Lutheran to Roman Catholic saint is compelling. The book is well written. It is for a wide audience and clearly is not just for history of science fans.
Rating:
Summary: a class act
Review: Seashell on the Mountaintop intrigued me from page one. The work brings to life a fascinating time in the history of science that seems far different from our own. That rocks grow, or are in fact spontaneously generated seems absurd, ridiculous,.. but Cutlers's investigation into the life and times of Nicholas Steno seems to acurately portray a time and people who nearly held these ideas as inevitable. In Steno we find a man both spiritual and scientific whose independent, open minded, study and observations led to different conclusions. No revolutions, no public outcries, just a different set of conclusions from the same hard facts. The result, a new science of the past, present and future, called geology. That Steno, unlike other great scientists of the 17th century better known to us today, did not run a foul of the Catholic Church, and towards the winter of his life leaves science behind to become a priest, later saint, suggests that neither science nor religious belief hold firm precedence when interpreting the world. A view lacking today, and one impeding politics, society and civilization. Cutlers book is an excellent read, scholarly without heaviness and like Steno, intriguing with humble relevance.
Rating:
Summary: Mysteries in moutaintops
Review: This engaging and informative little book traces the life of the founder of the science of geology. One of the intitial voices of the Enlightenment, Nicholas Steno spent a life wandering over the face of Europe. In this biography, Cutler's luminous prose takes the reader back to the mid-17th Century intellectual environment. He eloquently describes the rise of "the new science" in the face of traditional dogma. It wasn't a straightforward confrontation, however. Personalities and ideas alike clashed, sometimes savagely. Cutler ably shows how science struggled to find its feet in this time, with Steno's career and heritage providing the exemplary model. Nicholas Steno, born in Lutheran Denmark, led a peripatetic erratic life. He was an anatomist, geologist, innovator and a proponent of empirical science. In an age steeped in ancient philosophy, in which tradition substituted for measurement and experiment, Steno rejected what could not be observed or proven. He mingled with Dutch merchants and the many religions existing in that Calvinist, yet commercial republic. Later, in Florence, he noted the stability provided by the well-established Church. In an age of inquiry, the Church tolerated the emerging science, so long as published works didn't directly challenge Scripture. The Galileo episode, says Cutler, cast a long shadow, and the Vatican didn't want a reprise. Steno not only evaded Church censorship, notes Cutler, he was encouraged to further his studies. Thus, his later conversion to Roman Catholicism shocked many, not least because he abandoned his studies for an ascetic life and attempts to convert Protestants. In Florence, Steno was championed by the ruling Medici family. He took up the question of fossil seashells, a topic that had intrigued the Greek philosophers and Leonardo alike. Were they "spontaneously generated" in the deep earth, remnants of ancient life, or evidence of Noah's cataclysmic Flood? Steno's solution was not novel in itself. His real contribution was his explanation of how these shells and "tonguestones" were found on high mountain locations. Although published in a brief volume, his "De solido", would ultimately become the foundation stone of modern geology. Indirectly, writes Cutler, Steno's ideas and meagre publications led to the greatest idea of all - Darwin's concept of evolution by natural selection. Cutler has encompassed many and varying themes in this book. It is one of the finest presentations of the issues addressed by the Englightenment in print. The names of such notaries as Newton, Leibnitz, and Boyle flit through the narrative. Even Thomas Jefferson makes an appearance - with lines that may surprise. Just enough graphics are used to illuminate the characters or a point. Highly recommended for many reasons, not least of which is the persistence of centuries-old dogmas in the face of the revelations of science. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: Mysteries in moutaintops
Review: This engaging and informative little book traces the life of the founder of the science of geology. One of the intitial voices of the Enlightenment, Nicholas Steno spent a life wandering over the face of Europe. In this biography, Cutler's luminous prose takes the reader back to the mid-17th Century intellectual environment. He eloquently describes the rise of "the new science" in the face of traditional dogma. It wasn't a straightforward confrontation, however. Personalities and ideas alike clashed, sometimes savagely. Cutler ably shows how science struggled to find its feet in this time, with Steno's career and heritage providing the exemplary model. Nicholas Steno, born in Lutheran Denmark, led a peripatetic erratic life. He was an anatomist, geologist, innovator and a proponent of empirical science. In an age steeped in ancient philosophy, in which tradition substituted for measurement and experiment, Steno rejected what could not be observed or proven. He mingled with Dutch merchants and the many religions existing in that Calvinist, yet commercial republic. Later, in Florence, he noted the stability provided by the well-established Church. In an age of inquiry, the Church tolerated the emerging science, so long as published works didn't directly challenge Scripture. The Galileo episode, says Cutler, cast a long shadow, and the Vatican didn't want a reprise. Steno not only evaded Church censorship, notes Cutler, he was encouraged to further his studies. Thus, his later conversion to Roman Catholicism shocked many, not least because he abandoned his studies for an ascetic life and attempts to convert Protestants. In Florence, Steno was championed by the ruling Medici family. He took up the question of fossil seashells, a topic that had intrigued the Greek philosophers and Leonardo alike. Were they "spontaneously generated" in the deep earth, remnants of ancient life, or evidence of Noah's cataclysmic Flood? Steno's solution was not novel in itself. His real contribution was his explanation of how these shells and "tonguestones" were found on high mountain locations. Although published in a brief volume, his "De solido", would ultimately become the foundation stone of modern geology. Indirectly, writes Cutler, Steno's ideas and meagre publications led to the greatest idea of all - Darwin's concept of evolution by natural selection. Cutler has encompassed many and varying themes in this book. It is one of the finest presentations of the issues addressed by the Englightenment in print. The names of such notaries as Newton, Leibnitz, and Boyle flit through the narrative. Even Thomas Jefferson makes an appearance - with lines that may surprise. Just enough graphics are used to illuminate the characters or a point. Highly recommended for many reasons, not least of which is the persistence of centuries-old dogmas in the face of the revelations of science. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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