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Sand
Packed with fascinating science - and laced with tales of explorers, sand art, and the tribes of the desert - this work explores the nature of sand and the beauty of deserts.
352 pages, Paperback
First published December 16, 2008
29 people are currently reading
875 people want to read
About the author
Michael Welland
3 books14 followersWell, not so much a biography, as some thoughts.
As a geologist, I have been fortunate enough to see diverse and wonderful parts of our planet. Its workings and processes are a never-ending source of fascination, and demonstrate what is intoxicating about science - the provocative conspiracy between what we know and what we don't. All too often, science is presented as done and dusted, whereas the fascination is the vast realm of what we don't know. All too often, we think we know more than we do, and that can get us into trouble. And, being of a certain age, I treasure the time available to enquire into the endlessly compelling amount of stuff that I, personally, don't know.
I hope that this comes through in my books, that the reader will be surprised and entertained at what sand, an apparently mundane material, has to tell us and what the words 'the desert' mean to us culturally, historically, and in the imagination - and how different the meaning of those words is for all the people for whom the desert is home.
As a geologist, I have been fortunate enough to see diverse and wonderful parts of our planet. Its workings and processes are a never-ending source of fascination, and demonstrate what is intoxicating about science - the provocative conspiracy between what we know and what we don't. All too often, science is presented as done and dusted, whereas the fascination is the vast realm of what we don't know. All too often, we think we know more than we do, and that can get us into trouble. And, being of a certain age, I treasure the time available to enquire into the endlessly compelling amount of stuff that I, personally, don't know.
I hope that this comes through in my books, that the reader will be surprised and entertained at what sand, an apparently mundane material, has to tell us and what the words 'the desert' mean to us culturally, historically, and in the imagination - and how different the meaning of those words is for all the people for whom the desert is home.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
July 28, 2009
When I purchased this book, the incredulous cashier asked, "Is this really about sand?" It really is, and Michael Welland knows his sand. Although I have a background in geology, I learned an enormous amount about the geology of sand from this delightful book. Welland is, however, more than a geologist. He is quite a polymath and brings to the subject of sand fascinating insights from history, art, literature, commerce, industry, and a variety of other fields. When a geologist quotes Borges more than once in a book on sand, I am intrigued. The book is well written, well organized, and contains an excellent bibliography. Reading this book was a joyful voyage of discovery, and it has earned a place on my shelf of resource books.
June 10, 2009
Startling! That’s the word that comes immediately to mind when thinking of this book. I was startled into laughter three times before I reached page 13 and startled by snippets of information provided in the same 13 pages. With no real science background and my only flirtation with geology being Roadside Geology of Colorado, I’m not sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t this highly entertaining and very readable book. I thought I knew something about sand since I grew up with a beach as part of my front yard, but I soon realized that I knew almost nothing about sand. For example, there are pictures in this book of some of the organisms that live in beach sand. My reaction? Oooh, yuck. No more walking on beaches for me. However, when I got to the chapter on desert sands, including some of the denizens of deserts, I decided beach sand isn’t so bad after all.
This book is jam-packed with fascinating information. By the end of the book, I felt that Sand, the book, had filled every nook and cranny of my life, as sand, the substance, has a tendency to do. I would pick up a piece of information from Sand, only to find it emphasized by something else in my life. A case in point is sand forensics. I had never heard of the concept, which was surprising considering how many mysteries I have read and watched over the years. Mr. Welland gives a fascinating example of sand forensics in his book, and lo and behold, the next mystery I pick up (the fourth Lee Child) has the FBI determining where the kidnapper’s truck had originated and where it had traveled based on the sand and mud clinging to the bottom of the truck. Sand forensics. Mr. Welland also lists many examples of sand referenced in literature. I had never been particularly aware of this and thought he must have been really searching for these references to have found so many. Except that I was reading Mark Twain’s biography at the time and guess what? In chapter six, Mr. Clemens refers to life as being like sand, soon washing away. Okay, I guess I wasn’t noticing all these references to sand in literature after all. But when I visited Camano Island in Washington (state) and saw two whales, inexplicably close to shore where I had seen nothing but sand only hours before during low tide, I could not understand what the whales were doing. The water roiled all around them but they couldn’t have been in more than four feet of water. The next morning I picked up Sand to continue and the very next paragraph was about gray whales in the water off the coast of Washington scraping their bellies through sand to create sand flurries from which they could feed on ghost shrimp. Unbelievable! But I knew I was in real trouble when I took a cup from the middle of my huge box of Cheer, watched the sides cascade down to the middle, and thought to myself, “Avalanche!”.
Other intriguing things about Sand? It reads like an exotic travelogue of places I have never heard of before as well as some that I am familiar with. Fascinating. Also, Mr. Welland occasionally gives his geology human characteristics, which makes the book more compelling in my view. Here's an example from page 248 of his book. "As from time immemorial, while the mountains rose, the elements chastised them for doing so, eating into the newly exposed rocks, eroding and destroying them." What a picture! He also personalizes the book in places. I loved his reference to Bernie, the taxi driver, who I am now anxious to meet, and his mention of his own love of wine, often grown in sand, to name a few instances. The book also piqued my curiosity to the point that I actually looked up a reference in his book, fortunately footnoted, so that I could easily get more information on the subject, in this case, hot air balloons floated over the Pacific to the US carrying explosives from Japan during World War II. And for those of us who saw Master and Commander and wondered how long that huge hourglass took to pour from one side to the other while on watch (I assumed it took an hour; hence the name hourglass), they will find the answer in this remarkable book. Finally, his understated but pointed remarks throughout the book on what humans are doing to their environment were both scary and refreshing. Scary because it makes it sound as if even sand, at least as we know it, may not after all be a never-ending story, and refreshing because the way he makes his remarks is believable rather than soapbox oratory, which most of us have learned to distrust.
This book is definitely one to put on your re-read shelves. Even reading it slowly, I’m sure I missed more than I retained, and I don’t plan to take sand for granted ever again. One of the references in the first thirteen pages that made me laugh was the one about sand smuggling, but by the end of the book, I understood so much more about sand that I no longer felt the idea was laughable when it was re-introduced.
I read over three hundred books a year, mostly fiction. Last year, for the first time in my life, someone asked me what my favorite book of that year was. I had to think for about thirty seconds to answer, “Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose”. If someone asks me that same question this year, I won’t have to think for one second to answer, “Sand, the Never-Ending Story by Michael Welland”. Oddly enough, they are both non-fiction. Go figure.
This book is jam-packed with fascinating information. By the end of the book, I felt that Sand, the book, had filled every nook and cranny of my life, as sand, the substance, has a tendency to do. I would pick up a piece of information from Sand, only to find it emphasized by something else in my life. A case in point is sand forensics. I had never heard of the concept, which was surprising considering how many mysteries I have read and watched over the years. Mr. Welland gives a fascinating example of sand forensics in his book, and lo and behold, the next mystery I pick up (the fourth Lee Child) has the FBI determining where the kidnapper’s truck had originated and where it had traveled based on the sand and mud clinging to the bottom of the truck. Sand forensics. Mr. Welland also lists many examples of sand referenced in literature. I had never been particularly aware of this and thought he must have been really searching for these references to have found so many. Except that I was reading Mark Twain’s biography at the time and guess what? In chapter six, Mr. Clemens refers to life as being like sand, soon washing away. Okay, I guess I wasn’t noticing all these references to sand in literature after all. But when I visited Camano Island in Washington (state) and saw two whales, inexplicably close to shore where I had seen nothing but sand only hours before during low tide, I could not understand what the whales were doing. The water roiled all around them but they couldn’t have been in more than four feet of water. The next morning I picked up Sand to continue and the very next paragraph was about gray whales in the water off the coast of Washington scraping their bellies through sand to create sand flurries from which they could feed on ghost shrimp. Unbelievable! But I knew I was in real trouble when I took a cup from the middle of my huge box of Cheer, watched the sides cascade down to the middle, and thought to myself, “Avalanche!”.
Other intriguing things about Sand? It reads like an exotic travelogue of places I have never heard of before as well as some that I am familiar with. Fascinating. Also, Mr. Welland occasionally gives his geology human characteristics, which makes the book more compelling in my view. Here's an example from page 248 of his book. "As from time immemorial, while the mountains rose, the elements chastised them for doing so, eating into the newly exposed rocks, eroding and destroying them." What a picture! He also personalizes the book in places. I loved his reference to Bernie, the taxi driver, who I am now anxious to meet, and his mention of his own love of wine, often grown in sand, to name a few instances. The book also piqued my curiosity to the point that I actually looked up a reference in his book, fortunately footnoted, so that I could easily get more information on the subject, in this case, hot air balloons floated over the Pacific to the US carrying explosives from Japan during World War II. And for those of us who saw Master and Commander and wondered how long that huge hourglass took to pour from one side to the other while on watch (I assumed it took an hour; hence the name hourglass), they will find the answer in this remarkable book. Finally, his understated but pointed remarks throughout the book on what humans are doing to their environment were both scary and refreshing. Scary because it makes it sound as if even sand, at least as we know it, may not after all be a never-ending story, and refreshing because the way he makes his remarks is believable rather than soapbox oratory, which most of us have learned to distrust.
This book is definitely one to put on your re-read shelves. Even reading it slowly, I’m sure I missed more than I retained, and I don’t plan to take sand for granted ever again. One of the references in the first thirteen pages that made me laugh was the one about sand smuggling, but by the end of the book, I understood so much more about sand that I no longer felt the idea was laughable when it was re-introduced.
I read over three hundred books a year, mostly fiction. Last year, for the first time in my life, someone asked me what my favorite book of that year was. I had to think for about thirty seconds to answer, “Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose”. If someone asks me that same question this year, I won’t have to think for one second to answer, “Sand, the Never-Ending Story by Michael Welland”. Oddly enough, they are both non-fiction. Go figure.
February 4, 2017
During the course of reading "Sand" no less than three people inquired about the book resulting in the following exchange unfolding virtually the same way each time:
"What's that you're reading?"
"Sand."
"What is it, uh, what's it about?"
"It's just about sand."
"How is it?"
"It's kinda dry."
It was never an inevitability that I would read a book about sand but it happened to be on display at the Public Library and I immediately saw its potential. And so I think I carried this 300+ page hardcover non-fiction book about sand around with me publicly for several days, even going so far as to read the damn thing, just for that setup which pleased no one but me.
And it was fine, it's a fine book. I know a lot more about geology and the properties of granular materials now than I did before, and was actually engrossed in the sections about how water interacts with landscapes to the point where if I ever stumble across a book called "WATER" I'll read the shit out of that. While discussing sand and human history, the author even mentions a book by someone else titled "Glass" that discusses how much scientific development depended on glass products like Lens for magnifying glasses and telescopes (glass is made from sand, you'd know that if you'd read either of these books).
I do wonder while reading books like this, if some scientists lose themselves in conceptualizing the enormous scales of Time they deal with. Like if some Geologist's kid asked him an innocent question as kids do and the Geologist just kind of stares off in the distance before mumbling that it doesn't matter because the actions of wind and water and shifting of Earth over a period of time will scour all traces of us from the planet, and there will be no one to remember us anyway when the swelling Sun consumes Earth reducing it to its component Atoms. For the record, that shall be my favorite way to make a child cry.
"What's that you're reading?"
"Sand."
"What is it, uh, what's it about?"
"It's just about sand."
"How is it?"
"It's kinda dry."
It was never an inevitability that I would read a book about sand but it happened to be on display at the Public Library and I immediately saw its potential. And so I think I carried this 300+ page hardcover non-fiction book about sand around with me publicly for several days, even going so far as to read the damn thing, just for that setup which pleased no one but me.
And it was fine, it's a fine book. I know a lot more about geology and the properties of granular materials now than I did before, and was actually engrossed in the sections about how water interacts with landscapes to the point where if I ever stumble across a book called "WATER" I'll read the shit out of that. While discussing sand and human history, the author even mentions a book by someone else titled "Glass" that discusses how much scientific development depended on glass products like Lens for magnifying glasses and telescopes (glass is made from sand, you'd know that if you'd read either of these books).
I do wonder while reading books like this, if some scientists lose themselves in conceptualizing the enormous scales of Time they deal with. Like if some Geologist's kid asked him an innocent question as kids do and the Geologist just kind of stares off in the distance before mumbling that it doesn't matter because the actions of wind and water and shifting of Earth over a period of time will scour all traces of us from the planet, and there will be no one to remember us anyway when the swelling Sun consumes Earth reducing it to its component Atoms. For the record, that shall be my favorite way to make a child cry.
April 5, 2014
The human brain in general, and my brain in particular, is capable of the strangest things. Most of the time it seems to just keep the train on the tracks while maintaining the day-to-day routines. The danger, of course, is that the day-to-day routines can become ever deepening ruts.
And then, for no apparent reason, something happens to change that.
In my case, in this instance, it was sand in the works that changed things. More specifically, one day I found myself thinking about SAND - there sure is a lot of it laying around and seems to be pretty much everywhere. But, isn't sand an "end product" and not the sort of thing that starts out as, well, sand? If it is an end product, where and how does it start? Why is there so much of it? Why is it everywhere?
I can't say that this book answered all my questions but it sure did get me out of my rut. Now that I'm up and looking around I'm wanting more.
I suppose the thing that first grabbed me is the immense time scale of sand. I was familiar with the phrase "geological time" but that was an abstraction. It still is, in a way, but now I have a number to attach to it, thanks to one tiny fine grain of sand - 4.4 BILLION years.
Not only do I have a new number to nail down (in the way that jello can be nailed down) one end of the timeline but I also know how that affects our understanding of that incredibly ancient time. Turns out we were wrong; the Hadean period wasn't necessarily like Hell itself but you'll have to read SAND to find out why.
I also learned that sand is both an end product and a primary source as it cycles through the natural geological processes that this dynamic planet enjoys. It's amazing what happens when the time scale of a process is measured in terms of millions of years rather than "three-score and ten" years. That may be why we have only comparatively recently come to accept that the surface of Earth is floating around on top of a hot, viscous, stone soup with these relatively light chunks bumping into each other very . . . very . . . very . . . slowly.
There's more than geology here though. One section talks about how we use sand and what would happen if sand were completely removed from our lives. I assure you, it is not pretty.
I highly recommend reading SAND: The Never-Ending Story. You'll never see this planet the same way again.
And then, for no apparent reason, something happens to change that.
In my case, in this instance, it was sand in the works that changed things. More specifically, one day I found myself thinking about SAND - there sure is a lot of it laying around and seems to be pretty much everywhere. But, isn't sand an "end product" and not the sort of thing that starts out as, well, sand? If it is an end product, where and how does it start? Why is there so much of it? Why is it everywhere?
I can't say that this book answered all my questions but it sure did get me out of my rut. Now that I'm up and looking around I'm wanting more.
I suppose the thing that first grabbed me is the immense time scale of sand. I was familiar with the phrase "geological time" but that was an abstraction. It still is, in a way, but now I have a number to attach to it, thanks to one tiny fine grain of sand - 4.4 BILLION years.
Not only do I have a new number to nail down (in the way that jello can be nailed down) one end of the timeline but I also know how that affects our understanding of that incredibly ancient time. Turns out we were wrong; the Hadean period wasn't necessarily like Hell itself but you'll have to read SAND to find out why.
I also learned that sand is both an end product and a primary source as it cycles through the natural geological processes that this dynamic planet enjoys. It's amazing what happens when the time scale of a process is measured in terms of millions of years rather than "three-score and ten" years. That may be why we have only comparatively recently come to accept that the surface of Earth is floating around on top of a hot, viscous, stone soup with these relatively light chunks bumping into each other very . . . very . . . very . . . slowly.
There's more than geology here though. One section talks about how we use sand and what would happen if sand were completely removed from our lives. I assure you, it is not pretty.
I highly recommend reading SAND: The Never-Ending Story. You'll never see this planet the same way again.
November 3, 2011
Granular, in the best way
(Note: this review was shared on Amazon.com)
This is a fantastic book that puts one of the most unassuming but ubiquitous members of the natural world, sand, under the microscope and in doing so, illustrates huge truths about our planet and ourselves. Written with deep scientific knowledge and an engaging, lyrical style, it's a profound read that touches upon almost every aspect of geology, from weathering to planet formation, from the formation of dunes and beaches to the quirky characters that investigated sand behavior across the years, from art to industry.
The only part of the book that seemed flat was the A - Z description of the many uses, and benefits of sand. All engaging, but given the great effort to weave the story along like drifting dunes, this section seemed out of place.
A minor quibble.
Highly recommend this book and for double the impact, read it at the beach. We were at Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast and armed with the insights from Sand: The Never-ending Story, the interplay of the sediment-laden tides, engines of change, and the drift of fine sand over the beach driven by strong winds, took on a special significance.
The epilogue, about the Libyan desert glass, was especially interesting. Would love to see a book just about that!
(Note: this review was shared on Amazon.com)
This is a fantastic book that puts one of the most unassuming but ubiquitous members of the natural world, sand, under the microscope and in doing so, illustrates huge truths about our planet and ourselves. Written with deep scientific knowledge and an engaging, lyrical style, it's a profound read that touches upon almost every aspect of geology, from weathering to planet formation, from the formation of dunes and beaches to the quirky characters that investigated sand behavior across the years, from art to industry.
The only part of the book that seemed flat was the A - Z description of the many uses, and benefits of sand. All engaging, but given the great effort to weave the story along like drifting dunes, this section seemed out of place.
A minor quibble.
Highly recommend this book and for double the impact, read it at the beach. We were at Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast and armed with the insights from Sand: The Never-ending Story, the interplay of the sediment-laden tides, engines of change, and the drift of fine sand over the beach driven by strong winds, took on a special significance.
The epilogue, about the Libyan desert glass, was especially interesting. Would love to see a book just about that!
June 2, 2009
Not many people, I suppose, would get excited when presented with the title of this book, but I--geology nerd that I am becoming--sought it out quickly. It took some time for the library to get it in, but not nearly as long as the billions of years it takes a sand grain to cycle through its various incarnations....
Welland defines the subject, takes a look at sand as a metaphor in life and literature, and then hits the hard geology: rivers, sandstone, deserts, sea, and up through modern uses of sand. Interesting history (billions of years and last year as well), latest science studies, and a cultural connection keep the rather dry subject matter as interesting as a sand castle.
Welland defines the subject, takes a look at sand as a metaphor in life and literature, and then hits the hard geology: rivers, sandstone, deserts, sea, and up through modern uses of sand. Interesting history (billions of years and last year as well), latest science studies, and a cultural connection keep the rather dry subject matter as interesting as a sand castle.
July 25, 2018
I think maybe I am not quite as enthusiastic about geology as is required maintain consistent interest. This book covered an amazing scope of topics from geology and history to technology and jewelry and full of fun facts but there were time when I has a hard time maintaining interest. I highlighted a bunch of tid-bits that I’ll gladly go back to (did you know there is a temperature controlled beach in Dubai!?) but this won’t be on my re-read list.
January 13, 2015
Beautifully written book that ranges, not only over the whole world, but over the whole universe. What does sand do? What CAN sand do? How and why does it do it? I was surprised by how interesting the book was.
September 29, 2008
Annie Dillard and John McPhee had a British love-child (metaphorically). He shared their passions, but felt that natural history writing could use more brevity, clarity, wit. This is the result.
February 25, 2020
This is a fun book. I like geology topics and picked this to learn more about sand. The book talks about geology and sand and the unique properties of sand. It also has a number of chapters about sand related topics that aren’t just geological.
At points it feels like the author just started throwing out sand related stories and facts to fill space, like in the A-Z chapter of sand facts (that was a weak chapter).
Other wise, a great collection of short blurbs about sand related topics with some good scientific explanation about sand as a geological entity.
At points it feels like the author just started throwing out sand related stories and facts to fill space, like in the A-Z chapter of sand facts (that was a weak chapter).
Other wise, a great collection of short blurbs about sand related topics with some good scientific explanation about sand as a geological entity.
December 20, 2018
I’d say 3.5 stars. Wonderfully inspired and jargon free science writing by an well read author who manages to neatly tie in so much poetry to this piece. Fantastic beginner lessons in here on how sand moves and why this matters, physics, earthquakes, sand bars. I give him extra points for informatively pointing out the Latin behind foundational terms. Bonus sustained expert multiple appearances by scientist sand expert Bagnold who was also in Rogue Heroes doing his bit.
February 2, 2017
This is a great book with a few boring chapters, but nothing can be perfect right? Despite the few chapters that I largely skipped over this book is full of incredible information and stories. Michael Welland does a wonderful job making this subject interesting and I am amazed at how much I learned. Expect to share many of the startling facts with family and friends.
January 3, 2023
This is an excellent nonfiction read. I was really intrigued about the tardigrades and Libyan desert glass. I have a hard time comprehending some of the physics of sand dunes but I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves learning.
May 1, 2023
This book is full of amazing facts about sand, its properties and behaviors, told in an interesting, lively manner. It ought to be a school text book, and I shall certainly read it again, just for the pleasure of it. It has been a great help in my research about how sand can be, and is used.
May 5, 2024
The book was uneven for me. The sections on geology and climate were interesting and, though somewhat technical, his writing made it easy to follow, but cultural and historical facts about sand, such as the etymology of ¨sandbagger,¨ while interesting, seemed like distractions.
July 30, 2018
An eclectic natural history of sand similar to the commodity histories of Mark Kurlansky (Salt, Cod).
January 19, 2025
Didn't add much to my knowledge base. He didn't have enough good material to warrant a book-long treatment.
April 23, 2016
I really liked this book. This is the second time that I have read it, and I find that this time I discovered completely different things from the first read. (I guess I will have to read it again!)
The first time I read this book, I discovered tiny meiofauna that lived on and between grains of sand, and the delicately feathered trumpet worm, which lives in the ocean. Not to mention the fascinating journey a single sand grain makes down the Susquehanna River to the sea!
This time around, possibly because my brain was primed to notice it after just having read The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea, I was struck by the role sand plays in the environment of our world. In Sand: The Never-Ending Story, Micheal Welland explains about the sand budget and sediment deficit. He links these to global warming and how we could better protect our shorelines. It is all fascinating.
Another thing that struck me this time around was the chapter about extraterrestrial sand, like the sand on Mars and on Venus. I was interested to learn that the same stories sand grains can tell about our world can also, from a distance, teach us about other planets.
The first time I read this book, I discovered tiny meiofauna that lived on and between grains of sand, and the delicately feathered trumpet worm, which lives in the ocean. Not to mention the fascinating journey a single sand grain makes down the Susquehanna River to the sea!
This time around, possibly because my brain was primed to notice it after just having read The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea, I was struck by the role sand plays in the environment of our world. In Sand: The Never-Ending Story, Micheal Welland explains about the sand budget and sediment deficit. He links these to global warming and how we could better protect our shorelines. It is all fascinating.
Another thing that struck me this time around was the chapter about extraterrestrial sand, like the sand on Mars and on Venus. I was interested to learn that the same stories sand grains can tell about our world can also, from a distance, teach us about other planets.
February 3, 2011
Never again will I look at or think of a mountain or a grain of sand in the same way. This book is so epic it fills me up to bursting. (Okay - I admit, there were some dry parts that were rough to get through - but the rest was great!) I swear, Vangelis played in my head as I read Chapter One in the silence of my living room.
This book is not only about size (literal and figurative), but also about time on many scales. It really brings home that we are living in the now. What sand grains have seen just blows my mind! I feel infitecimally small in the grand scheme of things.
I'm sure everyone takes different things from this book. I understood all the scientific jargon while reading, but can hardly recall it now. What stands out are how the author ties it all in with our existence here on Earth, while showing how sand is present in almost every material thing that we take for granted in our lives, as well as in our culture (Robert Frost was in this book - but the author neglected to mention Hawksley Workman - "A desert's not a mountain side and I know why...")
I highly recommend this book, and wonder who will be next to say, "Meiofauna?" or "Trumpet worms - WOW!"
This book is not only about size (literal and figurative), but also about time on many scales. It really brings home that we are living in the now. What sand grains have seen just blows my mind! I feel infitecimally small in the grand scheme of things.
I'm sure everyone takes different things from this book. I understood all the scientific jargon while reading, but can hardly recall it now. What stands out are how the author ties it all in with our existence here on Earth, while showing how sand is present in almost every material thing that we take for granted in our lives, as well as in our culture (Robert Frost was in this book - but the author neglected to mention Hawksley Workman - "A desert's not a mountain side and I know why...")
I highly recommend this book, and wonder who will be next to say, "Meiofauna?" or "Trumpet worms - WOW!"
June 28, 2010
I seem to be in deep science mode in my reading recently, a tethering of poetry and science, "scientopic" if you will. Welland's exhaustively comprehensive book about sand is endlessly fascinating; everything you ever wanted to know as well as everything you never knew you wanted to know about sand: its physics, chemistry, evolution & biology, as well as its cultural, imaginal, & literary dimensions & multiple identities. Very well written, evocative and immensely engaging.
August 17, 2014
What a truly mind blowing book this turned out to be. This was the most exciting science based narrative a have possibly ever read. I have always lived near and wondered deeply about this substance but never would I have come close to knowing half of the facts revealed in this incredible book about sand. I think anyone who enjoys reading and is even vaguely inquisitive would love this. What an amazing world this is.
August 8, 2009
Although the material was fascinating, I found this a little hard to get through. Welland's advice to wade slowly but methodically through quicksand applies to his book on the subject, as well. He examines the subject from geological, cultural, and historical points of view, and even includes extraterrestrial sand. Absolutely amazing stuff--you really can see the universe in a grain of sand.
March 24, 2014
The first few chapters were absolutely fascinating, and very accessible. As he started getting more into geology nerdiness, I started understanding less. I appreciate4d it as I read it but I didn't retain anything. I would imagine this as required reading for any geology student, and even a student of the sciences could appreciate the breadth that sand covers on our Earth, in each study.
December 15, 2014
An excellent tome, filled with detailed information (as all worthy books should be) about minute, widespread, yet typically-ignored aspects of Nature, that create & sustain a foundation for our human life.
December 17, 2011
Excellent and completely fascinating. Highly recommended!
I hope a new edition comes out with updated research on sand.
I hope a new edition comes out with updated research on sand.
October 16, 2013
Guaranteed to leave sand in the crevices of your brain!
November 11, 2015
3.4 stars - quite good.
April 18, 2017
Informative, but not as compelling as I had hoped. A popular science book about an interesting subject that might stray a little too far into the textbook category (very dense in parts). Sections on mechanics were good. I wasn't a fan of the A-Z chapter on uses.
March 7, 2018
It's two stories in one, mealting together in one of the best books I've ever read. One of the most impressing things is how Ende creates dimensions between Bastian, the boy reading the never ending story, and you reading about him reading it. This concept might sound complicated, but the fascinateing thing is that the main charachter of the book will realise it.
Like Momo, Ende is discussing people's lack of spending time on something deep and genuin. This time the theme is lack of fantasy.
The plot is the world of the never ending story being threaten by the dark storm Nothing. The kingdom of tales and the most odd creatures is being put in risc of damage becuause the humans stopped having fantasy. Due many of the memebers in this fantasy world not being given a backround story yet, I think Ende tries to tell us about all the untold stories and masterpieces never existing because no one will take time for it. The creatures begging Bastian, who later enters the world, for their own story might symbol what we are missing out by not writing or visualizing.
Like Momo, Ende is discussing people's lack of spending time on something deep and genuin. This time the theme is lack of fantasy.
The plot is the world of the never ending story being threaten by the dark storm Nothing. The kingdom of tales and the most odd creatures is being put in risc of damage becuause the humans stopped having fantasy. Due many of the memebers in this fantasy world not being given a backround story yet, I think Ende tries to tell us about all the untold stories and masterpieces never existing because no one will take time for it. The creatures begging Bastian, who later enters the world, for their own story might symbol what we are missing out by not writing or visualizing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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