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地球深歷史：一段被忽略的地質學革命，一部地球萬物的歷史
這段大歷史不僅關乎地質，
還包括動、植物，山川、河流、地震、大洋、大氣，
以及其他星體，貨真價實是部地球萬物的歷史，
也呈現出人類如何創造自身？
人類如何發現和發明大地的時間？
深時間如何需要歷史感？
作者獲頒美國科學史學會終身成就Sarton Medal
佛洛伊德曾說，有三大革命徹底改變了人類在自然界的自我定位。哥白尼將我們從宇宙的中心移開，達爾文將我們變成赤身裸體的猿猴，第三場就是他自己，揭發了我們潛意識的深度，其實，在這些之外，還有第四場革命，那就是地質學發現：人類擔當主角的時間很短，地球的絕大部分時光，都是無人類的世界。
細究這場被忽略的地質學革命，將會挑戰我們思考的慣性。
首先，宗教並不是阻礙科學發展的保守勢力，相反地，《聖經・創世紀》裡的六日論，給了研究者想像的依據，是創造性活動的靈感泉源。當田野調查幫助人類邁開想像的步伐，將神聖造物主佈置舞台的「六日」，延伸發展成「岩石、山川等無生命之物」也有其過往歷史的概念，這才進而造就地質學的開展。
另外，研究者固然把「大自然當成書」，尋查冰河、火山、隕石的痕跡，推測造成這一切的普世成因。但要不是借用了人文學科裡的歷史學，學習編年史家編纂年鑑的方法，重建各種地質「事件」，思索「偶然性」的意涵，明白即便有了後見之明也無法預測這些「事件」。這讓地質學發展出這幾百年來的獨特面貌。
人類為什麼對地球何時誕生深感興趣？在神聖的追尋裡，是什麼讓人類跨出第一步開始正視外在世界的岩石和化石，並突破想像中的時間長度限制？這些前仆後繼相互爭辯的偉大心靈如何相互傳承，又相互修正？全球貿易和殖民、自然環境測繪和探險，如何把地球史推向全球規模？
作者是科學史領域的大師，本身也是虔誠的基督徒，更是訓練專精的地質學家，專研二疊紀三疊紀之交的無脊椎動物腕足動物門。在這部旁徵博引的大敘事裡，作者不只述說歷史上的地質學追尋，還融合親身經歷過的二戰後地質學界生態，講述全世界如何因為冷戰局勢，而缺少來自蘇聯與中國地質學界的貢獻。從阿爾卑斯山到大西洋，從中國西南到美國西部，從編年史家到地球科學家，讀者隨著這段地質學進展，將一起領略到人類知識活動的挑戰和樂趣，人類又如何創造自身的意義。
經過這場革命，人類不再是宇宙的主角，地球擴展了自身的時間尺度，人類重新創造了自身。這段大歷史不僅關乎地質，還包括動、植物，山川、河流、地震、大洋、大氣，以及其他星體，貨真價實是部地球萬物的歷史。沒有地質學家用歷史的方法研究山川，就無法揭開山川如今的樣貌。生物學家沿用了地質學家的方法，探究演化的歷程，若不從演化入手，就無法了解生物的型態和習性。天文學家採用的地質學家的方法，不斷重建大霹靂以來的宇宙歷史。
地質學不只是關於地底和岩石的學問，當地質學結合天文，可以帶領人類認識宇宙，當地質學結合生物學、大氣學，就是一部關於生命起源的探尋。關心地質學史就是關心人類如何認知自己在大自然中所處位置的歷史。
還包括動、植物，山川、河流、地震、大洋、大氣，
以及其他星體，貨真價實是部地球萬物的歷史，
也呈現出人類如何創造自身？
人類如何發現和發明大地的時間？
深時間如何需要歷史感？
作者獲頒美國科學史學會終身成就Sarton Medal
佛洛伊德曾說，有三大革命徹底改變了人類在自然界的自我定位。哥白尼將我們從宇宙的中心移開，達爾文將我們變成赤身裸體的猿猴，第三場就是他自己，揭發了我們潛意識的深度，其實，在這些之外，還有第四場革命，那就是地質學發現：人類擔當主角的時間很短，地球的絕大部分時光，都是無人類的世界。
細究這場被忽略的地質學革命，將會挑戰我們思考的慣性。
首先，宗教並不是阻礙科學發展的保守勢力，相反地，《聖經・創世紀》裡的六日論，給了研究者想像的依據，是創造性活動的靈感泉源。當田野調查幫助人類邁開想像的步伐，將神聖造物主佈置舞台的「六日」，延伸發展成「岩石、山川等無生命之物」也有其過往歷史的概念，這才進而造就地質學的開展。
另外，研究者固然把「大自然當成書」，尋查冰河、火山、隕石的痕跡，推測造成這一切的普世成因。但要不是借用了人文學科裡的歷史學，學習編年史家編纂年鑑的方法，重建各種地質「事件」，思索「偶然性」的意涵，明白即便有了後見之明也無法預測這些「事件」。這讓地質學發展出這幾百年來的獨特面貌。
人類為什麼對地球何時誕生深感興趣？在神聖的追尋裡，是什麼讓人類跨出第一步開始正視外在世界的岩石和化石，並突破想像中的時間長度限制？這些前仆後繼相互爭辯的偉大心靈如何相互傳承，又相互修正？全球貿易和殖民、自然環境測繪和探險，如何把地球史推向全球規模？
作者是科學史領域的大師，本身也是虔誠的基督徒，更是訓練專精的地質學家，專研二疊紀三疊紀之交的無脊椎動物腕足動物門。在這部旁徵博引的大敘事裡，作者不只述說歷史上的地質學追尋，還融合親身經歷過的二戰後地質學界生態，講述全世界如何因為冷戰局勢，而缺少來自蘇聯與中國地質學界的貢獻。從阿爾卑斯山到大西洋，從中國西南到美國西部，從編年史家到地球科學家，讀者隨著這段地質學進展，將一起領略到人類知識活動的挑戰和樂趣，人類又如何創造自身的意義。
經過這場革命，人類不再是宇宙的主角，地球擴展了自身的時間尺度，人類重新創造了自身。這段大歷史不僅關乎地質，還包括動、植物，山川、河流、地震、大洋、大氣，以及其他星體，貨真價實是部地球萬物的歷史。沒有地質學家用歷史的方法研究山川，就無法揭開山川如今的樣貌。生物學家沿用了地質學家的方法，探究演化的歷程，若不從演化入手，就無法了解生物的型態和習性。天文學家採用的地質學家的方法，不斷重建大霹靂以來的宇宙歷史。
地質學不只是關於地底和岩石的學問，當地質學結合天文，可以帶領人類認識宇宙，當地質學結合生物學、大氣學，就是一部關於生命起源的探尋。關心地質學史就是關心人類如何認知自己在大自然中所處位置的歷史。
440 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
94 people are currently reading
516 people want to read
About the author
Martin J.S. Rudwick
10 books10 followersMartin John Spencer Rudwick is a British geologist, historian, and academic. He is an emeritus professor of History at the University of California, San Diego and an affiliated research scholar at Cambridge University's Department of History and Philosophy of Science.
His principal field of study is the history of the earth sciences; his work has been described as the "definitive histories of the pre-Darwinian earth sciences".
Rudwick was awarded the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal in 1988. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). He was the recipient of the 2007 George Sarton Medal from the History of Science Society.
His principal field of study is the history of the earth sciences; his work has been described as the "definitive histories of the pre-Darwinian earth sciences".
Rudwick was awarded the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal in 1988. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). He was the recipient of the 2007 George Sarton Medal from the History of Science Society.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 10, 2018
Excellent rollerskate tour of the history of geology, by its pre-eminent historian. Particularly good at showing how the idea of a big, ongoing conflict between (geological) Science and Religion is mostly American and all bullshit.
Bishop Ussher, for instance, was trying to produce a timeline of history at a time (mid-17th C) when the Hebrew Bible was by far the oldest document available. His time was canonized as authoritative because for centuries it was printed in the margins of popular editions of the Bible. But "savants" ("scientists" hadn't been invented yet) were soon convinced, and stayed convinced, that there was a pre-Adamite time of great extent. No-one educated had a problem with it, because "a thousand ages in your sight are like a morning gone": there was no reason to assume that the "days" of Genesis 1 were 24 hours long.
Naive, simplistic biblical literalism was really a 19th-century American invention.
Rudwick also knocks down the US-centric view where plate tectonics was a radical "paradigm shift" in the 1960s. It was a shift in the US, but that's because USan scientists dogmatically rejected the "mobilist" theories of Gondwanan scientists (in S. America & Africa).
Bishop Ussher, for instance, was trying to produce a timeline of history at a time (mid-17th C) when the Hebrew Bible was by far the oldest document available. His time was canonized as authoritative because for centuries it was printed in the margins of popular editions of the Bible. But "savants" ("scientists" hadn't been invented yet) were soon convinced, and stayed convinced, that there was a pre-Adamite time of great extent. No-one educated had a problem with it, because "a thousand ages in your sight are like a morning gone": there was no reason to assume that the "days" of Genesis 1 were 24 hours long.
Naive, simplistic biblical literalism was really a 19th-century American invention.
Rudwick also knocks down the US-centric view where plate tectonics was a radical "paradigm shift" in the 1960s. It was a shift in the US, but that's because USan scientists dogmatically rejected the "mobilist" theories of Gondwanan scientists (in S. America & Africa).
December 22, 2015
This book was not exactly what I thought. Rather than a history of the earth, it was a history of the development of scientific thought and understanding about the earth. Intellectual rather than geological history. A bit of slog, but quite interesting, and an excellent refutation of the silliness of "Creationism."
October 3, 2024
Bu kitap beni kısmen hayal kırıklığına uğrattı çünkü sandığım gibi yeyüzünün tarihini anlatmıyor da temelde bilim tarihini anlatıyor. İnsanlığın yeryüzüne dair bilgilerinin ve kavrayışının yaratılış teorisinden öte olmadığı zamanlardan başlayıp süreç içerisinde bilimsel düşünceye adım adım nasıl ulaşıldığını anlatan bir kitap.
September 27, 2019
When the Bible was assumed to be literally true, the actual verbatim word of god, there were those occasional awkward questions about the accuracy of the translations, but since few people could read at all, much less read Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, this was not an issue of great concern. Martin Luther famously mocked Copernicus by reminding his readers that in Joshua 10:13 it was the sun that was commanded to stand still, not the earth (Luther, Works, vol. 22). He was a theologian, not a scientist, but at that time almost everyone would have agreed with him.
Within two hundred years of Luther, however, it was recognized by educated people that examination of rocks and fossils clearly showed that the world was ancient, far older than a literal interpretation of Genesis could account for. And so, very much to their credit, they simply adjusted their beliefs. If the facts disproved earlier theories, then it was the theories that needed to be changed, not the facts. In a similar vein the modern Catholic church, which at one time burned people at the stake to resolve theological questions, changed their position when the evidence for evolution became incontrovertible; they simply said that god directs evolutionary changes, thus incorporating it within church doctrine with no need for more bloodshed.
It is a sorry statement about modern society that biblical literalism still holds sway with so many people, especially in the United States. According to a 2007 Gallup Poll, one-third of Americans believe the Bible is the actual word of god and is literally, word for word true. As H.L. Menken said, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
This book shows how the science of geology came about, and how new discoveries were investigated, interpreted, and contextualized into ever evolving theories about the earth’s history and the monumental changes it has undergone. Geology admirably follows the model of scientific progress as a whole, where tentative hypotheses are developed based on the existing facts, modified as new discoveries are made, and discarded when newer theories emerge that better account for the experimental and observational data. As William Irvine beautifully expressed it in Apes, Angels, and Victorians, “Hypotheses were constantly reaching out into the darkness – slowly, almost inevitably refining and rectifying themselves through empirical contact with reality.”
The author is himself religious, and while he does not allow his beliefs to color the history he reports, he does take time to examine the findings from a metaphysical standpoint. He quickly dismisses the Young Earthers, clinging to their ignorance like children, afraid they might actually learn something. He is much more sympathetic to liberal believers who do not insist on Biblical literalism and whose theology is broad enough to incorporate new discoveries. As he points out, many of the early geologists were clergymen, because at that time the clergy formed the intellectual elite of society. Although their new interpretations of the age of the earth may have dismayed some of their more conservative superiors, they were not punished for their positions nor prohibited from publishing their findings.
The science here is excellent, and the history is interesting and informative. Although my view is that when you apply Occam’s Razor to metaphysical questions they dissolve like smoke on the wind, the author never lets his religion affect the facts. He is dismissive of the views of atheists, but they are most assuredly equally dismissive of his beliefs. So long as we can keep the fundamentalists out of the room, we can all agree to disagree, and nobody needs to be burned at that stake.
Within two hundred years of Luther, however, it was recognized by educated people that examination of rocks and fossils clearly showed that the world was ancient, far older than a literal interpretation of Genesis could account for. And so, very much to their credit, they simply adjusted their beliefs. If the facts disproved earlier theories, then it was the theories that needed to be changed, not the facts. In a similar vein the modern Catholic church, which at one time burned people at the stake to resolve theological questions, changed their position when the evidence for evolution became incontrovertible; they simply said that god directs evolutionary changes, thus incorporating it within church doctrine with no need for more bloodshed.
It is a sorry statement about modern society that biblical literalism still holds sway with so many people, especially in the United States. According to a 2007 Gallup Poll, one-third of Americans believe the Bible is the actual word of god and is literally, word for word true. As H.L. Menken said, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
This book shows how the science of geology came about, and how new discoveries were investigated, interpreted, and contextualized into ever evolving theories about the earth’s history and the monumental changes it has undergone. Geology admirably follows the model of scientific progress as a whole, where tentative hypotheses are developed based on the existing facts, modified as new discoveries are made, and discarded when newer theories emerge that better account for the experimental and observational data. As William Irvine beautifully expressed it in Apes, Angels, and Victorians, “Hypotheses were constantly reaching out into the darkness – slowly, almost inevitably refining and rectifying themselves through empirical contact with reality.”
The author is himself religious, and while he does not allow his beliefs to color the history he reports, he does take time to examine the findings from a metaphysical standpoint. He quickly dismisses the Young Earthers, clinging to their ignorance like children, afraid they might actually learn something. He is much more sympathetic to liberal believers who do not insist on Biblical literalism and whose theology is broad enough to incorporate new discoveries. As he points out, many of the early geologists were clergymen, because at that time the clergy formed the intellectual elite of society. Although their new interpretations of the age of the earth may have dismayed some of their more conservative superiors, they were not punished for their positions nor prohibited from publishing their findings.
The science here is excellent, and the history is interesting and informative. Although my view is that when you apply Occam’s Razor to metaphysical questions they dissolve like smoke on the wind, the author never lets his religion affect the facts. He is dismissive of the views of atheists, but they are most assuredly equally dismissive of his beliefs. So long as we can keep the fundamentalists out of the room, we can all agree to disagree, and nobody needs to be burned at that stake.
January 19, 2021
At Carlsbad Caverns I asked my 11 year old science-loving son, "Do you like the finished product or the science God used to make the finished product more?" I agreed with his answer: the science!
I love love love this book. This is the fascinating story of how thousands of people curious about creation (which is what science is) over hundreds of years banded together to help us understand how the planet came to be in its current and ever-changing form. A sub-theme is how Christian religion has been in dialogue with the science, sometimes obscuring it, often times illuminating it.
This is not a geology textbook. It's so much more! It is the centuries old story of "the imaginative but also scrupulously careful work of those who have called themselves savants, naturalists, or scientists - many of whom, to repeat the point, have been devoutly religious people - has transformed our view of our human place in the natural world, by reconstructing the amazingly eventful deep history of the Earth and its life with ever more robust and reliable evidence." p 308
It's not the most accessible and can get bogged down in some decades through time.
I love love love this book. This is the fascinating story of how thousands of people curious about creation (which is what science is) over hundreds of years banded together to help us understand how the planet came to be in its current and ever-changing form. A sub-theme is how Christian religion has been in dialogue with the science, sometimes obscuring it, often times illuminating it.
This is not a geology textbook. It's so much more! It is the centuries old story of "the imaginative but also scrupulously careful work of those who have called themselves savants, naturalists, or scientists - many of whom, to repeat the point, have been devoutly religious people - has transformed our view of our human place in the natural world, by reconstructing the amazingly eventful deep history of the Earth and its life with ever more robust and reliable evidence." p 308
It's not the most accessible and can get bogged down in some decades through time.
January 16, 2015
This is a great little book, written by a friend and colleague of the towering and omniscient Stephen Jay Gould, whose ghostly hand I think I can detect in the author's style. It is only marred a little by containing faint echoes of Gould's dispute with the New Atheists, and the name Dawkins, while never spelled out, hangs in the air towards the end.
The text probably falls most comfortably into the genre "History of Science", as it is resolutely non-technical and tracks the development of the concept of a historicity of the Earth from the emergence of what is now known in English as "science". On the way, the novice will learn rather a lot about how the ages of rocks were determined, but the author is almost more concerned about showing that no deep conflict exists with the Rock of Ages. The seeker after deep technical knowledge of dating techniques should perhaps look elsewhere, therefore.
I cannot fault him here, as I agree with his position that literalist creationism is a modern and mainly political aberration, and early scientific greats were often clergymen or otherwise religious, as could hardly have been otherwise. It is interesting for a modern infantryman of the Darwin Wars to learn that for 18th Century theologians, the threat to faith was perceived not as an older Earth, easily accommdated with a metaphorical reading of the term "Day", but as uniformitarianism. The threat of a Day of creation lasting a few million years was trivially easy to rationalise away; the prospect that no point in time of creation ever existed would have kicked an important prop out from under Christian faith, as was perceived. So the Church, far from waging war on an ancient Earth, was rather relaxed about the notion.
What is fascinating for students of the philosophy of science is that in acquiring a history, and a historicity (but not, pace Popper, a historicism) the Earth sciences borrowed heavily from concepts of what are now known as the humanities, incuding biblical criticism. This kind of syncretism will not surprise followers of Gould, but may offer some offence to adherents of scientism! Another interesting detail in this respect is that the empirical repeatedly triumphs over the theoretical: That the Earth was truly ancient, and that meteor impacts, glaciations and atmospheric changes coincided with step-changes in the history of life, turned out to be true, as the rocks attested. Where physicists' theorisations and the philosophical bent of conservatives contradicted the rocks, the rocks generally prevailed. Scientists learned to trust the evidence, even when the mechanism was mystery.
The author is a Christian, and perhaps too concerned with sweeping away a conflict between science and faith which I think a little more real than he admits. He seems to regard Darwin and his legacy with barely-disguised distaste. Here I find him to be unambiguously mistaken: Darwin most certainly does provide support for atheism, just as the success of science provides support for naturalism, and I think that only a fool could deny it. It is possible to find rationalisations for those who wish to keep their faith, but an ancient Earth leaves young-Earth literalism perfectly bankrupt, and in the wake of Darwin it is the plain truth that we simply no longer need gods for the purposes of causal explanation.
I have only one further quibble, and that relates to a short passage where the author dismisses a monistic view of "the" scientific method by appeal to the German language. The doctrine of falsificationism can be directly traced to Karl Popper, a German philosopher writing in German and much concerned with the demarcation problem separating science from non-science. Popper's resolution was decisively monistic, and the broader meaning of "Wissenschaft" in German was no hindrance.
Otherwise, a thumping good and mind-broadening read.
The text probably falls most comfortably into the genre "History of Science", as it is resolutely non-technical and tracks the development of the concept of a historicity of the Earth from the emergence of what is now known in English as "science". On the way, the novice will learn rather a lot about how the ages of rocks were determined, but the author is almost more concerned about showing that no deep conflict exists with the Rock of Ages. The seeker after deep technical knowledge of dating techniques should perhaps look elsewhere, therefore.
I cannot fault him here, as I agree with his position that literalist creationism is a modern and mainly political aberration, and early scientific greats were often clergymen or otherwise religious, as could hardly have been otherwise. It is interesting for a modern infantryman of the Darwin Wars to learn that for 18th Century theologians, the threat to faith was perceived not as an older Earth, easily accommdated with a metaphorical reading of the term "Day", but as uniformitarianism. The threat of a Day of creation lasting a few million years was trivially easy to rationalise away; the prospect that no point in time of creation ever existed would have kicked an important prop out from under Christian faith, as was perceived. So the Church, far from waging war on an ancient Earth, was rather relaxed about the notion.
What is fascinating for students of the philosophy of science is that in acquiring a history, and a historicity (but not, pace Popper, a historicism) the Earth sciences borrowed heavily from concepts of what are now known as the humanities, incuding biblical criticism. This kind of syncretism will not surprise followers of Gould, but may offer some offence to adherents of scientism! Another interesting detail in this respect is that the empirical repeatedly triumphs over the theoretical: That the Earth was truly ancient, and that meteor impacts, glaciations and atmospheric changes coincided with step-changes in the history of life, turned out to be true, as the rocks attested. Where physicists' theorisations and the philosophical bent of conservatives contradicted the rocks, the rocks generally prevailed. Scientists learned to trust the evidence, even when the mechanism was mystery.
The author is a Christian, and perhaps too concerned with sweeping away a conflict between science and faith which I think a little more real than he admits. He seems to regard Darwin and his legacy with barely-disguised distaste. Here I find him to be unambiguously mistaken: Darwin most certainly does provide support for atheism, just as the success of science provides support for naturalism, and I think that only a fool could deny it. It is possible to find rationalisations for those who wish to keep their faith, but an ancient Earth leaves young-Earth literalism perfectly bankrupt, and in the wake of Darwin it is the plain truth that we simply no longer need gods for the purposes of causal explanation.
I have only one further quibble, and that relates to a short passage where the author dismisses a monistic view of "the" scientific method by appeal to the German language. The doctrine of falsificationism can be directly traced to Karl Popper, a German philosopher writing in German and much concerned with the demarcation problem separating science from non-science. Popper's resolution was decisively monistic, and the broader meaning of "Wissenschaft" in German was no hindrance.
Otherwise, a thumping good and mind-broadening read.
Read
September 29, 2022Interesting history of geology, and I like his attitude, but he endlessly repeats his insight about understanding the earth as a history and where that approach came from (a good insight, though, but I won't repeat it as that would be an unforgivable spoiler). His writing is boring.
November 6, 2018
This book annoyed me mostly for its religious content. For example, the author affirms that the Judeo Christian tradition predisposed Europeans to think in terms of historical chronology, implying that without Christianity people could not have been able to conceptualise Earth's prehistory. I found this difficult to accept, and the author did not bother to argue this out coherently. Also, anyone who refers to atheistic fundamentalism, as if atheism were a form of religion, loses me immediately. The author's own Christian prejudice was clearly on view throughout this book.
August 8, 2018
Intellectual history of geology, from chronology to the present day. The story gets so large and complex that in the last couple of chapters on recent history the narrative falls off a bit.
Read this in snippets over a long stretch, but the work is solid enough that reading in this fashion can be done.
Read this in snippets over a long stretch, but the work is solid enough that reading in this fashion can be done.
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December 9, 2022This is a deep dive into the history of Earth's chronology, which according to the book's glossary is "the branch of historical work that uses sources of all kinds [i.e. not just scientific ones] to fix precise dates for past events in human history.." But as the book progresses, the authors discusses how "savants" (the term used by the author for proto-scientists) and others slowly realized that human history occupies only a tiny fraction of earth's history.
I was surprised to learn that estimates of Earth's age had already been extended by geologists and others from a few thousand years to several millennia long before radiometric dating had established the planet's actual age. The discovery by Clair Patterson that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old takes up only a small part of this book.
I was surprised to learn that estimates of Earth's age had already been extended by geologists and others from a few thousand years to several millennia long before radiometric dating had established the planet's actual age. The discovery by Clair Patterson that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old takes up only a small part of this book.
October 27, 2023
Martin Rudwick brings us through Earth’s history by bringing us through a succinct narrative of how we came to know what we know about this place. I’ve recently read a few books on the topic of science—I wasn’t a science major. I found I didn’t have to be a science major to get into every page of this book. Rudwick also has a refreshing take on the religion vs science discussion that so often clutters other books with boring distractions.
He asks, “how reliable is our knowledge of deep past?” He shows how in the past few centuries our knowledge of natural history has changed and evolved like Earth itself in the past 4600 ma. Remember to not get cocky. If we’re around in 100 years, the theories you hold dearest might be proven wrong. LOL. Enjoy!
He asks, “how reliable is our knowledge of deep past?” He shows how in the past few centuries our knowledge of natural history has changed and evolved like Earth itself in the past 4600 ma. Remember to not get cocky. If we’re around in 100 years, the theories you hold dearest might be proven wrong. LOL. Enjoy!
August 7, 2024
A milkshake of a book - sweet and went down easy, but with just enough thickness to count as a meal. Overall directional updates to my thinking based on reading:
1) I should know more geology. (I am limiting my budget for new Anki cards for the time being, but this will have to compete for space there.)
2) The complain that I've heard about "big history" is that "it isn't history" and I think this shows this is wrong; geological and biological history is *historical* in all the ways that matter.
3) (speculatively, this is just a vibe, but it is the direction my thinking is moving in) All mysteries end up having either a logical explanation or an historical explanation. Call this the Weak Principle of Sufficient Reason.
1) I should know more geology. (I am limiting my budget for new Anki cards for the time being, but this will have to compete for space there.)
2) The complain that I've heard about "big history" is that "it isn't history" and I think this shows this is wrong; geological and biological history is *historical* in all the ways that matter.
3) (speculatively, this is just a vibe, but it is the direction my thinking is moving in) All mysteries end up having either a logical explanation or an historical explanation. Call this the Weak Principle of Sufficient Reason.
September 4, 2025
A very engaging history of Earth’s geology and biology! I read this in bitesize bits so it never felt like an information overload. The Author writes in a really accessible way that also keeps the content interesting. This book also has some fantastic illustrations from a range of scientific sources. Some misguided drawings of dinosaurs and early man are included.
This book includes all the things humans got right about Earth’s deep history over the centuries whilst also including all the parts we got wrong. This makes it a really well rounded read. It’s a popular science book that you can’t go wrong with if you enjoy biology and geology. The Author keeps it entertaining! Really enjoyed it.
This book includes all the things humans got right about Earth’s deep history over the centuries whilst also including all the parts we got wrong. This makes it a really well rounded read. It’s a popular science book that you can’t go wrong with if you enjoy biology and geology. The Author keeps it entertaining! Really enjoyed it.
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September 30, 2024Some worthwhile stuff here, but it sort of exists in an uncanny valley scholarship-level wise — too specialized for true amateurs, but far too basic for anyone with a passing familiarity with the subject. Also Rudwick makes a big to-do knocking down the old canard that religion stood in the way of geological truth. Educated people would be well aware of the continued prominence of men of the cloth well into 19th century science.
July 30, 2018
An excellent guide to the thought processes involved in the development of he modern understanding of geology from its early religious concepts of the six days of Genesis through the contributions of the sciences. The book is heavy going but thorough, one of five very similar books written by Rudwick.
Read
June 3, 2020A very informative history of geological science, which avoids the pitfall of presenting the development of the sciences as a triumphant journey away from religious ignorance. Rudwick pays attention to the way in which concepts within theology might have inspired an outlook on nature that could suddenly think on a scale of billions of years.
August 14, 2024
Interesting history of the history of deep time discovery
Very useful deep dive into the discovery of deep time and the characters who discovered it. Sightly marred by religious "preaching" (how dare atheists "preach" like religionists"), it does give a great view of how biblical views of the past gave way to actually scientific views of it.
Very useful deep dive into the discovery of deep time and the characters who discovered it. Sightly marred by religious "preaching" (how dare atheists "preach" like religionists"), it does give a great view of how biblical views of the past gave way to actually scientific views of it.
October 27, 2021
An extraordinary look within an extraordinary book that looks at the extraordinary idea we humans have created that we call time, and the role of curious and inquiring geologists for centuries before us who begin to flesh that out.
May 30, 2025
Really enjoyed this book. I have read numerous books on the subject, non were this well written or covered the topic this thoroughly. This is, as usual, the western version of the story (maybe one day someone will write what the rest of the world went through).
January 17, 2018
Phenomenally reasoned, written and conceived.
November 18, 2018
Very detailed history of the history of geology. Far too dry for my taste. The story does get told, however slowly.
August 4, 2019
Okunması zor bir kitap genel olarak insanlık tarihinden önceki tarihi anlatıyor jeoloji ve jeokronoloji ağırlıklı konularını içeriyor
February 12, 2021
Good and readable overview of geology/paleontology/cosmology and its history in Europe; mix of history and science and a touch of religion and/v science
April 4, 2022
An elegantly written history of geology.
September 7, 2023
Not so much a deep history per say but a history of geology. When we threw out myth and started using observations data and experimentation for our information. Good read.
May 24, 2016
An excellent explanation of how we came to know what we think we know about the long history of the earth.
July 19, 2016
This is probably the most thorough history of the science of geology covering the last ~400 years I have ever read. Very well done.
Want to read
December 24, 2016COCC QE11 .R827 2014
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