Meteorite: The Stones from Outer Space That Made Our World

by Tim Gregory

Explore the universe and immerse yourself in the story of our solar system, planet, and life through meteorites. "Meteorite is a treasure"--Wall Street JournalMeteorites have long been seen as portents of fate and messages from the gods, their fiery remains inspiring worship and giving rise to legends that have persisted for millennia. But beyond the lore, meteorites tell an even greater that of our solar system. In Meteorite, geologist Tim Gregory shows that beneath the charred crusts of these celestial stones lies a staggering diversity of rock types. Their unique constituents, vibrant colors, and pungent smells contain thrilling tales of interstellar clouds, condensing stardust, and the fiery collisions of entire worlds. Gregory explores the world of meteorites to uncover new insights into what our solar system was like before our sun became a star, into the forging of our planet, and into the emergence of life on it. Humans have long looked to the skies for answers to big questions. Meteorite reveals how science is finally arriving at those answers.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Space, History, Astronomy, Physics, Geology

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 19, 2020

About the author

Dr Tim Gregory is a nuclear chemist at the United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory where he counts radioactive atoms for a living. He is also a speaker and broadcaster. He has a PhD in isotope cosmochemistry from the University of Bristol and a first class master's degree in Geology with Planetary Science from the University of Manchester.

When he is not in the lab or writing, Tim is usually either hiking, fell running, or playing his guitar. You can get in touch with him via Goodreads or his website. (All views are his own, not those of his employer.)

Reviews

[Brian Clegg · Rating 4 out of 5]

There have been many books on astronomy, ranging from exploring individual aspects of the solar system, such as the Sun or Mars, through to studies of the most distant depths of the universe, but there has been relatively little on the only astronomical objects that we're able to touch (other than the Earth itself) - meteorites.

In Meteorite, Tim Gregory fills in many details of the nature of these rocks from outer space, from how they formed in the first place to the range of types and origins that are possible. Most come from the debris of the forming solar system left in the asteroid belt, but some were smashed off the Moon or Mars by an incoming impactor.

Although the main focus is the meteorites themselves (if there's any doubt, we are talking about the solid remains that fall to Earth when a meteor - a shooting star - in part survives the journey through the atmosphere), Gregory also fills us in on the contribution that meteorites have made to the Earth, whether it be bringing in minerals or causing significant events such as the extermination of the dinosaurs. We also get to meet some of the special cases - the relatively rare meteorites that have been seen falling to Earth and the surprising role that meteorites have played in helping us determine the age of the Earth and the solar system.

I have two regrets here. One is that there are no illustrations at all in the book. I would love to have seen colour plates of the dramatic sounding structures within the different types of meteorite. And the other regret is that, like it or not, once you get a meteorite down to Earth, we're dealing with a cousin of geology, and it's very difficult for geology not to become a touch dull. There are only so many types of meteorite and of crystalline structure and chemical and isotopic makeup that the ordinary reader can get through before feeling a little sleepy.

In Gregory's favour, however, his sheer enthusiasm for the subject carries the reader forward even when it feels like we are getting a bit bogged down in that geological mire of terminology and categorisation. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in astronomy but who (like me) probably hasn't given meteorites much attention in the past. They are remarkable things.

[Victor Sonkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book begins very well, but its problem is that the author had not decided what he wanted to create: a historical account of meteorites and their fall, or a scientific, astronomy-cum-chemistry account of the fate of the Solar system and the Universe, and how meteorites come into this picture. I was interested in the first type of book (even though it says nothing whatsoever about the Tunguska event), but not so much in the second, which at some point occupied the whole narrative and almost never let it go.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one didn't work for me. I know a fair bit about meteoritics, and had hoped this would be a good popular-science introduction to a topic dear to my heart, as a geologist and space-cadet. Sadly, it was not to be. DNF @114/272. I did keep notes, and the book got some good reviews. OK. Let's see, hrm hrm....

In essence, the book's problem is, it veers from too simplistic to too technical (for an average lay reader, and sometimes even for me). So I'm not sure where author Gregory's aim-point was. Except that he missed! And actually, re-reading Nature's review (linked below), you will get a lot better intro to meteoritics (imo) from that than the book provides. Including some wonderful color photos! Those farmers in India, standing around a fresh little crater in their muddy field, a couple years ago! Whoa.

So, who knows. Maybe it got better in the second half? All I know is, I'd read a chapter or two, stall out, pick it up again a week (or a month!) later, repeat. Not a good sign! I really didn't get much out of the part I read. Overdue, and no desire whatever to try again. Not recommended.

Nature's enthusiastic review: https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158...
Excerpt:
"In Meteorite, chemist and geoscientist Tim Gregory weaves a colourful tapestry of historical and scientific stories with an eye towards the latest developments. A passionate communicator, Gregory conjures environments and events far outside the human experience. Consider this description of the infant Sun, 4.5 billion years ago: “Turbulent winds and eddies in the thin wisps of gas further concentrated dust into whirling clouds like cosmic tumbleweeds.”

[Márcio · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my humble opinion, scientific books require straightforwardness with the reader and this is what Tim Gregory does here, in his first book published, Meteorite. And no, this is not a book about the threats that meteorites impose on life on Earth, but these strange celestial bodies, they hold clues to understand how our Solar System was formed, they even hold clues about the nebulae that it was involved before there was the Sun. Thus, this is a book that tells us a story that started happening about 4.7 billion years ago.

So, when you look up at the sky and see a shooting star, you are seeing a part of the history of the universe entering our planet, it might disintegrate at the entrance, or hit the soil with the sound of an explosion, depending on its size, and if nobody is around, as along human history it might have happened, our Earth will recycle it and turn it as part of itself.

This is quite an interesting book, and believe me, you don't have to know much about chemistry or geology to understand it. It was a great joy readingi.

[Clara Coulson · Rating 4 out of 5]

[ Cross-posted to Comments by Clara ]

Continuing my recent foray into science nonfiction, I picked up Meteorite hoping to learn a bit more about the titular subject matter than I did in my school years, and the author did not disappoint. With information presented in a very organized fashion and with a writing style accessible even to those with very little scientific knowledge, Meteorite acts as a great primer for anyone interested in learning about the key role that meteorites have played in our journey to understand the origins of our solar system.

The book includes a great many stories about the historical discoveries of meteorites and how scientists used those discoveries to gradually learn more and more about how the solar system formed—in particular, which cosmic processes created the solar system we know today, what elements were involved in those processes, and what modern-day by-products were created by those processes.

The author also takes the time to thoroughly explain the basics of meteorite categorization—what the different types of meteorites are called, what they’re made of, and how each one helped us understand more about the history of the solar system—without delving so far into advanced math and science that the book becomes difficult for a non-science-oriented reader (like me) to understand.

All in all, I thought this book was a well-written introductory text for anyone interested in studying the topic of meteorites, or even just anyone interested in learning a little more about the subject than they did in high school science.

Rating: 4/5

_____

Thanks to NetGalley and Basic Books for providing me with an eARC of Meteorite.

[Ula Tardigrade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would guess that a book about meteorites is a page-turner? Yet here it is: suspense, fast-paced action, fascinating characters, all enriched by a healthy dose of scientific facts that will satisfy even the most curious reader. I have to admit that night after night I delayed my sleep because I couldn’t shut down my reader before finishing the chapter.

Tim Gregory is a fantastic storyteller. He can make interesting even the more complicated details of geology or chemistry (sorry, “cosmochemistry” – what a wonderful word!). His writing is clear and precise, but by no means dry – on the contrary, he is funny and engaging, and his enthusiasm for science is infectious. While reading, you begin to wonder about many meteor-related things, and the author promptly delivers responses to every possible question you can think of. I love this kind of popular science book.

A must-read for everyone with even the slightest interest in the nature of the Universe and history of scientific progress.

Many thanks to the publisher, Perseus Books, Basic Books, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

[Sookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

a pretty neat book about rocks...from space..

[Isabelle reads a book a day because she has no friends · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know when people get really amped up talking about something they love, and you have no idea what they are talking about, but it is so endearing and you want to encourage them? It’s like that.
The passion and excitement of Tim Gregory is contagious. Listening to this audiobook (narrated by the author and it didn’t end horribly!), you can tell how much this guy LOVES meteorites. With the text alone, I’m pretty sure it would be just as evident, but you would be missing out on his classy accent. Overall, it was a great book that I’m sure I would have loved regardless, but the apparent enthusiasm of the author towards the subject matter really makes it something special.

[Gxianfranko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently, this book is about falling rocks, but actually  it is a tribute to the beauty of the universe and to the greatness of human ingenuity.
Of course, it seems absurd to see beauty in a series of scorched stones hitting the Earth. It's easier to see them as a divine wrath, or a mean of total destruction (ask the first dinosaur you will meet, or the last one, maybe...).
Yet, Tim Gregory takes the reader beyond appearances and shows what beauty and what great, truly "spacey" stories meteorites contain (for example, have you ever imagined our solar system as an ocean of sparkling beads?).
Also, this book is a hymn to the willpower and ingenuity of men (e.g., do you know the 'oxygen fractionation line'?), capable of overcoming enormous difficulties, finding answers to fundamental questions and going backwards billions of years just by examining pieces of rock.
You will be glad to read "Meteorite", a book that educates and that at the same time instills optimism about our creativity and future.

[Damian Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful read. A complex subject described so well. Loved the length of UK to visualise speed ie so fast it could cover the distance in 1.5 seconds. Would recommend this for any one interested in science

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving it all up to become a cosmochemist, my 14th new career of the year

Tim Gregory has a true talent for painting a vivid picture and to set the scene; to the point where some paragraphs read like true fiction. I especially liked the first third of the book where he tells the inception of cosmochemistry, and the last chapter about how catastrophic asteroid impacts shaped the history of the Earth (#byebyedinosaurs).

One thing that would have brought this book to a 4.5 is pictures. I'm a simple gal, give me some pics in a glossy middle section and I am thrilled. It would have been especially useful for the portions where the typology of meteorites is laid out based partly on appearance. The lack of illustration made it harder to keep track of this typology. As a result, I couldn't keep my meteorites straight -WOMP WOMP!

[Ethan Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Gregory has given us a wonderfully entertaining work on meteorites. But not just meteorites. I now know the difference between a meteor, an asteroid, the formation of atomic elements, which made so much more sense than what I learned any science class in school. And every bit of this book, one chapter to the next, is clear and extremely fascinating. Sitting here now, I'm making dad-jokes about how many "stars" to give the book and if the book is intended for "mass" market.

I'm struggling to come to grips with all that was covered and yet realizing that at no point did the author leave me in the dust (!) with too much science. I didn't feel overwhelmed at all, but I did feel pulled along at every angle into historical events somewhat feeling like a real-life Dan Brown novel, with scientists navigating around the globe, unraveling hints of mysteries buried within the rocks. I know, without a doubt, that nothing I'm writing will prepare you for such an enjoyable ride.

The author's narrative is smooth and nicely refined, combining multiple disciplines of science in a truly readable journey. I've been to Meteor Crater, but the author gives the crater additional depth, allowing me to imagine the impact (literally) of these foreign bodies. I could visualize what happened in the Yucatan peninsula and Germany.

Now for the negative: I was a bit sad when I had finished the entire book. I wished (upon a star?) that George R. R. Martin or Robert Jordan had the skills to write accessible science as Gregory does. This is the kind of book that makes me want to join in the hunt for rocks with strange black crusts.

I have no hesitation in recommending this title, not just to science buffs, or historians, or rock hunters, but to everyone who enjoys a little mystery and discovery. And yet, the author isn't afraid to admit there are mysteries remaining. Wonderful.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to review the book. I enjoyed it so very much.

[Rayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gem. Truly. This book made reading science fun again in a way I haven't had since I was a kid and would read ahead to the interesting bits of the textbook.

This book gives you a portrait of the solar system in its current state and its creation, and gives you on a peak of what our ancestors must have thought of it. Written with a passion and space and our cosmic neighborhood in general, that passion lends itself to every sup-topic within.

I try to look up the authors of science books before I request an ARC. Simply because there is so little known about the book that forming an idea of who is writing it can be the only idea of what you might get. Dr, Gregory (or rather, his website) came across professionally and credentialed, and that seeps into his writing here as well.

It's not really a book I can 'spoil', but to go too much on a topic would rob you of the ability to learn about it from someone with clearly better words. If you're reading this review, you already have an idea of if you want to read the book or not. If you think you might, you definitely should. Well informed, lovely writing makes the choice simple. Thank you to Netgalley and Basic Books for the ARC!

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and Poetic. Gregory knows his subject extremely well and knows how to explain it well to an audience that doesn't necessarily have near the academic pedigree in the field that he seemingly does. Ostensibly a story about the space rocks that land on earth, this tale is part history, part chemistry, part theoretical astrophysics, and a whole lot of detailed yet understandable explanation of how all of these fields interact as it relates to the subject at hand. I learned more about chemistry from reading this book than I *ever* understood from my high school chemistry class. Very much recommended.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, well-explained look at meteorites

I enjoyed this book. Tim Gregory uses simple explanations to explain meteorites and their place in the solar system. He writes with a conversational tone and shows some humor. I also enjoyed the footnotes. I generally don’t comment on epilogues, but in this book I found the epilogue very satisfying, more so than in many non-fiction books. Overall this is an excellent book and I recommend it for anyone interested in science.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would think a science book would be a page turner? This one is. It's about meteorites, space rocks, and it's cool. I didn't even know there was so much to know about meteorites. If you have a space loving friend who also likes rocks, this book is for them. It's a really interesting read.

[Laura Hanke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A partial antidote to modern despair.

[Chaitra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. Son and I have been reading this off and on from a couple of months now. It's a book about rocks falling from the sky, and it drills down into minute chemical compositions of said rocks in laypeople terms. I think you should be of a particular mindset to find this interesting. But to give the author credit, he makes it as interesting as possible. It dragged in the middle, it does make the same points in slightly different words a couple of times, but the first couple and final few chapters are very well told. I know a whole lot more about meteorites than I did before. It's not something I thought I would want to know about, but the scientific process of matching meteorites to celestial bodies is fascinating.

[Ana Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a newbie to all things meteorites, I loved it. This book reads as a conversation with someone who is passionate about what they talk about and is able to have fun with it, which I found really enjoyable. A couple more illustrations for certain concepts would be appreciated when it gets to the details, but overall, it is easily understandable. If you'd like to learn something new about outer space, pick this book up!

[Kevin Orrman-Rossiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on what is a 'neglected' area of astronomy related topics - meteorites. Gregory's enthusiasm and expertise for this topic is obvious and his writing is rewarding reading for these attributes. The book has a grand scope covering the big and small of the contributions that meteorites, 'falling stars', have made to the earth's (and human's) history. It could have benefited greatly from illustrations, he describes meteorite structures in detail - these could have benefited greatly from colour photographs, and the sites of meteorite impacts - these could have been illustrated in a number of ways to the books general readership benefit. I have one small niggle that Gregory occasionally, fortunately few times, lapsed into an unnecessary veneration of science and its achievements; a specific example of suggesting that the Moon-landing sites be treated as sacred, important yes, worthy of protection and heritage yes, but sacred no - science is not a religion. These quibbles aside this is an interesting and well-written book, that provided me with enjoyment and curiosity over a holiday break - good achievement for a non-fiction book.

[Monika Landy-Gyebnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute winner! An interesting story of the Solar System and Earth built on a frame of meteorites. The book is the love-child of astronomy and geology, concentrating the beauties of both. Extremely well written, I was half dead every evening because I was very tired but could not put the book down.
I hope Tim Gregory would write many more books like this and I live long enough to read all of them.

[Emiliano Valencia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read similar reviews of this book starting off as a really well crafted explanation that unfortunately veers into more technical and complex information.

I honestly found this book to be a perfect fit for someone with an amateur-ish foundation of astronomy and interest in geology with some bits of understanding of physics and chemistry, that is looking for something that keeps you engaged and gives you some technical information without going overboard with unnecessary formulas, concepts or mathematical explanations on how isotopic decay actually works. You’re looking for a page-turner that feeds on your curiosity and Gregory achieved this.

The information is just right and we’ll balanced, every time you’ve got a dose of technical information you also got a dose of really nicely crafted story telling on the story of meteorites, the solar system, earth — and ourselves.

Yes, you could argue that by the final chapters the book it’s missing more of a punch… it kinda uses the final chapters to further explain rare events instead of solidifying all the other previous chapters. That being said. I’m biased by being born and raised from the Yucatan peninsula, for someone that spent most of his life scuba-diving on the cenotes and rejoicing on the beauty of such places… it was unexpectedly nice seeing Chicxulub mentioned on this book. It was cenotes that first sparked my curiosity on science, and somehow during my quest for a deeper understanding, I found myself going back to the very roots that enlightened my younger self in the past.

5 stars just for that :)

[John Hankins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you ever wanted to know about Meteorites!

This is a very detailed history of meteorites. Where they come from and where they are going. And importantly, how they tell us about our place in the history of the universe. The book is not for the faint of heart with respect to science. Not a scientific journal, but pretty intense at times for someone who is not well-versed in the subject.

[katie meddins (maresh) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘destruction is the prerequisite for creation’

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well written history of meteorites and what they tell us about the origin of the Universe, our planet and ourselves. Read by the author, who does an atypically good job (great writers are usually not great readers).

[Linda Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and enjoyable lively read full of information extending through the history of the universe and how meteors develop, with all the latest information on the field.

[Stephen L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tackles a complex subject in a straightforward manner. Gregory takes cosmic geology and simpolifies it so that a non-geologist can understand it. He answers many of the questions you ask like 'How do they tell the age of a rock?' or 'How can you tell that rock is a meteorite?' in a very simple way. I do find myself only able to read a few pages at a time though and frequently have to skip back a few pages because I realise I haven't really understood something or have forgotten what some abbreviation means.
Tim, if you ever do a revision, please add an abbreviations list

[Veronica Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book yet Scientific it is not at all boring. It is very poetically descriptive when taking about phenomena, research. Big discoveries, the impact of it on mankind. How something started to be speculative on being celestial in origin. Space mystery related ) dated back to the BC)

This arc was given to me by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Kee Onn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meteorites, and asteroids from which they (mostly) come from, are kind of the afterthoughts of the astronomical worlds. They're not large, imposing planets that people send rovers to explore, not colorful nebulae and galaxies that we gawk at from telescopes. Space missions that explores asteroids seemed like consolation prizes when the big budget, manned missions fails to make it through Congress. In this book, Tim Gregory does meteorites and asteroids justice for casting them as what they really are - primordial building blocks of the Solar System, and a window for us to look back in time and discover long-sought answers to questions like 'how do planets form?', 'how old is the Earth?', and the grand questions of 'where are we from?' and 'is there life outside of Earth?'.

In this book, he describes the many types of meteorites in loving details, much as a grandparent would describe all their grandchildren (reinforced by the family tree-like chart in the first page). Unfortunately, this could have been more easily done by enclosing pictures in the book instead. The science in this book is not challenging for a scientifically-trained reader, but I can imagine others having a hard time wading through the jargons. The book redeems itself with excellent storytelling, depicting complex scenes such as the formation of the solar system and the fusion of elements in stellar cores with ease. The stories of how meteorite impact events has influenced human culture is a nice touch as well. In overall, this book is an enriching read for a topic rarely discussed, and a valuable addition to any science and astronomy book collection.

[Bruce Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes I am a bit of a science nerd, and have loved astronomy since the 70's, owned many telescopes, even built a couple, so I may be biased. What you have here is a well written description of the ins and outs of cosmochemistry and our understanding to date of how our solar system formed. It is an easy read, although some non-science people may have to slow down to digest a couple of areas if you're not conversant in atoms or molecules or the periodic table, but it is still very understandable. If you've ever wondered the how and the why of our planet and solar system, this is easily the best source you're going to find!