Brennecka’s enthusiasm for meteorites will appeal to experts and novices alike.
An exploration of the role meteorites played in the formation and cultural evolution of Earth.
Had Earth’s head-on collision with the meteorite named Theia not occurred exactly when it did, our planet would have evolved much differently. Brennecka, a cosmochemist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, explains that this event, and later impacts, “may have delivered the organic material from which life developed, as well as the water on Earth that sustains it.” In this highly entertaining book, filled with informative and humorous charts, diagrams, and images, the author explores this moon-forming impact as well as other historical cosmic events involving space rocks—e.g., the 1990 discovery of an impact crater in Mexico that scientists believe caused the extinction of dinosaurs. Other topics include: Christopher Columbus’ using his knowledge of an upcoming lunar eclipse to avert an uprising when he had outstayed his welcome in Jamaica, Donald Trump’s staring directly at the sun without eye protection during the 2017 solar eclipse, and how “Mark Twain was born and died on occurrences of Comet Halley.” Brennecka also examines how meteorites have played a significant role in cultural and religious teachings throughout the world, including Aboriginal lore, Greek and Roman literature, biblical studies, and Islamic tradition, and he takes us to regions around the world where large numbers have been extracted: Australia, the Sahara Desert, and Antarctica, among others. The increased availability of samples has aided countless scientists in their research about Earth’s cosmic origins, but the meteorite trade has also led to the removal of objects that were treated as sacred by Indigenous peoples and made it difficult for research groups working on tight budgets. “Regardless of the discussion about the morality and business of meteorites,” writes the author, “meteorite monetization has been both a blessing and a curse for meteorite researchers.”
Brennecka’s enthusiasm for meteorites will appeal to experts and novices alike.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-307892-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
Less a sequel than an addendum, the book offers a close-up view of the Oval Office in its darkest hour.
Four decades after Watergate shook America, journalist Woodward (The Price of Politics, 2012, etc.) returns to the scandal to profile Alexander Butterfield, the Richard Nixon aide who revealed the existence of the Oval Office tapes and effectively toppled the presidency.
Of all the candidates to work in the White House, Butterfield was a bizarre choice. He was an Air Force colonel and wanted to serve in Vietnam. By happenstance, his colleague H.R. Haldeman helped Butterfield land a job in the Nixon administration. For three years, Butterfield worked closely with the president, taking on high-level tasks and even supervising the installation of Nixon’s infamous recording system. The writing here is pure Woodward: a visual, dialogue-heavy, blow-by-blow account of Butterfield’s tenure. The author uses his long interviews with Butterfield to re-create detailed scenes, which reveal the petty power plays of America’s most powerful men. Yet the book is a surprisingly funny read. Butterfield is passive, sensitive, and dutiful, the very opposite of Nixon, who lets loose a constant stream of curses, insults, and nonsensical bluster. Years later, Butterfield seems conflicted about his role in such an eccentric presidency. “I’m not trying to be a Boy Scout and tell you I did it because it was the right thing to do,” Butterfield concedes. It is curious to see Woodward revisit an affair that now feels distantly historical, but the author does his best to make the story feel urgent and suspenseful. When Butterfield admitted to the Senate Select Committee that he knew about the listening devices, he felt its significance. “It seemed to Butterfield there was absolute silence and no one moved,” writes Woodward. “They were still and quiet as if they were witnessing a hinge of history slowly swinging open….It was as if a bare 10,000 volt cable was running through the room, and suddenly everyone touched it at once.”
Less a sequel than an addendum, the book offers a close-up view of the Oval Office in its darkest hour.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1644-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2015
A quirky wonder of a book.
A Peabody Award–winning NPR science reporter chronicles the life of a turn-of-the-century scientist and how her quest led to significant revelations about the meaning of order, chaos, and her own existence.
Miller began doing research on David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) to understand how he had managed to carry on after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his work. A taxonomist who is credited with discovering “a full fifth of fish known to man in his day,” Jordan had amassed an unparalleled collection of ichthyological specimens. Gathering up all the fish he could save, Jordan sewed the nameplates that had been on the destroyed jars directly onto the fish. His perseverance intrigued the author, who also discusses the struggles she underwent after her affair with a woman ended a heterosexual relationship. Born into an upstate New York farm family, Jordan attended Cornell and then became an itinerant scholar and field researcher until he landed at Indiana University, where his first ichthyological collection was destroyed by lightning. In between this catastrophe and others involving family members’ deaths, he reconstructed his collection. Later, he was appointed as the founding president of Stanford, where he evolved into a Machiavellian figure who trampled on colleagues and sang the praises of eugenics. Miller concludes that Jordan displayed the characteristics of someone who relied on “positive illusions” to rebound from disaster and that his stand on eugenics came from a belief in “a divine hierarchy from bacteria to humans that point[ed]…toward better.” Considering recent research that negates biological hierarchies, the author then suggests that Jordan’s beloved taxonomic category—fish—does not exist. Part biography, part science report, and part meditation on how the chaos that caused Miller’s existential misery could also bring self-acceptance and a loving wife, this unique book is an ingenious celebration of diversity and the mysterious order that underlies all existence.
A quirky wonder of a book.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6027-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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