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Very Short Introductions #380
The Ice Age: A Very Short Introduction
The study of the Quaternary ice age has revolutionized ideas about Earth system change and the pace of landscape and ecosystem dynamics. The Ice Age: A Very Short Introduction looks at evidence from the continents, the oceans, and the ice core records, and the human stories behind it all. Jamie Woodward examines the remarkable environmental shifts that took place during the Great Ice Age of the Quaternary Period. He explores the evolution of ideas, evaluates the contributions of the leading players in the great debates, and presents some of the ingenious methods that have been used to retrieve information about the recent geological past.
In an era of warming climate, the study of the ice age past is now more important than ever. This book examines the wonders of the Quaternary ice age - to show how ice age landscapes and ecosystems were repeatedly and rapidly transformed as plants, animals, and humans reorganized their worlds.
About the Series:
Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.
#380
In an era of warming climate, the study of the ice age past is now more important than ever. This book examines the wonders of the Quaternary ice age - to show how ice age landscapes and ecosystems were repeatedly and rapidly transformed as plants, animals, and humans reorganized their worlds.
About the Series:
Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.
#380
163 pages, Paperback
First published January 4, 2014
32 people are currently reading
481 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Woodward
9 books3 followersJamie Woodward is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Manchester.
He is a geomorphologist with particular interests in the nature and impacts of Quaternary environmental change in the Mediterranean region and the Nile basin. A good deal of his work takes place in close collaboration with archaeologists and he is interested in the theoretical and practical interface between geography, geoscience and archaeology.
He has been the Editor of Geoarchaeology: An International Journal since 2007. In 2008 he was awarded a personal chair – the first in Physical Geography at The University of Manchester. With other colleagues in Geography he set up the Quaternary Environments and Geoarchaeology Research Group in late 2004.
He is a geomorphologist with particular interests in the nature and impacts of Quaternary environmental change in the Mediterranean region and the Nile basin. A good deal of his work takes place in close collaboration with archaeologists and he is interested in the theoretical and practical interface between geography, geoscience and archaeology.
He has been the Editor of Geoarchaeology: An International Journal since 2007. In 2008 he was awarded a personal chair – the first in Physical Geography at The University of Manchester. With other colleagues in Geography he set up the Quaternary Environments and Geoarchaeology Research Group in late 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
November 11, 2024
These Very Short Introduction books are an excellent idea and an excellent series. This book is no exception.
It's a fascinating introduction to the subject and the history of ideas behind the Great Ice Age of the Quaternary Period.
Some famous scientists are included in the book and some other scientists who should be more famous than they are. I won't mention who the famous scientists are, but almost all of their ideas about what created the landscapes, and how features such as erratics, drumlins, eskers, moraines, and striations came into existence, were proved wrong.
The scale of the Ice Age only became apparent after about sixty years in the 1800s when Agassiz, Buckland, Schimper, and Carvill Lewis amongst others gradually changed minds.
People from many different backgrounds contributed to the acquisition of knowledge: geologists, engineers, mill owners, botanists, and chemists all made their contributions.
The book also explains orbital eccentricity, obliquity, and precession in relation to the Earth and how these factors influenced the glacial and interglacial periods of the last million years.
It's a fascinating introduction to the subject and the history of ideas behind the Great Ice Age of the Quaternary Period.
Some famous scientists are included in the book and some other scientists who should be more famous than they are. I won't mention who the famous scientists are, but almost all of their ideas about what created the landscapes, and how features such as erratics, drumlins, eskers, moraines, and striations came into existence, were proved wrong.
The scale of the Ice Age only became apparent after about sixty years in the 1800s when Agassiz, Buckland, Schimper, and Carvill Lewis amongst others gradually changed minds.
People from many different backgrounds contributed to the acquisition of knowledge: geologists, engineers, mill owners, botanists, and chemists all made their contributions.
The book also explains orbital eccentricity, obliquity, and precession in relation to the Earth and how these factors influenced the glacial and interglacial periods of the last million years.
October 20, 2022
Unexpectedly (because I didn’t read any reviews prior to starting this book), the main topic here isn’t the actual ice age, but the history of thought behind the ice age. And as a history of a specific scientific advancement, I really enjoyed the story. It has great bearing on today’s big scientific headlines, COVID vaccine research and, more directly related, climate change. A story of persuasion over decades.
December 29, 2025
"Paradoxically, in an era of warming climate, the study of the ice age past is now more important than ever"
Yo habría puesto "muy necesario en una era que cientos de subnormales creen a youtubers negacionistas que ponen en duda el cambio climático y a los informes del ICCP o insultan a la AEMET".
El libro cuenta la historia de cómo se asentó la idea de la existencia de eras glaciares no sobre la Edad de Hielo.
Yo habría puesto "muy necesario en una era que cientos de subnormales creen a youtubers negacionistas que ponen en duda el cambio climático y a los informes del ICCP o insultan a la AEMET".
El libro cuenta la historia de cómo se asentó la idea de la existencia de eras glaciares no sobre la Edad de Hielo.
November 30, 2021
This little book focuses more on the history of how the scientific community came to accept the idea of ice age,distancing itself from the scriptures,and how the advancement of research into our geological past helps us understand the current climate and environment we live in.
For the most part,we see the pioneers of this new branch of geology and how their path was full of obstacles from their peers.It starts from the discovery off the woolly mammoth of 1799 and the spark that lit the fire of curiosity of the scientists of the time(Agassiz,Darwin,Buckland and Geikie).
We do see near the end how the carbon dating,and oxygen isotope techniques helped set the record straight and showed that the past was far from the periods of slow glacier creation and retreat.On the contrary,the past was fraught with flash floods and tumultuous environmental changes.
Favourite quote:
“A glacier is normally constrained by the surrounding topography such as a valley and has a clearly defined source area.An ice cap builds up as a dome-like form on a high plateau or mountain peak and may feed several outlet glaciers to valleys below.Ice sheets notionally exceed 50.000 square km and are not constrained by topography.”
For the most part,we see the pioneers of this new branch of geology and how their path was full of obstacles from their peers.It starts from the discovery off the woolly mammoth of 1799 and the spark that lit the fire of curiosity of the scientists of the time(Agassiz,Darwin,Buckland and Geikie).
We do see near the end how the carbon dating,and oxygen isotope techniques helped set the record straight and showed that the past was far from the periods of slow glacier creation and retreat.On the contrary,the past was fraught with flash floods and tumultuous environmental changes.
Favourite quote:
“A glacier is normally constrained by the surrounding topography such as a valley and has a clearly defined source area.An ice cap builds up as a dome-like form on a high plateau or mountain peak and may feed several outlet glaciers to valleys below.Ice sheets notionally exceed 50.000 square km and are not constrained by topography.”
June 5, 2017
The title says it all: this is a brief introduction to the Ice Age. I’ve since read a few other books in Oxford University Press’s brief introduction series, but this one stood out. Woodward gets the mix of history and scientific theory exactly right.
As a self-confessed Darwin groupie, I was already familiar with a number of the early scientific figures involved in the development of our understanding of the Ice Age (Buckland, Lyell, Agassiz, and so forth), but there were many figures I hadn’t encountered before. I was particularly taken by Woodward’s description of the brilliant work of Nick Shackleton in the 1970s, whose analysis of isotopes of oxygen, taken from microscopic shells retrieved from ocean core samples, clearly demonstrated that there had been numerous glacial and inter-glacial periods over the last million years.
A very interesting and useful book.
As a self-confessed Darwin groupie, I was already familiar with a number of the early scientific figures involved in the development of our understanding of the Ice Age (Buckland, Lyell, Agassiz, and so forth), but there were many figures I hadn’t encountered before. I was particularly taken by Woodward’s description of the brilliant work of Nick Shackleton in the 1970s, whose analysis of isotopes of oxygen, taken from microscopic shells retrieved from ocean core samples, clearly demonstrated that there had been numerous glacial and inter-glacial periods over the last million years.
A very interesting and useful book.
July 1, 2024
La humanidad se ha desarrollado dentro un momento inusual de nuestro mundo. El planeta que conocemos, tan tibio y cálido, resulta que al menos desde hace 50 millones de año, no es tal, sino que ha estado pasando por una serie de glaciaciones que duran miles de años, con pequeños intervalos de calidez. Nosotros estamos viviendo uno es esos pequeños intervalos y según un artículo en la revista Geoscience es posible que que la siguiente comience en... 1500 años. Para nosotros puede parecer mucho pero en tiempo geológico es nada.
Y mucho de esto comenzó con un misterio: gigantescas piedras se encontraban asentadas muy lejos de sus lugares de origen; cientos de kilómetros más allá; conocidos como bloques erráticos ¿Cómo llegaron de allá hasta acá? Algunos científicos no tienen duda en afirmar que todo aquello forma parte del diluvio universal que aparece en la biblia y que alguna vez asoló la Tierra. Qué esas piedras fueron arrastradas por icebergs que dejaron el material lejos de su lugar de origen. Pero otros comienzan a creer algo diferente: es posible que gigantescos glaciares hayan ocupado alguna vez gran parte del planeta y estos hayan arrastrado en su crecimiento pedazos de rocas?
Comenzará entonces un enfrentamiento científico que develará uno de los más grandes misterios del pasado, sobre un mundo que es el nuestro —pero no el que conocemos— con extensiones de miles de kilómetros cuadrados de puro hielo, gigantescas paredes (de 600 metros o más) del mismo material y que guardan entre ellas a lagos enormes que pudieron habar dado lugar a ...ajá, "diluvios universales"
Este libro es una introducción a este fascinante mundo de "hoy en la mañana" en términos geológicos— el inicio de la última glaciación fue hace 110 mil años y terminó apenas hace 22 mil años, formando el mundo que ahora conocemos... pero que no durará mucho.
¿Sobreviviremos a la nueva glaciación?
Y mucho de esto comenzó con un misterio: gigantescas piedras se encontraban asentadas muy lejos de sus lugares de origen; cientos de kilómetros más allá; conocidos como bloques erráticos ¿Cómo llegaron de allá hasta acá? Algunos científicos no tienen duda en afirmar que todo aquello forma parte del diluvio universal que aparece en la biblia y que alguna vez asoló la Tierra. Qué esas piedras fueron arrastradas por icebergs que dejaron el material lejos de su lugar de origen. Pero otros comienzan a creer algo diferente: es posible que gigantescos glaciares hayan ocupado alguna vez gran parte del planeta y estos hayan arrastrado en su crecimiento pedazos de rocas?
Comenzará entonces un enfrentamiento científico que develará uno de los más grandes misterios del pasado, sobre un mundo que es el nuestro —pero no el que conocemos— con extensiones de miles de kilómetros cuadrados de puro hielo, gigantescas paredes (de 600 metros o más) del mismo material y que guardan entre ellas a lagos enormes que pudieron habar dado lugar a ...ajá, "diluvios universales"
Este libro es una introducción a este fascinante mundo de "hoy en la mañana" en términos geológicos— el inicio de la última glaciación fue hace 110 mil años y terminó apenas hace 22 mil años, formando el mundo que ahora conocemos... pero que no durará mucho.
¿Sobreviviremos a la nueva glaciación?
August 21, 2018
Ice cores and sediment cores
I always wonder what they find out about when they examine these cores, they dig out of the earth, ocean, and ice. The book answers some questions anyway. There needs lots more analysis about them but we can prove some theories anyway. I wanted more info about today's studies but we have a little history of the science mostly. We need to know about scientists whom made their mark in the study of geology and the development of the earth anyway, I guess, in order to get better perspective.
I always wonder what they find out about when they examine these cores, they dig out of the earth, ocean, and ice. The book answers some questions anyway. There needs lots more analysis about them but we can prove some theories anyway. I wanted more info about today's studies but we have a little history of the science mostly. We need to know about scientists whom made their mark in the study of geology and the development of the earth anyway, I guess, in order to get better perspective.
December 14, 2023
This VSI focused a lot on the history of science of the Ice Ages, which is not uninteresting, but would have benefited from talking first about the Ice Age, when it was, what it was, etc, before going into the geological wars. As it was, it took for a few chapters for me to warm (ha!) to it, and I think I came away without the factual and holistic understanding of the Ice Age that I was hoping for. I would also have appreciated some comments on when the next Ice Age is due (or should have been due, since global warming might push it out a very long way).
June 26, 2017
My only real complaint was the amount of time spent on the history of academic debates on the ice age; it was, in fact, most of the book. I would have preferred to have dispensed with that in the first third of the book in order to focus on current accepted theories.
January 30, 2020
I was maybe not the target audience here but I felt it was way too much focus on name dropping scientist from the past few centuries. The last bit of the book that dealt with the actual ice age, and not the researchers, was quite interesting.
August 13, 2025
An interesting book that would have got four stars, had it been given a more honest title.
More than half the book is about the history of ice age science, not so much about the ice age itself.
Nevertheless, it provides an interesting window into 19th century scientific discourse.
More than half the book is about the history of ice age science, not so much about the ice age itself.
Nevertheless, it provides an interesting window into 19th century scientific discourse.
September 15, 2025
comparable to the making of the atomic bomb by Rhodes! I really like learning the history of the science I study to contextualize the community and collective work I'm a part of. well written, brief, and good figures!
May 6, 2017
Very short, as the name suggest, but a wealth of information and well presented.
February 3, 2018
This book should be titled: "A very short introduction of the HISTORY of Ice Age RESEARCH". It was ok, but it was not what I expected.
August 17, 2019
A fine book but not what I was expecting or wanting. This really should have been called "The History of Ice Age Research: A Very Short Introduction" to avoid confusion and disappointed readers.
August 16, 2020
I did think this book would be about the ice age but it seemed to focus on the argument of glaciation versus no glaciation. It was well written however.
February 4, 2021
Good introduction, much of which focuses on the history of the study of the period.
January 18, 2022
Reads like a kind of detective story - which I suppose is what it is really!
Great example of how scientific knowledge changes as the evidentiary base changes.
Recomended.
Great example of how scientific knowledge changes as the evidentiary base changes.
Recomended.
October 28, 2023
Rather boring. Just skimmed through parts of it.
January 17, 2022
Interesting history of how geologists fought over whether or not glaciers or icebergs shaped land masses, starting in the 1700s and continuing to today's research. A bit technical in parts, but the historical debates are very interesting, and the information about the swings between warm and cool climates is very informative as we enter an age when human activity is affecting this swing/balance.
March 14, 2016
This book provides a concise and informative introduction to the study of the Ice Age, known by geologists as the Quaternary Period (the last 2.58 million years of Earth's history). It dos this by tracing the history of Ice Age studies, discussing the scientists involved in the field in a broadly chronological fashion, explaining their theories and the arguments over their theories as they were debated and supported (or rejected) by evidence.
Much of the earlier part of the book I had gleaned from other sources that have touched upon the development of theories about the Ice Age (or from O level Geography). However, it was entertaining to meet again characters such as William Buckland, Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, more famous for geology and evolution.
I learnt most from the latter part of the book, dealing with developments in the past 50 years - knowledge gleaned by scientists from ocean sediments and ice cores.
So an informative book, necessarily open ended as this is still a developing field of study, providing a broad framework of current knowledge.
Much of the earlier part of the book I had gleaned from other sources that have touched upon the development of theories about the Ice Age (or from O level Geography). However, it was entertaining to meet again characters such as William Buckland, Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, more famous for geology and evolution.
I learnt most from the latter part of the book, dealing with developments in the past 50 years - knowledge gleaned by scientists from ocean sediments and ice cores.
So an informative book, necessarily open ended as this is still a developing field of study, providing a broad framework of current knowledge.
September 25, 2016
It was really interesting and a great introduction to the ice ages. I had never really read anything about geology before and this book helped me see what was out there. In fact, since I've started I keep looking at the Wasatch mountains in a whole new way. Imagining glaciers charging down their sides where I now see canyons and into the large Bonneville lake.
The book did a great job of telling the story of how humanity discovered our Earth's cold past. And along the way explained how the science progressed. It has made me hunger to learn more about geology and helped me to see why the science really mattered, how it is the only way that we can get glimpses into the past of this planet. It also oppened my eyes to help me see that the past may be more helpful than anything else in helping us know what the future may hold.
The book did a great job of telling the story of how humanity discovered our Earth's cold past. And along the way explained how the science progressed. It has made me hunger to learn more about geology and helped me to see why the science really mattered, how it is the only way that we can get glimpses into the past of this planet. It also oppened my eyes to help me see that the past may be more helpful than anything else in helping us know what the future may hold.
January 19, 2015
Very well written, good and helpful illustrations. I only wonder why books on quarternary geology always have to contain an obligate section on human evolution. I know that anatomically modern humans first emerged during the last ice age, but it is far from clear if there is a relation. Besides, many other species emerged, that are not mentioned.
May 8, 2016
Chapter 1: The Quaternary ice age
Chapter 2: Erratic boulders and the diluvium
Chapter 3: Monster glaciers
Chapter 4: Die Eiszeit
Chapter 5: 1840
Chapter 6: Ice sheets or icebergs?
Chapter 7: Glacials, interglacials, and celestial cycles
Chapter 8: Deep ocean sediments and dating the past
Chapter 9: Ice cores, abrupt climate shifts, and ecosystem change
Chapter 2: Erratic boulders and the diluvium
Chapter 3: Monster glaciers
Chapter 4: Die Eiszeit
Chapter 5: 1840
Chapter 6: Ice sheets or icebergs?
Chapter 7: Glacials, interglacials, and celestial cycles
Chapter 8: Deep ocean sediments and dating the past
Chapter 9: Ice cores, abrupt climate shifts, and ecosystem change
October 22, 2016
Good history of how the phenomenon that is ice age was identified and came to mainstream in academic discourse. However, I was hoping to get more about the ice age than the academic debates around it. Also, seemed a bit UK centric to me - trying desperately to prove the superiority of the contribution of UK scientists over scientists from other nations.
August 2, 2024
¡Super interesante!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews