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PLATE TECTONICS

Name: PLATE TECTONICS
Author: Naomi Oreskes
ISBN: 0-8133-3981-2

THE INSIDERS’ HISTORY OF THE MODERN THEORY OF THE EARTH

edited by Naomi Oreskes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2001

A useful addition to the history-of-science literature, emphasizing the importance of scholarly communication and...

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Firsthand reports of the birth of modern plate tectonics, the once heretical, now governing theory of how the earth works.

Since at least the 16th century, writes historian of science and geologist Oreskes (History/Univ. of California, San Diego), earth scientists have observed “the jigsaw-puzzle fit of the continental edges,” whereby Africa nestles neatly into South America, western North America into eastern Asia. Theories of continental drift and crustal contraction accounted for some geomorphological phenomena, but only in the 1960s did scientists begin to accrue solid evidence for how such things actually worked—with most of such evidence gathered on the hitherto inaccessible floors of the deep oceans. Strikingly, the majority of those scientists, Oreskes observes, were attached to only four institutions worldwide—Cambridge University, the Columbia University Lamont Geological Observatory, Princeton University, and the University of California Scripps Institution of Oceanography. (Soviet scientists, hampered by an officially endorsed theory emphasizing “vertical tectonics,” would join the revolution only much later.) Though many of the principal theoreticians have since died, Oreskes gathers testimony from some important participants, among them Ron Mason (who analyzed the geomagnetic patterns on the ocean floor that provided “the first step in what eventually became a new global theory of the earth”), Frederick Vine (whose research provided proof of geologist Tuzo Wilson’s theory of the existence of the Juan de Fuca plate), Neil Opdyke (who studied reversals of the earth’s geomagnetic field), and David Sandwell (whose work in radio altimetry helped map the planet’s crustal structure). Most of their reminiscences, along with those of 14 other contributors, are written at a level accessible to nonspecialist readers, and the authors’ enthusiasm for the study of the earth and its ways overcomes the occasional thickets of geological terminology.

A useful addition to the history-of-science literature, emphasizing the importance of scholarly communication and verification.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-8133-3981-2

Page Count: 496

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2001

Categories:

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BIG MYTH
by Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway

- BOOK REVIEW
WHY TRUST SCIENCE?
by Naomi Oreskes

- BOOK REVIEW
MERCHANTS OF DOUBT
by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway

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A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING

by Bill Bryson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 6, 2003

Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science...

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Bryson (I'm a Stranger Here Myself, 1999, etc.), a man who knows how to track down an explanation and make it confess, asks the hard questions of science—e.g., how did things get to be the way they are?—and, when possible, provides answers.

As he once went about making English intelligible, Bryson now attempts the same with the great moments of science, both the ideas themselves and their genesis, to resounding success. Piqued by his own ignorance on these matters, he’s egged on even more so by the people who’ve figured out—or think they’ve figured out—such things as what is in the center of the Earth. So he goes exploring, in the library and in company with scientists at work today, to get a grip on a range of topics from subatomic particles to cosmology. The aim is to deliver reports on these subjects in terms anyone can understand, and for the most part, it works. The most difficult is the nonintuitive material—time as part of space, say, or proteins inventing themselves spontaneously, without direction—and the quantum leaps unusual minds have made: as J.B.S. Haldane once put it, “The universe is not only queerer than we suppose; it is queerer than we can suppose.” Mostly, though, Bryson renders clear the evolution of continental drift, atomic structure, singularity, the extinction of the dinosaur, and a mighty host of other subjects in self-contained chapters that can be taken at a bite, rather than read wholesale. He delivers the human-interest angle on the scientists, and he keeps the reader laughing and willing to forge ahead, even over their heads: the human body, for instance, harboring enough energy “to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point.”

Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science into perspective.

Pub Date: May 6, 2003

ISBN: 0-7679-0817-1

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Broadway

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003

Categories:

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BODY
by Bill Bryson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ROAD TO LITTLE DRIBBLING
by Bill Bryson

- BOOK REVIEW
ONE SUMMER
by Bill Bryson

- BOOK TO SCREEN
Bill Bryson Book Being Adapted for Animated Series

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LETTERS FROM AN ASTROPHYSICIST

by Neil deGrasse Tyson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2019

A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.

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Tyson (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, 2017, etc.) receives a great deal of mail, and this slim volume collects his responses and other scraps of writing.

The prolific science commentator and bestselling author, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary. Readers may suspect that most of these letters date from the author’s earlier years when, a newly minted celebrity, he still thrilled that many of his audience were pouring out their hearts. Consequently, unlike more hardened colleagues, he sought to address their concerns. As years passed, suspecting that many had no interest in tapping his expertise or entering into an intelligent give and take, he undoubtedly made greater use of the waste basket. Tyson eschews pure fan letters, but many of these selections are full of compliments as a prelude to asking advice, pointing out mistakes, proclaiming opposing beliefs, or denouncing him. Readers will also encounter some earnest op-ed pieces and his eyewitness account of 9/11. “I consider myself emotionally strong,” he writes. “What I bore witness to, however, was especially upsetting, with indelible images of horror that will not soon leave my mind.” To crackpots, he gently repeats facts that almost everyone except crackpots accept. Those who have seen ghosts, dead relatives, and Bigfoot learn that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Tyson points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so confirmation that a light in the sky represents an alien spacecraft requires more than a photograph. Again and again he defends “science,” and his criteria—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review—are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss. Among the instances of “hate mail” and “science deniers,” the author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.

A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.