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Journey to the Centre of the Earth: The Remarkable Voyage of Scientific Discovery into the Heart of Our World
The journey to the centre of the earth is a voyage like no other we can imagine.Over 3,000 km below the earth's surface an extraordinary inner world the size of Mars awaits us.Dive through the molten iron of the outer core and eventually you will reach a solid sphere - an iron-clad world held within a metal sea and unattached to anything above.At the earth's core is the history of our planet written in temperature and pressure, crystals and minerals . . . Our planet appears tranquil from outer space. And yet the arcs of volcanoes, the earthquake zones and the auroral glow rippling above our heads are testimony to something remarkable happening inside . . .For thousands of years these phenomena were explained in legend and myth. Only in recent times has the brave new science of seismology emerged. One hundred and fifty years after the extraordinary, imaginative feat of Jules Verne's JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH, David Whitehouse embarks on a voyage of scientific discovery into the heart of our world.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2015
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David Whitehouse
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 28, 2025
Structura internă a Pământului este asemănătoare cu cea a unui ou: cu scoarța în loc de coajă, cu mantaua în loc de albuș și cu nucleul în loc de gălbenuș.
Cel mai adânc foraj a ajuns la puțin peste 12 km (în peninsula Kola, din nordul Rusiei), o zgărietură dacă ne gândim că Pământul are raza de 6371 km. Cu toate acestea, cunoaștem structura internă a Pământului destul de bine datorită cutremurelor. Undele seismice, în timp ce străbat Pământul, își modifică vitezele de deplasare, se reflectă și refractă, iar unele unde (undele S, secundare) nu pot trece prin mediile lichide.
Așa a fost descoperit nucleul extern al Pământului, format din fier și nichel topit (prin absența undelor S în unele seismograme). Nucleul extern este esențial pentru viața de pa Pământ, deoarece acesta generează câmpul magnetic al Pământului. În absența câmpului geomagnetic, vântul solar ar eroda încet atmosfera, luând cu ea și hidrosfera și biosfera. Marte este o planetă mult mai mică decăt Pământul, astfel încât aceasta s-a răcit mult mai repede, nucleul extern solificându-se. În absența unui câmpul magnetic care să protejeze atmosfera, Marte este astăzi un deșert imens, fără oceanele și răurile care o scăldau odată.
Un alt mod de a studia interiorul planetei noastre este prin reproducerea condițiilor din interiorul Pământului în laborator. Oamenii de știintă folosesc celule cu nicovală de diamant pentru a supune probele la presiuni enorme. În aceste condiții extreme, atomii din minerale se rearanjează generând noi minerale mai stabile. Așa s-a descoperit că mineralul cel mai răspândit din mantaua inferioară (și de pe Pământ) este perovskitul, un tip de silicat. De asemenea, nucleul extern poate fi înțeles mai bine folosind o sferă rotativă cu sodiu lichid.
Recomand
Cel mai adânc foraj a ajuns la puțin peste 12 km (în peninsula Kola, din nordul Rusiei), o zgărietură dacă ne gândim că Pământul are raza de 6371 km. Cu toate acestea, cunoaștem structura internă a Pământului destul de bine datorită cutremurelor. Undele seismice, în timp ce străbat Pământul, își modifică vitezele de deplasare, se reflectă și refractă, iar unele unde (undele S, secundare) nu pot trece prin mediile lichide.
Așa a fost descoperit nucleul extern al Pământului, format din fier și nichel topit (prin absența undelor S în unele seismograme). Nucleul extern este esențial pentru viața de pa Pământ, deoarece acesta generează câmpul magnetic al Pământului. În absența câmpului geomagnetic, vântul solar ar eroda încet atmosfera, luând cu ea și hidrosfera și biosfera. Marte este o planetă mult mai mică decăt Pământul, astfel încât aceasta s-a răcit mult mai repede, nucleul extern solificându-se. În absența unui câmpul magnetic care să protejeze atmosfera, Marte este astăzi un deșert imens, fără oceanele și răurile care o scăldau odată.
Un alt mod de a studia interiorul planetei noastre este prin reproducerea condițiilor din interiorul Pământului în laborator. Oamenii de știintă folosesc celule cu nicovală de diamant pentru a supune probele la presiuni enorme. În aceste condiții extreme, atomii din minerale se rearanjează generând noi minerale mai stabile. Așa s-a descoperit că mineralul cel mai răspândit din mantaua inferioară (și de pe Pământ) este perovskitul, un tip de silicat. De asemenea, nucleul extern poate fi înțeles mai bine folosind o sferă rotativă cu sodiu lichid.
Recomand
February 18, 2016
I received a free advance reading copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. FTC guidelines: check!
Into the Heart of Our World is a mind boggling, hypothetical journey into the world beneath our feet. Whitehouse, an astronomer, has bottled the wonder that he feels for the stars and channeled it into exploring the depths below. Though the science in this book went above my head at times, I enjoyed learning about Earth and its secrets. Into the Heart of Our World would make a great documentary.
Here are the parts that I loved the most:
Whitehouse was discussing the chemical composition and age of some of the oldest rocks on earth: "If the life of the Earth was represented by a day then mankind appeared just twenty seconds before midnight. These rocks have been waiting since about 1 a.m." pg 52, advance reading copy
On a discussion of plumes beneath the Earth's surface: "The big question is: can we see mass extinction events on the way up? Some scientists believe we can by looking for the plumes. Such a thing is seen in the south-west Pacific near the Fiji Tonga subduction zone. It's 700 km deep, has a structure consistent with a massive temperature anomaly and may be rising. It could render the Earth uninhabitable for humans and it will reach the surface in an estimated 200 million years.(!!!!!?!????!!)" pg 146, advance reading copy, emphasis mine
About the core of the Earth: ""The core...is larger than the planet Mars and far more alien. It has one-sixth of the volume of the Earth yet one-third of its mass, and it is liquid, dense yet not thick. If you donned super-protective gloves you could run your hands through it like water. It is this liquid- molten iron, nickel, and a few other elements- that profoundly affects the nature of our planet and protects us from the harshness of the cosmos. In the mantle we suspect that there may be aspects of the subduction cycle that are important for life on the surface. But in the liquid core we have no such doubts. We are certain that life on our planet could not have survived without it, for out of its liquid motions emerges our great protector- the Earth's magnetic field." pg2 158-159, advance reading copy
In a discussion of the magnetic field, some medieval beliefs about magnets: "In the thirteenth century Bartholomew the Englishman (c. 1203-72), author of the book On the Properties of Things, said that 'This kind of stone restores husbands to wives and increases elegance and charm in speech. Moreover, along with honey, it cures dropsy, spleen, fox mange, and burns... when placed on the head of a chaste woman causes its poison to surround her but if she is an adulteress she will instantly remove herself from bed for fear of an apparition." pg 167, advance reading copy. Behold the power of magnets.
One last bit of Into the Heart of Our World that was special to me on a personal level: "The oldest working seismograph, over a hundred years old but still fully operational, can be found at the university of Gottingen. It is the work of Emil Wiechert (1861-1928) who was the world's second professor of geophysics." pg 80-81, advance reading copy. My husband, a Geiger, is related to the man who created the Geiger counter. I've always felt that my family was a bit lacking when it came to scientific contributions. But now, I find out, there's a geophysicist in the family! In your face, Geigers! :p
If you enjoyed Into the Heart of Our World, you may want to read What If by Randall Munroe or Rust: The Longest War by Jonathon Waldman.
Into the Heart of Our World is a mind boggling, hypothetical journey into the world beneath our feet. Whitehouse, an astronomer, has bottled the wonder that he feels for the stars and channeled it into exploring the depths below. Though the science in this book went above my head at times, I enjoyed learning about Earth and its secrets. Into the Heart of Our World would make a great documentary.
Here are the parts that I loved the most:
Whitehouse was discussing the chemical composition and age of some of the oldest rocks on earth: "If the life of the Earth was represented by a day then mankind appeared just twenty seconds before midnight. These rocks have been waiting since about 1 a.m." pg 52, advance reading copy
On a discussion of plumes beneath the Earth's surface: "The big question is: can we see mass extinction events on the way up? Some scientists believe we can by looking for the plumes. Such a thing is seen in the south-west Pacific near the Fiji Tonga subduction zone. It's 700 km deep, has a structure consistent with a massive temperature anomaly and may be rising. It could render the Earth uninhabitable for humans and it will reach the surface in an estimated 200 million years.(!!!!!?!????!!)" pg 146, advance reading copy, emphasis mine
About the core of the Earth: ""The core...is larger than the planet Mars and far more alien. It has one-sixth of the volume of the Earth yet one-third of its mass, and it is liquid, dense yet not thick. If you donned super-protective gloves you could run your hands through it like water. It is this liquid- molten iron, nickel, and a few other elements- that profoundly affects the nature of our planet and protects us from the harshness of the cosmos. In the mantle we suspect that there may be aspects of the subduction cycle that are important for life on the surface. But in the liquid core we have no such doubts. We are certain that life on our planet could not have survived without it, for out of its liquid motions emerges our great protector- the Earth's magnetic field." pg2 158-159, advance reading copy
In a discussion of the magnetic field, some medieval beliefs about magnets: "In the thirteenth century Bartholomew the Englishman (c. 1203-72), author of the book On the Properties of Things, said that 'This kind of stone restores husbands to wives and increases elegance and charm in speech. Moreover, along with honey, it cures dropsy, spleen, fox mange, and burns... when placed on the head of a chaste woman causes its poison to surround her but if she is an adulteress she will instantly remove herself from bed for fear of an apparition." pg 167, advance reading copy. Behold the power of magnets.
One last bit of Into the Heart of Our World that was special to me on a personal level: "The oldest working seismograph, over a hundred years old but still fully operational, can be found at the university of Gottingen. It is the work of Emil Wiechert (1861-1928) who was the world's second professor of geophysics." pg 80-81, advance reading copy. My husband, a Geiger, is related to the man who created the Geiger counter. I've always felt that my family was a bit lacking when it came to scientific contributions. But now, I find out, there's a geophysicist in the family! In your face, Geigers! :p
If you enjoyed Into the Heart of Our World, you may want to read What If by Randall Munroe or Rust: The Longest War by Jonathon Waldman.
June 21, 2020
I think that the negative reviews given are unfair. I only read a few of them, and do agree that the editor(s) did a terrible job; I found maybe ten mistakes, such as writing "Island" instead of "Ireland" and one time even writing "billion" for "million" (or, possibly, placing a comma where a period was intended, making it 4.xxx billion instead of 4,xxx billion, which in American numeracy is 4-something TRILLION).
Another reviewer complained about the brevity of the chapters, and the seeming jumps between disparate topics. For my part, I considered the brevity to be a positive. This book is both a look at the interior of our home and also a history of how this knowledge and these hypotheses and theories came to be. This made the jumps necessary, I would imagine, and the many chapters I thought nicely held together each of the various issues, rather than presenting them all in one large mess.
That said, I do have complaints of my own: the book is too popular in its style, and could have gone in further depth. I know nothing about geology whatsoever, and only a bit about astronomy, yet I found myself craving for more detail than what little is given. But there were also many benefits to be found in reading this book; the amount of information presented, however much depth it is given, is a welcome addition to my otherwise almost empty mental categories labelled "geology" and "seismology" and the like, and I am by no means disappointed to have read it.
Another reviewer complained about the brevity of the chapters, and the seeming jumps between disparate topics. For my part, I considered the brevity to be a positive. This book is both a look at the interior of our home and also a history of how this knowledge and these hypotheses and theories came to be. This made the jumps necessary, I would imagine, and the many chapters I thought nicely held together each of the various issues, rather than presenting them all in one large mess.
That said, I do have complaints of my own: the book is too popular in its style, and could have gone in further depth. I know nothing about geology whatsoever, and only a bit about astronomy, yet I found myself craving for more detail than what little is given. But there were also many benefits to be found in reading this book; the amount of information presented, however much depth it is given, is a welcome addition to my otherwise almost empty mental categories labelled "geology" and "seismology" and the like, and I am by no means disappointed to have read it.
February 21, 2016
I rarely have time to write reviews, but I was very disappointed in this book. It was rife with spelling errors (pyroxine), several erroneous statements of fact, and numerous unnecessary excursions. I'm a geologist/planetary scientist who lectures on the Earth's interior and I found this book exasperating to read. Where was the editor? I was hoping for better.
May 12, 2022
Skimmed the first 4 chapters, then read some reviews. Clearly not for me (I'm a professional geologist), and I'm not sure who would like it. Pretty dull & poorly written. Abandoned around Chapter 4. Bad book & waste of time. Bah.
February 5, 2022
Review of: Into the Heart of the World: A Journey to the Center of the Earth,
by David Whitehouse
by Stan Prager (2-5-22)
A familiar trope in the Looney Tunes cartoons of my boyhood had Elmer Fudd or some other zany character digging a hole with such vigor and determination that they emerged on the other side of the world in China, greeted by one or more of the stereotypically racist Asian animated figures of the day. In the 1964 Road Runner vehicle “War and Pieces,” Wile E. Coyote goes it one better, riding a rocket clear through the earth—presumably passing through its center—until he appears on the other side dangling upside down, only to then encounter a Chinese Road Runner embellished with a braided pigtail and conical hat who bangs a gong with such force that he is driven back through the tunnel to end up right where he started from. In an added flourish, the Chinese Road Runner then peeps his head out of the hole and beep-beep’s faux Chinese characters that turn into letters that spell “The End.”
There were healthy doses of both hilarious comedy and uncomfortable caricature here, but what really stuck in a kid’s mind was the notion that you could somehow burrow through the earth with a shovel or some explosive force, which it turns out is just as impossible in 2022 as it was in 1964. But if you hypothetically wanted to give it a go, you would have to start at China’s actual antipode in this hemisphere, which lies in Chile or Argentina, and then tunnel some 7,918 miles: twice the distance to the center of the earth you would pass through, which lies at around 3,959 miles (6,371 km) from the surface.
So what about the center of the earth? Could we go there? After all, we did visit the moon, and the average distance there—238,855 miles away—is far more distant. But of course what lies between the earth and its single satellite is mostly empty space, not the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core of a rocky earth that is a blend of the solid and the molten. Okay, it’s a challenge, you grant, but how far have we actually made it in our effort to explore our inner planet? We must have made some headway, right? Well, it turns out that the answer is: not very much. A long, concerted effort at drilling that began in 1970 by the then Soviet Union resulted in a measly milestone of a mere 7.6 miles (12.3 km) at the Kola Superdeep Borehole near the Russian border with Norway; efforts were abandoned in 1994 because of higher-than-expected temperatures of 356 °F (180 °C). Will new technologies take us deeper one day at this site or another? Undoubtedly. But it likely will not be in the near future. After all, there’s another 3,951.4 miles to go and conditions will only grow more perilous at greater depths.
But we can dream, can’t we? Indeed. And it was Jules Verne who did so most famously when he imagined just such a trip in his classic 1864 science fiction novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Astrophysicist and journalist David Whitehouse cleverly models his grand exploration of earth’s interior, Into the Heart of the World: A Journey to the Center of the Earth, on Verne’s tale, a well-written, highly accessible, and occasionally exciting work of popular science that relies on geology rather than fiction to transport the reader beneath the earth’s crust through the layers below and eventually to what we can theoretically conceive based upon the latest research as the inner core that comprises the planet’s center.
It is surprising just how few people today possess a basic understanding of the mechanics that power the forces of the earth. But perhaps even more astonishing is how new—relatively—this science is. When I was a child watching Looney Tunes on our black-and-white television, my school textbooks admitted that although certain hypotheses had been suggested, the causes of sometimes catastrophic events such as earthquakes and volcanoes remained essentially unknown. All that changed effectively overnight—around the time my family got our first color TV—with the widespread acceptance by geologists of the theory of plate tectonics, constructed on the foundation of the much earlier hypothesis of German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wegener, who in 1912 advanced the view of continents in motion known as “continental drift,” which was ridiculed in his time. By 1966, the long-dead Wegener was vindicated, and continental drift was upgraded to the more elegant model of plate tectonics that fully explained not only earthquakes and volcanoes, but mountain-building, seafloor spreading, and the whole host of other processes that power a dynamic earth.
Unlike some disciplines such as astrophysics, the basic concepts that make up earth science are hardly insurmountable to any individual with an average intelligence, so for those who have no idea how plate tectonics work and are curious enough to want to learn, Into the Heart of the World is a wonderful starting point. Whitehouse can be credited with articulating complicated processes in an easy to follow narrative that consistently holds the reader’s interest and remains fully comprehensible to the non-scientist. I came to this book with more than a passing familiarity with plate tectonics, but I nevertheless added to my knowledge base and enjoyed the way the author united disparate topics into this single theme of a journey to the earth’s inner core.
If I have a complaint, and as such it is only a quibble tied to my own preferences, Into the Heart of the World often devotes far more paragraphs to a history of “how we know what we know” rather than a more detailed explanation of the science itself. The author is not to be faulted for what is integral to the structure of the work—after all the cover does boast “A Remarkable Voyage of Scientific Discovery,” but it left me longing for more. Also, some readers may stumble over these backstories of people and events, eager instead to get to the fascinating essence of what drives the forces that shape our planet.
A running gag in more than one Bugs Bunny episode has the whacky rabbit inadvertently tunneling to the other side of the world, then admonishing himself that “I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque!” He doesn’t comment on what turn he took at his juncture with the center of the earth, but many kids who sat cross-legged in front their TVs wondered what that trip might look like. For grownups who still wonder, I recommend Into the Heart of the World as your first stop.
[Note: this book has also been published under the alternate title, Journey to the Centre of the Earth: The Remarkable Voyage of Scientific Discovery into the Heart of Our World.]
[Note: A link to the 1964 Road Runner episode “War and Pieces” is here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2v...]
Review of: “Into the Heart of the World: A Journey to the Center of the Earth,” by David Whitehouse https://regarp.com/2022/02/05/review-...
by David Whitehouse
by Stan Prager (2-5-22)
A familiar trope in the Looney Tunes cartoons of my boyhood had Elmer Fudd or some other zany character digging a hole with such vigor and determination that they emerged on the other side of the world in China, greeted by one or more of the stereotypically racist Asian animated figures of the day. In the 1964 Road Runner vehicle “War and Pieces,” Wile E. Coyote goes it one better, riding a rocket clear through the earth—presumably passing through its center—until he appears on the other side dangling upside down, only to then encounter a Chinese Road Runner embellished with a braided pigtail and conical hat who bangs a gong with such force that he is driven back through the tunnel to end up right where he started from. In an added flourish, the Chinese Road Runner then peeps his head out of the hole and beep-beep’s faux Chinese characters that turn into letters that spell “The End.”
There were healthy doses of both hilarious comedy and uncomfortable caricature here, but what really stuck in a kid’s mind was the notion that you could somehow burrow through the earth with a shovel or some explosive force, which it turns out is just as impossible in 2022 as it was in 1964. But if you hypothetically wanted to give it a go, you would have to start at China’s actual antipode in this hemisphere, which lies in Chile or Argentina, and then tunnel some 7,918 miles: twice the distance to the center of the earth you would pass through, which lies at around 3,959 miles (6,371 km) from the surface.
So what about the center of the earth? Could we go there? After all, we did visit the moon, and the average distance there—238,855 miles away—is far more distant. But of course what lies between the earth and its single satellite is mostly empty space, not the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core of a rocky earth that is a blend of the solid and the molten. Okay, it’s a challenge, you grant, but how far have we actually made it in our effort to explore our inner planet? We must have made some headway, right? Well, it turns out that the answer is: not very much. A long, concerted effort at drilling that began in 1970 by the then Soviet Union resulted in a measly milestone of a mere 7.6 miles (12.3 km) at the Kola Superdeep Borehole near the Russian border with Norway; efforts were abandoned in 1994 because of higher-than-expected temperatures of 356 °F (180 °C). Will new technologies take us deeper one day at this site or another? Undoubtedly. But it likely will not be in the near future. After all, there’s another 3,951.4 miles to go and conditions will only grow more perilous at greater depths.
But we can dream, can’t we? Indeed. And it was Jules Verne who did so most famously when he imagined just such a trip in his classic 1864 science fiction novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Astrophysicist and journalist David Whitehouse cleverly models his grand exploration of earth’s interior, Into the Heart of the World: A Journey to the Center of the Earth, on Verne’s tale, a well-written, highly accessible, and occasionally exciting work of popular science that relies on geology rather than fiction to transport the reader beneath the earth’s crust through the layers below and eventually to what we can theoretically conceive based upon the latest research as the inner core that comprises the planet’s center.
It is surprising just how few people today possess a basic understanding of the mechanics that power the forces of the earth. But perhaps even more astonishing is how new—relatively—this science is. When I was a child watching Looney Tunes on our black-and-white television, my school textbooks admitted that although certain hypotheses had been suggested, the causes of sometimes catastrophic events such as earthquakes and volcanoes remained essentially unknown. All that changed effectively overnight—around the time my family got our first color TV—with the widespread acceptance by geologists of the theory of plate tectonics, constructed on the foundation of the much earlier hypothesis of German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wegener, who in 1912 advanced the view of continents in motion known as “continental drift,” which was ridiculed in his time. By 1966, the long-dead Wegener was vindicated, and continental drift was upgraded to the more elegant model of plate tectonics that fully explained not only earthquakes and volcanoes, but mountain-building, seafloor spreading, and the whole host of other processes that power a dynamic earth.
Unlike some disciplines such as astrophysics, the basic concepts that make up earth science are hardly insurmountable to any individual with an average intelligence, so for those who have no idea how plate tectonics work and are curious enough to want to learn, Into the Heart of the World is a wonderful starting point. Whitehouse can be credited with articulating complicated processes in an easy to follow narrative that consistently holds the reader’s interest and remains fully comprehensible to the non-scientist. I came to this book with more than a passing familiarity with plate tectonics, but I nevertheless added to my knowledge base and enjoyed the way the author united disparate topics into this single theme of a journey to the earth’s inner core.
If I have a complaint, and as such it is only a quibble tied to my own preferences, Into the Heart of the World often devotes far more paragraphs to a history of “how we know what we know” rather than a more detailed explanation of the science itself. The author is not to be faulted for what is integral to the structure of the work—after all the cover does boast “A Remarkable Voyage of Scientific Discovery,” but it left me longing for more. Also, some readers may stumble over these backstories of people and events, eager instead to get to the fascinating essence of what drives the forces that shape our planet.
A running gag in more than one Bugs Bunny episode has the whacky rabbit inadvertently tunneling to the other side of the world, then admonishing himself that “I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque!” He doesn’t comment on what turn he took at his juncture with the center of the earth, but many kids who sat cross-legged in front their TVs wondered what that trip might look like. For grownups who still wonder, I recommend Into the Heart of the World as your first stop.
[Note: this book has also been published under the alternate title, Journey to the Centre of the Earth: The Remarkable Voyage of Scientific Discovery into the Heart of Our World.]
[Note: A link to the 1964 Road Runner episode “War and Pieces” is here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2v...]
Review of: “Into the Heart of the World: A Journey to the Center of the Earth,” by David Whitehouse https://regarp.com/2022/02/05/review-...
September 16, 2017
This book uses all kinds of insights from mineralogy and seismology to put together a picture of what the Earth’s composed of, layer by layer. Despite the author’s obvious enthusiasm, this isn’t one of my primary interests, and I did find my interest flagging at times — it seemed like some chapters were just unnecessarily dragged out and like he got off the point some of the time. Nonetheless, if this is the kind of science that enthuses you, it’s worth reading — it deals with the history of the study of our Earth as well as the straightforward facts about the composition of each layer.
The more I learn about all kinds of science, including Earth science, the happier I am. Even if it’s not my field, I’m glad I read this.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
The more I learn about all kinds of science, including Earth science, the happier I am. Even if it’s not my field, I’m glad I read this.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
January 17, 2022
We take an imaginative leap, in the spirit of Jules Verne's book of the same name, to discover what's known about the inner structure and workings of our planet.
The chapters start at the surface and descend to the centre. It's a good structure for the book. Within each chapter there is a brief history of the science of discovery, but sometimes it's just interesting and sometimes irrelevant stuff.
The brief history of science and geology traces the development of seismology, skims mineralogy, takes a confusing detour into quantum physics, but completely misses the discovery of radiation, it's importance to dating and heat generation.
The rock cycle is hinted at while subduction and volcanoes is sort of explained. The bit about water and rocks was interesting but unclear.
It was great to have visits to places where the deepest holes are dug and to see in photos the remains of drills sites in Russia. Another photo of the oldest rocks on earth is shown. Fabulous, it's in Canada, but not described in the text. The text says the oldest rocks are in Australia. A picture shows a core and the oldest rock on the planet. A blue zircon. Amazing.
Geologist have few new tools at their disposal. The diamond pressure experiments were very interesting. But what was the spinning liquid sodium really showing? It seemed a long stretch from fluid dynamics to the earth's dynamo. And do we think the core is liquid or solid? I'm still not sure.
The only thing I'm clear about is that the deeper into the earth we go the less we are sure about. As I got further into the book, the less I was sure I could finish it. The description of the core was painful.
The inside of the earth is compared to other planets. This is what has inspired the author. It's a shame this writing style , present in the second to last chapter, doesn't infuse the rest of the book. Many grammatical, spelling and other errors clouded explanations.
I got a better understanding of how the earth is layered and how difficult it is to study. Large earthquakes detected via global networks and analysed by complex computer models are our most reliable data source.
The crust is different thicknesses and composition depending on location. How it formed influenced the evolution of life. We can explore the deepest parts in the Mariana trench. The crust moves quickly straight down or slowly on an acute angle into the mantle.
The mantle moves by convection, subduction, spreading and hotspots generated by random fluctuations due to quantum events possibly in the core, aligned along iron crystals that form dipoles. Metals do strange things under pressure. Boyles law of the relationship between volume, temperature and pressure appears to break down. Or maybe not.
The boundaries between layers are in motion. It may have internal structure like a lava lamp. I liked this analogy. It made sense when shown with the computer simulations. This bit was excellent.
The core is likely silica and iron. We have hints of this from meteorites. It generates a magnetic field, which reverses poles now and again, creating a dynamo.
The last chapter critiques Jules Verne (but why?) then reflects that billions of years the sun will engulf the earth and we will be dust and bits of atoms again. The mystery and wonder of our universe will continue forever.
There is a missing chapter. We needed a summary of what we know, what we think we know and what we don't know at all. Then some comment as to where to next.
I can't find another book that attempts to summarize this topic, so good on David Whitehouse for trying to pull it together. Perhaps some help from seismologists would have simplified and made clear some explanations. It's a shame that the poor editing detracted from what could have been an excellent read.
The chapters start at the surface and descend to the centre. It's a good structure for the book. Within each chapter there is a brief history of the science of discovery, but sometimes it's just interesting and sometimes irrelevant stuff.
The brief history of science and geology traces the development of seismology, skims mineralogy, takes a confusing detour into quantum physics, but completely misses the discovery of radiation, it's importance to dating and heat generation.
The rock cycle is hinted at while subduction and volcanoes is sort of explained. The bit about water and rocks was interesting but unclear.
It was great to have visits to places where the deepest holes are dug and to see in photos the remains of drills sites in Russia. Another photo of the oldest rocks on earth is shown. Fabulous, it's in Canada, but not described in the text. The text says the oldest rocks are in Australia. A picture shows a core and the oldest rock on the planet. A blue zircon. Amazing.
Geologist have few new tools at their disposal. The diamond pressure experiments were very interesting. But what was the spinning liquid sodium really showing? It seemed a long stretch from fluid dynamics to the earth's dynamo. And do we think the core is liquid or solid? I'm still not sure.
The only thing I'm clear about is that the deeper into the earth we go the less we are sure about. As I got further into the book, the less I was sure I could finish it. The description of the core was painful.
The inside of the earth is compared to other planets. This is what has inspired the author. It's a shame this writing style , present in the second to last chapter, doesn't infuse the rest of the book. Many grammatical, spelling and other errors clouded explanations.
I got a better understanding of how the earth is layered and how difficult it is to study. Large earthquakes detected via global networks and analysed by complex computer models are our most reliable data source.
The crust is different thicknesses and composition depending on location. How it formed influenced the evolution of life. We can explore the deepest parts in the Mariana trench. The crust moves quickly straight down or slowly on an acute angle into the mantle.
The mantle moves by convection, subduction, spreading and hotspots generated by random fluctuations due to quantum events possibly in the core, aligned along iron crystals that form dipoles. Metals do strange things under pressure. Boyles law of the relationship between volume, temperature and pressure appears to break down. Or maybe not.
The boundaries between layers are in motion. It may have internal structure like a lava lamp. I liked this analogy. It made sense when shown with the computer simulations. This bit was excellent.
The core is likely silica and iron. We have hints of this from meteorites. It generates a magnetic field, which reverses poles now and again, creating a dynamo.
The last chapter critiques Jules Verne (but why?) then reflects that billions of years the sun will engulf the earth and we will be dust and bits of atoms again. The mystery and wonder of our universe will continue forever.
There is a missing chapter. We needed a summary of what we know, what we think we know and what we don't know at all. Then some comment as to where to next.
I can't find another book that attempts to summarize this topic, so good on David Whitehouse for trying to pull it together. Perhaps some help from seismologists would have simplified and made clear some explanations. It's a shame that the poor editing detracted from what could have been an excellent read.
Read
March 30, 2024[Abandoned after Chapter 20 - Pg 168 out of 255]
This is such a fascinating topic, and there's so much that is potentially interesting but it's a pity that this book is so poorly edited. Whitehouse is clearly both an enthusiast and a specialist but he's not the clearest or most engaging writer. He sometimes digresses into presenting a long litany of individuals in the field of seismology or earth sciences, which would be of little to no interest to a non-specialist and of seemingly little relevance to the main thrust of the text. At other times, he goes off on random tangents - yes the earth's core is critical to magnetism but do we need an entire chapter digressing on various attempts throughout history to use a magnetic compass? Similarly, seismographs are important to not just measuring earthquakes, but understanding the precise structure of the earth's interior - I would have preferred a better explanation of the latter, not 7-8 pages of people creating versions of seismographs as unjustly forgotten as they may be.
As an avid trivia buff books like these, on a broad factual topic and written for a non-specialist usually enthral me. It doesn't take much to get me interested. I am usually more than forgiving of random asides. But this truly was a slog. It's a shame Whitehouse was let down by bad editing and also poor fact-checking (more than a few quite glaring errors). There will no doubt be far better edited and tightly written books on this topic.
This is such a fascinating topic, and there's so much that is potentially interesting but it's a pity that this book is so poorly edited. Whitehouse is clearly both an enthusiast and a specialist but he's not the clearest or most engaging writer. He sometimes digresses into presenting a long litany of individuals in the field of seismology or earth sciences, which would be of little to no interest to a non-specialist and of seemingly little relevance to the main thrust of the text. At other times, he goes off on random tangents - yes the earth's core is critical to magnetism but do we need an entire chapter digressing on various attempts throughout history to use a magnetic compass? Similarly, seismographs are important to not just measuring earthquakes, but understanding the precise structure of the earth's interior - I would have preferred a better explanation of the latter, not 7-8 pages of people creating versions of seismographs as unjustly forgotten as they may be.
As an avid trivia buff books like these, on a broad factual topic and written for a non-specialist usually enthral me. It doesn't take much to get me interested. I am usually more than forgiving of random asides. But this truly was a slog. It's a shame Whitehouse was let down by bad editing and also poor fact-checking (more than a few quite glaring errors). There will no doubt be far better edited and tightly written books on this topic.
September 16, 2017
In Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Whitehouse takes us on a tour of discovery through the Earth's crust, mantle, out core and inner core. The author makes use of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" as a literary device as he takes the reader on a trip through the Earth, describing the scientists and the discoveries that lead to our knowledge of the Earth's geological structure. He discusses such topics as earth quakes and seismology, the Earth's protective magnetic field, the interconnected relationship between biology, rocks and the geological workings of the Earth and other planets in this solar system.
While the information provided in this book is interesting, some of it could have done with more detail. The chapters are rather short, which is preferable to having separate topics all squashed into one chapter, however, topic organization was a little erratic on occasion. This book includes many photographs and some diagrams but could have made use with a few more illustrative diagrams (and an editor).
While the information provided in this book is interesting, some of it could have done with more detail. The chapters are rather short, which is preferable to having separate topics all squashed into one chapter, however, topic organization was a little erratic on occasion. This book includes many photographs and some diagrams but could have made use with a few more illustrative diagrams (and an editor).
January 14, 2018
This was a very enjoyable and educational read. It is written in a way that makes is easy to understand for the average person by not going too deep into the scientific details of the subject mater while still providing enough information to teach the basics about the processes at work on and within planet earth.
One thing that I greatly appreciated about this book is that it shows the beauty of science. It shows how it brings people and ideas together. How people from around the globe build our knowledge, about any subject matter, by adding to the ideas of their predecessors and contemporaries. It shows how the scientific method overcomes human stubbornes, given enough time and evidence.
The only issue I had with the book is that there are sometimes very abrupt and unannounced transitions between subject matters and anecdotes and the literary references didn't really add any value to the book.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with interest in science.
One thing that I greatly appreciated about this book is that it shows the beauty of science. It shows how it brings people and ideas together. How people from around the globe build our knowledge, about any subject matter, by adding to the ideas of their predecessors and contemporaries. It shows how the scientific method overcomes human stubbornes, given enough time and evidence.
The only issue I had with the book is that there are sometimes very abrupt and unannounced transitions between subject matters and anecdotes and the literary references didn't really add any value to the book.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with interest in science.
November 3, 2017
I got this book for free for an honest review.
I liked the book, it was interesting and scientific. I will say if you have no interest in the Earth, in science, or geology don't read this. Even as someone with those interests, I found the second half of the book very slow to read and somewhat boring.
I liked the book, it was interesting and scientific. I will say if you have no interest in the Earth, in science, or geology don't read this. Even as someone with those interests, I found the second half of the book very slow to read and somewhat boring.
June 17, 2018
Fun read, especially for stargazers who haven’t considered the planet beneath their feet in a depth that reaches the inner core — or innermost inner core ; )
July 16, 2023
I enjoyed this book. I thought it did a good job in bringing me up to speed on the latest theories regarding the interior of the Earth. More in depth information and I might have been bored.
February 10, 2020
Contains some interesting information but clumsily written.
March 13, 2017
Fascinating look at the forces that literally shape our planet and help to sustain life as we know it. The Earth's core is relatively unknown compared to celestial objects but so essential to the formation of our unique planet. Stratightforward writing with a great collage of photos and illustrations.
August 15, 2023
Good science but probably not the strongest writing. Felt it went a bit off topic towards the end too.
March 5, 2017
What lies beneath our feet is truly remarkable and Whitehouse does a decent job of shepherding the reader through the layers. The history of the scientific inquiry into the earth is also presented, along with the various scientists who helped shape our current understanding.
Yet, you see I only ranked it two stars. Two reasons. One: the structure was curious, to be charitable. There was no narrative flow (no big deal, it's a science book, after all). More than that, though, short chapters seemed misplaced and led to confusion for this reader. Why are we talking about this guy from 18-whatever when we were just visiting that deep hole in modern Russia?
Two: I always ding a star for those who use "mankind" instead of more inclusive terms. For a book published in 2016, it seems like a conscious choice by recalcitrant men.
Yet, you see I only ranked it two stars. Two reasons. One: the structure was curious, to be charitable. There was no narrative flow (no big deal, it's a science book, after all). More than that, though, short chapters seemed misplaced and led to confusion for this reader. Why are we talking about this guy from 18-whatever when we were just visiting that deep hole in modern Russia?
Two: I always ding a star for those who use "mankind" instead of more inclusive terms. For a book published in 2016, it seems like a conscious choice by recalcitrant men.
May 18, 2016
I enjoyed Whitehouse's journey into the earth's core, a place harder for us to get to than the stars. In fact, it's impossible. What we do know about it is due to natural disasters and lots of mathematics. Whitehouse says this is a story about "people, conflicts and tragedy, discoveries and despair, for every earthquake that brings ruin and death also shows the route we must take but can never travel." Coming on the heels of my last book read - Molesky's account of the 1755 earthquake that leveled Lisbon - that kind of talk really made me think.
The book will seem a bit disjointed to some because it's a lot of random knowledge stitched together. For example, one of the earlier chapters ends with this line: "In fact, [Beno] Gutenberg often received royalties from publications in Germany in the form of piano scores." And that's it. Not exactly a summing up kind of observation or lead in to the next chapter. And we encounter Gutenberg later in the book, when the imaginary voyage has reached the inner core. But if you are the kind of reader who picks up a book, leaves it, and picks it up again after reading something else, the nice short chapters will suit you fine. And the stories of little-known science heroes are fascinating.
The book will seem a bit disjointed to some because it's a lot of random knowledge stitched together. For example, one of the earlier chapters ends with this line: "In fact, [Beno] Gutenberg often received royalties from publications in Germany in the form of piano scores." And that's it. Not exactly a summing up kind of observation or lead in to the next chapter. And we encounter Gutenberg later in the book, when the imaginary voyage has reached the inner core. But if you are the kind of reader who picks up a book, leaves it, and picks it up again after reading something else, the nice short chapters will suit you fine. And the stories of little-known science heroes are fascinating.
February 18, 2016
with jules verne's journey to the center of the earth as its narrative framework, david whitehouse's into the heart of our world offers a foray into our planet's subterranean realms. what should be a naturally interesting subject is made tedious by a haphazard and often scattershot construction. too frequently, a fascinating aside (or even critical point) is left far from fully explored — abandoning the reader with underdeveloped insight and unsatiated curiosity. how seismology, volcanology, plate tectonics, subduction, magnetism, and the like can be rendered so dully is disappointing, as was into the heart of our world as a whole.
the earth began as dust clumped together and it will end fragmented into dust scattered across the face of a white dwarf star that will probably do nothing but cool for ever, undisturbed as it moves, constantly fading, in between the stars.
August 8, 2016
If you are interested in the scientific thoughts that go into our current understanding of earthquakes, the layers of the earth, how it all will end, and much, much more, this is definitely a book for you. The book begins with what was thought to be true long ago and continues up through to the current hypothesis. Most of it was explained in a way that I could understand, but there were a few ideas that I didn't have enough background knowledge to really "get". The author interweaves quotes from Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth to introduce the various topics, which adds to the book in any interesting way. It was a deep, but fascinating and informative read. (I received this in a goodreads giveaway.)
July 12, 2016
The premise was interesting and the subject matter fascinating, but this book was in need of some serious editing and rewriting. Many of the chapters wandered far from where they started, taking off on loosely related tangents. The writing was very flat and a slog to get through. Science writing at its best is accessible (most of the book was), gripping (most of the book was not), and inspiring (again, mostly absent). I did appreciate the history of seismology and geology presented in the book, which as the author rightly points out is not widely known or appreciated. Outside of that, however, I can't find much to strongly recommend this book.
December 24, 2019
This book provides an insight about the earth's heart and how it turned out to be a habitat for a single population of bacteria called Desulfurodis audaxviator. It was a fascinating journey that everyone should take to dive deeper into the earth.
October 14, 2017
one the few Science fictions book on Earth Science I have read..
July 6, 2016
Pretty dull. It lacked the geek out factor and the narrative engagement that I look for in a good popular science book.
April 7, 2017
Interesting journey to the center of our planet, recent scientific discoveries and thinking on the internal processes well described and a pleasure to read.
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