BEFORE THE DELUGE

by Herbert Wendt ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 19, 1968

Herbert Wendt, a German freelance writer with several books to his credit on the origin of species and man in particular, summarizes much of the data of geology and paleontology in this encyclopedic volume, He begins his chronicle with a short account of a remarkable seventeenth century Dane, Nicolaus Steno, who deduced that certain fossils called ""tongue stones"" were the teeth of sharks no longer extant. Wendt then moves forward and backward in time outlining the theories and countertheories on earth's history, Prominent among them were the arguments between the catastrophists and Diluvians versus the Vulcanists and evolutionists--hence the book's title. Wendt describes the personalities and quarrels of the early fossil hunters in convincing detail, in particular the disputes between Cuvier and Lamarck and Marsh and Cope. He also describes the forgers who followed in the wake of each spectacular paleontological find. The book assumes some knowledge of the dates and species of past epochs, although etymologies are frequently given, e.g., ""Cambrian"" comes from the ancient name for Wales; ""Devonian"" for Devonshire. The book ends with a discussion of the rise of man, concluding with the most recent data of Leakey's on Homo habilis in Africa. The arrangement of the text into ""books"" with many short sub-sections makes it possible to dip into the volume almost at random and find something of interest. Better yet would have been to include some geological tables, and a glossary. The idiomatic translation of the Winstons is commendable.

Pub Date: April 19, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION