A fascinating and well-written account of scientists at work in an often neglected discipline.
New Scientist editor Walker looks at the hottest issue in geology: whether or not the Earth of some 700 million years ago was covered in ice.
The prime mover in this debate is Paul Hoffman, a Harvard geologist here depicted as a driven man unafraid of making enemies. Trained in the Canadian Arctic, Hoffman discovered evidence that pre-Cambrian rocks in Africa had been formed by glaciers. When he learned of pre-Cambrian glacial deposits found in other areas believed to have been near the equator at the time, Hoffman adopted a theory originally proposed by Joe Kirschvink of Caltech: Earth was covered with ice from pole to pole for millions of years. The theory quickly polarized the geological community, divided as much by Hoffman's prickly personality as by disagreements about the evidence. The breakup of the ice, brought about by the accumulation of greenhouse gasses spewed forth by volcanoes, was accompanied by a sudden explosion of life. The primitive organisms that evolved in the long ages before worldwide glaciation had attained nothing more complex than colonies of bacteria; once the seas were again open to the sun, multi-cellular life almost immediately began to flourish. The inference strongly urged by Hoffman and his supporters is that the breakup of the snowball was in large part responsible for the evolution of modern complex life. Walker summarizes the evidence from chemical and magnetic analyses of the rocks, describes the various geological sites that provide evidence for the snowball theory, and gives warts-and-all portraits of the scientists involved. She offers viewpoints and opinions on both sides of the still unsettled issue, although her summary perhaps prematurely implies that Hoffman's viewpoint has prevailed.
A fascinating and well-written account of scientists at work in an often neglected discipline.Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-609-60973-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2002
A rare treat: cutting-edge science combined with a perceptive portrait of the people who perform it. Dressler (Astronomy/Carnegie Institution) was one of a team that set out to perform a survey of elliptical galaxies and ended by revising a fundamental axiom of modern cosmology. The ``Seven Samurai,'' as they became known on the release of their results, combined expertise in observation and theory, bringing an unusual level of astronomical talent to their task. Dressler gives brief biographies of himself and the other team members and devotes considerable space to detailing their personal interactions over the course of the project, providing an unusually candid look at not only what scientists really do, but how they feel about it and about each other. As the data from their survey accumulated, the team's initial goal of discovering clues to the absolute magnitude of distant galaxies began to fade as they realized that a large number of galaxies were traveling at unexpectedly high velocities—1,000 km per hour or more—that could only be explained by the attraction of a huge mass. Equally important, this discovery forced a reconsideration of the assumption that the velocities of distant galaxies are almost entirely due to the expansion of the universe and directly related to their distances from Earth. The implications of the discovery, and its theoretical underpinnings, take up much of the last part of the book, a generally clear overview of current thinking on the origins of the universe. A readable and engaging glimpse behind the facade of contemporary science; Dressler does for astronomy what James D. Watson's The Double Helix did for molecular biology. (31 photos, illustrations, charts, and graphs) (Library of Science and Astronomy Book Club main selection)
Pub Date: Oct. 16, 1994
ISBN: 0-394-58899-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
A hunt-and-peck collection of 30 pieces assembled to benefit Share Our Strength, a group dedicated to feeding the hungry. Shore (editor, Mysteries of Life and the Universe, 1992) has managed to gather a host of fine nature writers, but with mixed results. Al Gore's flimsy introduction leads with ``John Muir once wrote''—you can almost hear the snores rising off the page. But then there is Diane Ackerman's smart take on summer (``Summer''), with its bright and insightful appreciation of birds. The good and the not-so-good trade punches: Natalie Angier tries to get poetic as she recalls an urban childhood grappling with nature (``Natural Disasters''), but she is no Charles Simic, and the result is Kansas-flat and without humor. Then Edward Hoagland shines even as his eyesight dims (``Mind's Eyes''), and in his melancholy way he gathers a special sense of the land: learning to distinguish trees by the feel of their bark, finding walking ``such a puzzle as to be either exciting or tearful.'' Ted Kerasote (``Logging'') takes the adage ``An unexamined life isn't worth living'' and beats it to death; here it is logging rather than hunting (see Bloodties, 1993) he picks apart, but, Ted, an overexamined life gets darned boring. Thankfully, Karen Pryor delivers an extraordinary throng of birds (``A Gathering of Birds'') of many different feathers which gathered on a bush next to which she sat and stared at her—a bunch of birds out-humaning her, as it were. And so it goes. Half of the contributions are worth the trouble; .500 isn't a bad batting average, but it's not a great percentage when the quality of the authors is considered. Worth the price of admission all the same for the 15 crack nature essays gathered under one roof. (b&w illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-15-100080-8
Page Count: 356
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994
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