Earth Time: Revealing the Deep Past

About this book

Covers the dramatic history of planet Earth and the rocky road to understanding the past. This is a probing account of the history of the earth and an introduction to the many eccentric characters that have attempted to understand its origins. It is full of fascinating anecdotes about 19th century explorers and natural philosophers who first carved up Earth's history just as others were carving up the globe. Unraveled is the fascinating history of rock strata and the implications they have had on accepted theories on the Earth's life. The book also considers the future of the earth, and what a repeat of some of the catastrophic events of the earth's past, such as major earthquakes and asteroid collisions, could mean for life today.

Contents

Introduction. Prologue. 1. 'A Kind of Shell'. 2. 'A Higher Desire'. 3. 'Matters Physical'. 4. 'Hobby Horse Riders'. 5. 'There is No Other Born in Germany'. 6. 'Thinking Hopelessly about Quanta'. 7. 'But God Does Play Dice'. 8. 'Dark Future'. 9. 'Seeing How Expendable You Are'. 10. 'Dreams of a Promised Land'. 11. 'This Quiet Valley'. 12. 'There Are So Many Ifs'. 13. 'A Curse of the Age'. 14. 'A Trip to Stockholm'. Epilogue. Acknowledgments. Notes. Index.

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Biography

Douglas Palmer is an academic, lecturer and popular science writer. He is author or co-author of a wide range of books on prehistoric life and fossils, including the best selling Earth. He teaches for the Cambridge University Natural Science Tripos and the International Summer School. A former earth sciences lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin, he also spent two years as an exhibition coordinator at the National Museum of Wales.