Earth, Richard Fortey
Earth, Richard Fortey
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

Earth
An Intimate History

Author: Richard Fortey

Narrator: Michael Page

Unabridged: 18 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/01/2020


Synopsis

In Earth, the acclaimed author of Trilobite! and Life takes us on a grand tour of the earth's physical past, showing how the history of plate tectonics is etched in the landscape around us.

Beginning with Mt. Vesuvius, whose eruption in Roman times helped spark the science of geology, and ending in a lab in the West of England where mathematical models and lab experiments replace direct observation, Richard Fortey tells us what the present says about ancient geologic processes. He shows how plate tectonics came to rule the geophysical landscape and how the evidence is written in the hills and in the stones. And in the process, he takes us on a wonderful journey around the globe to visit some of the most fascinating and intriguing spots on the planet.

About Richard Fortey

Richard Fortey was a senior paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. He was Collier Professor in the Public Understanding of Science and Technology at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Bristol in 2002. In 2003, he won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing About Science from Rockefeller University. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1997 and was elected as a Fellow in the Royal Academy of Literature in 2009.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Chris on September 26, 2009

Is it possible for a book to be utterly fascinating and yet, at the same time, a perfect cure for insomnia? I never would have thought so, until I read this one. That does sound horribly contradictory, and yet it is true. Reading this book, I found myself drawn in by the power of Fortey's words and t......more

Goodreads review by Adam on September 02, 2009

About a month ago, I was looking through the courses I had to choose from as an Environmental Science major, making up a short list for class sign-up in September. The options were evenly divided between Biology and Geology classes, and I was leaning heavily toward the former; geology seemed quite d......more

Goodreads review by David on December 11, 2011

I am not very fond of geology, but the beautiful poetic style of Richard Fortey's prose makes this book a joy to read. For example, he writes, "The cycles of the earth--the generation and destruction of plates--probably happened andante cantabile rather than largo." Fortey interleaves poetry among his......more

Goodreads review by Cassandra Kay on August 08, 2011

Fortey's love of geology really comes through in this work. It was both fascinating and insightful. The pictures were great, the timeline was not linear so it really kept a good pacing. It kind of meandered around topics and points of interest on the earths crust similar to how your mind would analy......more

Goodreads review by Harry on August 06, 2009

The Earth is a big, fat (480 page) book about geology. Richard Fortey writes extremely well and it’s an impressive attempt to make a fairly dense subject exciting. I have to admit though I nearly didn’t finish it; by about halfway though I’d had about as much as I could take of schist, gneiss, nappes......more